"SPACE CHIMPS" (2008) (voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines) (G)
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QUICK TAKE:
Computer Animated Comedy: A circus-performer chimp follows in his famous grandfather's footsteps by traveling into outer space in hopes of finding a missing space probe that's disappeared through a wormhole to a distant planet ruled by a malevolent buffoon.
PLOT:
Unlike his chimp grandfather who became famous flying into outer space, Ham III (voice of ANDY SAMBERG) toils away in relative obscurity being fired out of a circus cannon while his handler and grandfather's friend, Houston (voice of CARLOS ALAZRAQUI), looks on in disappointment. Ham III isn't looking for much in his life, but the latter changes when the interstellar Infinity Probe -- designed to look for life elsewhere in the galaxy -- is sucked into a wormhole and then lands on the planet Malgor. There, it falls into the hands of cantankerous buffoon Zartog (voice of JEFF DANIELS) who uses its advanced robotic features to intimidate the Malgorians into becoming his slave labor.
Back on Earth, the Senator (voice of STANLEY TUCCI) is upset about the missing probe and threatens to shut down the space program if it can't be found. Knowing it's possibly too dangerous to send humans through the untested wormhole, a trio of scientists -- Dr. Jagu (voice of OMID ABTAHI), Dr. Bob (voice of PATRICK BREEN) and Dr. Smothers (voice of KATH SOUCIE) -- decides it would be best if chimps were sent into it first.
Luckily for them, they have a group at the ready, including flight commander Titan (voice of PATRICK WARBURTON), Lt. Luna (voice of CHERYL HINES) and young but eager Comet (voice of ZACK SHADA). The latter doesn't get the chance, however, since the Senator wants the mission to be high profile, thus resulting in Ham III filling the last spot.
He views it all as a joke and his fight crew thinks the same of him, but soon they're hurtling into outer space, through the wormhole, and onto Malgor. When Zartog learns of this new machine from the sky, he sends his minions to retrieve it, unaware that Titan is still inside, thus leaving Luna and Ham III stranded. As they try to make their way to Zartog's fortress, they must deal with various hazards along the way, some of them introduced by the small Kilowatt (voice of KRISTIN CHENOWETH) whose huge head glows whenever she's frightened.
OUR TAKE: 3.5 out of 10
While the American space program is still in the news, what with shuttle launches, talk of the Hubble telescope and the continuing construction of the international space station, the early days of NASA are ancient history to most of today's kids. In fact, most probably don't realize that monkeys and chimps preceded humans into space.
Of course, that wasn't in some sort of "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" fashion, but rather by being strapped into cockpits on top of rockets that hurtled them up into and out of Earth's atmosphere back in the late 1950s and '60s. In fact, one of the chimps, Ham (named for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center), exceeded the earlier ape fame of Bonzo and even King Kong when a Mercury capsule provided him with a 16 minute and 39 second flight that would later lead to that one giant leap for mankind.
He then lived out his days at several zoos, with his fame slipping away with each year until his passing a quarter of a century ago. Thus, it's a nice touch that he's referenced in "Space Chimps," a computer-animated comedy for the kids where the filmmaker -- writer/director Kirk De Micco making his debut behind the camera after penning the likes of "Racing Stripes" and "Quest for Camelot" -- appears to have come across a variety of time capsules in the making of this benign but mostly humdrum pic.
Along with co-writer Robert Moreland, he delivers characters and comedic attempts and references from a variety of past decades, giving the film something of a peculiar feel. While there are contemporary jokes (the auto call center help service OnStar has been changed to In-Star for spaceflight), there's also a jokey bit about the "monkey-rena" (rather than the Macarena).
The lead character (voiced by Andy Samberg) ends up playing and then dancing to the notes of Harold Faltermeyer's signature score from "Beverly Hills Cop" (a film that was released one year after Ham's long-ago death). Even the extraterrestrial beings on the planet where the chimps land (in an unwise plot development that does little for the pic beyond padding the already too long 80-some minute runtime) feel lifted from sci-fi movies and cartoons from the 1970s and '80s.
I understand the obligatory attempt to appease any parents or guardians who wouldn't otherwise be caught dead watching this (the title alone will scare away all but the devout "Lancelot Link" fans who will nevertheless be upset that real chimps weren't used). Yet, those and other references, the bad puns voiced by Patrick Warburton (who otherwise has the best vocal delivery of the bunch), and the overall characterizations and storyline feel dated and thus less than fresh.
Simply put, Ham III (supposedly the grandson of the real Ham the Astrochimp) goes from gliding through life as a carefree and reckless sort to a hero while getting his flight mates (including the lone female chimp voiced by Cheryl Hines) to loosen up a bit and have fun. Yawn, wake me when something new is introduced. The filmmakers try just that with those dated denizens of Malgor, but the overall subplot of one (voiced by Jeff Daniels, although you'd never know it) enslaving the others doesn't do anything, even if the villain is drawn as a malevolent buffoon.
Speaking of that, the computer animation's nothing to write home about (as it's light years away from what Pixar can deliver), but at least it's better than the production studio's previous genre entry, "Happily N'Ever After." While younger kids will likely enjoy the offerings to one degree or another, the dated and uninspired material might just render teens and especially adults unconscious, as if subjected to a g-force inducing rocket launch (although it's not bad enough to make one similarly lose their lunch). "Space Chimps" rates as a 3.5 out of 10.
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