MPAA Rating: Rated G for general audiences
Recommended for ages 4 to 8.
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Quick Take: With a title like Space Chimps, you can't expect Citizen Kane. Some good gags and a barrage of puns yield lots of laughter from the kids (and, yes, their parents.)
The Story: Three chimps (wise-guy Ham, overstuffed mission commander Titan and practical astronette Luna) are on a mission to find out whether there is life beyond Earth. Catapulted through a wormhole (for all you non-Star Trek fans, that's a space tunnel to another universe), the three simians risk life, limb and opposable thumbs, crash landing on a far-off planet and matching wits with an evil czar who threatens to dip the interlopers in freezing gunk if they foil his plan to build an interstellar casino.
Good If You Liked: Madagascar, Ice Age , Over the Hedge , Curious George
Heads Up: The movie's bad guy spends most of his time dunking uncooperative subjects into a pool of gunk that freezes them for all eternity. They're all saved at the end, but it's surprisingly grisly for a kid flick. There's an implied budding romance between Luna and Ham, but producers resisted the urge for a chimp-on-chimp smooch.
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The Primates Have Landed ... And They're Good for a Few Laughs
I have to admit it. I laughed.
Not a polite little chuckle. But the kind of guffaw that causes you to briefly double over and actually miss the next line of the movie.
I humbly confess, the cause of this temporary loss of control was Space Chimps, specifically a line midway through the movie that I won't identify here, only to say it had to do with an alien explaining her, um, escape hatch from the jaws of a flesh eater.
As a movie, Space Chimps will never win an Academy Award. Nor will it merit a special Oscar for creative monikers (Space Chimps…a film about a bunch of chimps…in space…whoa). But, it made me laugh -- really -- me and a bunch of 4-year-olds undone by the sight of chimps in spacesuits, and the sound of puns ("Chimp off the old block," "Chimp my ride") flying by at warp speed.
Oh, one can only imagine the night of hard partying that led to the creation of this cast of characters: a movie-star-coiffed chimp who casts off his famous family's roots (Grandpa was the first chimp in space) to become a simian cannonball in an Elvis suit; a lightbulb-headed alien (her noggin even glows) who inexplicably bursts into operatic arias whenever fear strikes; a politician who wants to scrap the entire space program to create a paint-your-own pottery enterprise.
But the kids (little kids) were laughing. A lot. Those dancing gumdrops, the hapless mission commander, the Banana-berrie phone -- and that's what we moms and dads go to the movies for. Sure, the producers could have saved us all ten bucks and made this one a Saturday morning cartoon. But, the popcorn was good. The air conditioning was…on. The Dark Knight was sold out anyway. And, the little kids had a ball.
And, I have to admit it -- I laughed.
Kids Will Like:
Ham is all wisecracks and practical jokes -- the kind of guy you'd want to have next to you in third-grade social-studies class. That means kids will love him. It's all a colorful extravaganza -- sort of a psychedelic Planet of the Apes meets Candyland -- and the slapstick shenanigans (crumping scientist, overactive treadmill) -- had 'em rolling in the aisles. "Chimp my ride" netted a big laugh, proving that MTV isn't lost even on preschoolers. Such flying puns were everywhere, which worked just fine for the young tot set but prompted eye rolls from my 12-year-old nephew Jono, who labeled the onslaught "chimply awful."
Parents Will Like:
It's not for everyone. Over-aged adolescents (like me) will enjoy its moments—the interstellar welcome video, the guinea pigs, and Patrick Warburton, to name a few. Art History Majors—maybe not so much. By and large, it's all harmless fun for kids.
