With cheapie effects and a barrage of monkey puns, Space Chimps is too often content with only going halfway.
Space Chimps (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:89
Fresh:33
Rotten:56
Average Rating:4.7/10
Consensus: Space Chimps' cheap animation and overabundance of monkey puns feels especially dated in a post-Wall-E world.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Sep 4, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $29,942,542
Synopsis: Circus monkey Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) works in a circus where he's regularly shot from a canon but he still lives in the shadow of his father's legacy (Ham I was the first chimp shot into... Circus monkey Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) works in a circus where he's regularly shot from a canon but he still lives in the shadow of his father's legacy (Ham I was the first chimp shot into space in 1961). A natural born rebel against authority, Ham the third is initially reluctant to go on a dangerous space mission to rescue a lost space probe, but away he goes, for lots of RIGHT STUFF-style astro-training alongside two highly prepared chimps, Luna and Titan (Cheryl Hines and Patrick Warburton). NASA's by-the-book methods jar with Ham's mischief-making of course, but once the space training ends, the mission begins, with myriad dangers along the way, including: a big-toothed monster and a run amok alien named Zartog (Jeff Daniels) whose harnessed the previous space probe for world-domination purposes, all good opportunities for Ham III to redeem himself. Despite all the fangs, parents shouldn't worry too much; not a hair on any chimp is seriously singed, and along the pratfall strewn way there's time for lessons about responsibility and realization of one's full potential. While the animation here is not quite up to Pixar level, it's still pretty and colorful, with a pleasing Candyland quality to the alien planet surface. Samberg brings a savvy zest to his vocal duties as the Ham, Stanley Tucci is a nefarious senator and--getting big laughs with flawlessly deadpan elan--Patrick Breen as one of the trio of egghead scientists. Kird De Micco directed; based on the computer video game. [More]
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, Stanley Tucci, Omid Abtahi, Patrick Breen, Kenan Thompson, Carlos Alazraqui, Kath Soucie, Jane Lynch
Director: Kirk De Micco
Director: Kirk De Micco
Screenwriter: Kirk De Micco, Rob Moreland
Story: Kirk De Micco
Producer: John H. Williams, Barry Sonnenfeld
Composer: Chris Bacon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Space Chimps
Why would you take your kids to see Space Chimps, an uninspired animated feature about chimp astronauts, when you could take them instead to see Wall-E.
A lighthearted treat for pint-sized moviegoers with tender tastes, featuring a clownish slacker living in the shadow of his famous astronaut dad, who learns to stop monkeying around and be a capable chimp off the old block.
Worse are the chimps themselves. Their bodies are realistic in all the wrong ways, with grotesque appendages and unpleasantly textured fur, while the expressions on their unadorable mugs are entirely devoid of humanity.
The CG animation is nothing special, but the characters are surprisingly fun and the story is full of enough puns, wordplay and slapstick to elicit laughs from across the age spectrum.
Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: Space Chimps is hilarious.
Space Chimps is delightful from beginning to end: A goofy space opera.
I never thought that a movie with a terrible song playing like the "Monkeyrena" would actually keep me entertained and make me laugh, but it did. It still has nothing on Wall-E.
[S]tarts out merely a misbegotten mess... And then it all turns terrifying...
...a good addition to this summer's family movie entertainment with its meaningful messages made appealing by a solid sense of humor.
It is actually kind of funny and entertaining despite the fact that it looks and sounds as though it is anything but that.
The animation looks unfinished, with a kind of lifeless mechanical sheen replacing actual textures.
consistently goes for the cheap laughs, mining way too many jokes out of puns, pratfalls, and the occasional reference to poop (these are apes, after all)
Space Chimps may not be top-flight entertainment, but as kid movies travel, it’s unexpectedly engaging.
Despite its promising concept, the film is filled with lame pop-culture references and groan-worthy puns, and its technical aspects pale in comparison to those in the recent animated hits Kung Fu Panda and WALL*E.
Like a poorly designed videogame, it's as much a test of endurance of repetition as anything else.
One of those cartoons parents at least won't mind sitting through while little Miss or Mister Eight-and-younger gets his or her chuckles at the cute talking primates.
The film is no classic, certainly, but it's not one of those throwaway puff pieces, either.
As bland matinee diversions go, Chimps isn't the worst thing to plop your child in front of, but it's hardly worth the hundreds of dollars it takes to get a family to the movie theater these days.
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