One of the great things about “Space Chimps”, the latest animated movie from the folks at Vanguard, is that the main character is actually based on real life.
In 1961 a chimp named Ham was launched into space by NASA. In “Space Chimps”, Ham’s grandson, Ham III, works for at the circus as a daredevil, until NASA officials need him to go into space with two other chimps to find out if there’s life on a far away planet. Once there Ham, Luna and Titan must fight-off an evil alien named Zortog, while trying to free the other aliens, who are nice.
“Space Chimps” really surprised me. The story is great, the voices are very well done (Andy Sandberg plays Ham, Cheryl Hines – Luna and Patrick Warburton – Titan), I laughed a lot, and while the animation is not in the class of Pixar, it’s still works.
And there are some great supporting characters, including the three NASA workers who are very funny.
Vanguard Animation previously made “Valiant” (2005) and “Happily N’Ever” (2007). “Space Chimps” is much better than both of them.
It’s rated G and it’s fine for everybody, including adults.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Space Chimps” gets a B!
There is another “animals go into space” animated movie from the summer now out on DVD – “Fly Me to the Moon” It’s not as good as “Space Chimps”.
Lights Camera Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Murphy) began his career as a film critic/entertainment reporter in 2006 at the age of 7. Jackson has written nearly 1,000 reviews of new releases. All together he has seen more than 1,500 films. In 2010, Jackson became the youngest person to win a NY Emmy Award, for his on-air movie reviews on Time Warner TV station, Capital News 9.
LCJ appears every Friday morning on WGNA-FM . His movie reviews are also posted on his website, his YouTube channel and the popular website Cultjer.com. He is also a contributing writer for Jerry Beck’s AnimationScoop.com. Jackson hosts the weekly internet pop culture news show “LCJ LIVE” (every Sunday at Noon ET). And “The LCJ Q&A Podcast” features interviews with celebrities and filmmakers.