Space Chimps (20th Century Fox)
Planet of the Apes
Space Chimps is a fun movie for the little kids. However it doesnt have anything extra special in the way of musical numbers or extraordinary characters to make it better than average. It is the kind of movie that you might want to wait to watch on DVD. Still if you are hard pressed for a film to which to take the kids, this is one that will serve that purpose.
The focus of the film is on Ham III (voiced by Adam Samberg). He is the grandson of the famous Ham, the first monkey astronaut. Ham IIIs career is in the circus, but all this changes when he is seized by the government to take part in a space probe. Scientists do not know if humans could survive this type of journey so animals are used to test the waters.
Ham, Luna (voiced by Cheryl Hines), and Titan (voiced by Patrick Warburton) are the three space monkeys who make the trip. Strangely they all three look like those apes from the original Planet of the Apes film. Uncannily so.
On a distant planet they meet a creature named Zartog (voiced by Jeff Daniels) who is trying to enslave his planet. They work to free the creatures under him. That makes up the bulk of the plot of the movie.
All of the voice actors are fine in their roles and the movie maintains the interest of the audience most of the time. Things brighten up when a little creature named Watt (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth) comes on the scene. She is a distinctive character who adds to the fun of the film. Chenowith and Warburton are the two actors who do the most with their roles.
The movie is rated G and is totally suitable for all members of the family.
Space Chimps is a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours at the movies. However in this day of high prices you might need something a little extra special to justify the cost of tickets and refreshments at the movies. Waiting for it on DVD would be a lot more economical.
I scored Space Chimps an orbiting 5 out of 10.
