"Space Chimps" Review - Written by Freelance

Space Chimps

Director: Kirk De Micco
Cast: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Zack Shada, and Stanley Tucci
MPAA: G

Freelance rating: * out of *****

Of two things that could be the basis of a children’s cartoon, who said chimpanzees and outer space couldn’t be them? Unfortunately, I don‘t think anyone has said that. More than anything the idea seems to have been already used… and probably was funnier back in the Fifties and Sixties when the US actually sent monkeys into space. Space Chimps explains it all in its title… unless one was thinking this was a documentary about chimpanzees with social disorders who need their separate space. That seems like a better premise for a film than the one that I did sit through.

Simple theory; there are some chimpanzees, they go into space, they come back, movie’s over, and I exit the theater. “Oh, but there is so much more than just that!” The story starts with an introduction of Ham III (Andy Samberg), who is the grandkid to the first chimpanzee in space. Ham III cares nothing of space exploration. He works at a circus as a cannon launcher. Ham is a carefree thinker and he has his wise manager, Houston (Carlos Alazraqui) to keep him in line. Subsequently, at the NASA launch site in Florida, they have just received readings about a satellite losing transmission over a black hole. Under pressure from high authorities, NASA scientists are forced to send a team of chimps to locate the satellite. Instead of sending the usual team the higher authority senator (Stanley Tucci) wants a high honored chimpanzee. He wants Ham (even though he has been dead for thirty years). They call for his next of kin, Ham III. Reluctant to go, he joins the team of Luna (Cheryl Hines), Titan (Patrick Warburton), and Comet (Zack Shada). Ham is trained into shape and is fit to journey through the cosmos. Unfortunately, only three may go, and Comet is picked to stay behind. The other three blast off to locate the missing satellite where they encounter more than they expected to find.

Space Chimps reads simple for the audience it is intended for. Outside of that it is the laziest piece of colorful cartoon crap. Director and co-writer Kirk De Micco creates a very simplistic achievement. Nothing about this movie catches the eye. The art and animation has a very “we’re not even trying anymore” attitude. The several scenes on the alien planet have an aspect to them that look underfinished. The detail to characters was quite perplexing. In the same idea as Tim Burton’s "Planet of the Apes", giving eyelashes and stylish hair to the female chimpanzee is the only way to tell everyone that this chimpanzee is the opposite sex of the other chimpanzees. I know I sound crazy, nit-picking stupid things like this for a kid’s cartoon. There is just a sense of absurdity when creators of cartoons like this try to make some things believable and a lot of other things not.

-Humans and chimpanzees do not share human conversation: GOOD.
-Chimpanzees on rocket packs: BAD.

The Voice acting is what I would expect from a cartoon like this. The annoying as hell, Andy Samberg and the bubbley cute voice of Cheryl Hines. Patrick Warburton who is becoming the Sam Jackson of animated voiceovers; I like him, but he doesn't seem to have the word, “no” in his vocabulary. If any part of this film works it’s likely to be the voice acting and dialogue.

Overall, I honestly can not recommend Space Chimps as a film for everyone… obviously it’s not suppose to be. I can hardly recommend it as a decent children/family movie. Kung Fu Panda and Wall*E are still easily selected as the better Summer choices for this category.