That's nothing to be ashamed of, but the picture is uninspired and complacent with bizarre pop culture references (an "Axel F" callback, really?) and anemic plotting, never challenging itself with a more confident tone or skillful comedic voice. "Chimps" is certainly a sincere production, following closely to the simple edict of entertaining families. To get there one must ignore the crude animation, awful lip-sync, and the minefield of dud jokes, and that journey is tiring. Not many films can claim such progress, but "Chimps" does taking its sweet time to grow on the viewer. I will write this about the picture: it plays better as it goes. "Chimps" is really just one lucky DVD production that has fallen haphazardly into a theatrical release, and the experience watching it reinforces this sentiment with exceptional force. It's a modest production from Vanguard Animation, sent into the multiplex wilds to vacuum up the dollars that haven't already been collected by Pixar. "Space Chimps" isn't exactly the level of quality animated filmmaking audiences might expect in the summer season. Once arrived, the situation swiftly unravels, forcing the hairy explorers to band together to battle Zartog (Jeff Daniels), a local who's taken control of a previous NASA exploration vehicle and rules the land with his metallic might. Their mission is to travel into deep space, enter a wormhole, and explore an alien world. Recruited by the government to take part in a new space mission, Ham is thrown together with fellow chimps Luna (Cheryl Hines) and Titan (Patrick Warburton) and sent into training. Grandson to a famous simian who long ago heroically launched into space, Ham (voiced by Andy Samberg) is stuck in the circus, shot out of a cannon nightly to painful results. If you're a respectable production that wants to be taken seriously and can't even scrounge up the coin to license Yello's 1985 hit "Oh Yeah," instead electing to use a tinny sound-alike.that should be the first clue that something is seriously awry with the movie. One must hope, however, that these same small children don't catch on to the film's occasional double entendre, a surprising fact given the film's G-rating.Įasily the weakest of Summer 2008's animated entries, "Space Chimps" is likely headed for a brief trip through wide-release followed by a more successful life on home video."Space Chimps" is many things, but the one advantage it lacks is a sizable budget. "Space Chimps" features primitive animation, lame jokes abd disturbingly inadequate tech work including easily noticeable lip-syncing that doesn't match the animation.ĭespite its sub-par animation and tech credits, "Space Chimps" does manage to avoid being a complete disaster and, largely owing to the voiceover work of Chenoweth and Daniels' turn as the vil dictator, "Space Chimps" is occasionally endearing and, by the end, a film that may very well entertain smaller children. In fact, the vast majority of folks are going to consider it not so much retro as simply sub-par. "Space Chimps" is not cutting edge animation. Vanguard Animation has also given us the under-achieving "Happily N'Ever After" and "Valiant," films that gained a bit of notoriety for their retro style but not much else. His late grandfather was the first chimp in space (Chimps went before humans, ya know?) and, because of this genetic link, a senator (Stanley Tucci) hunts Ham down to convince him to join two other serious space chimps (Patrick Warburton and Cheryl Hines) to space.Įventually, Ham relents and, of course, nothing goes as planned leading to a grand, but not so entertaining, effort to save the undiscovered planet from an evil dictator (Jeff Daniels). Ham III (Andy Samberg, "Hot Rod") is an under-achieving circus chimp whose genetics would seem to indicate he could have been so much more. The only thing entertaining about "Space Chimps" is an entertaining and spirited performance by Kristin Chenoweth ("RV") as Kilowatt, a quirky and adorable alien creature who is, unfortunately, a supporting player for these festivities. The problem is that it exists in a cinematic environment in which it is surrounded by the likes of the brilliant "Wall-E" and even the more modest but entertaining "Kung-Fu Panda." Pixar is freaking awesome, while Vanguard Animation has, after a mere three feature films, managed to become the definition of cinematic mediocrity.
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