What Do The Critics Say?

"While the script is sometimes a mélange of nods to films like "2001" and "Star Wars", there is genuine sparkle in the voice work and more than a few jokes that really do hit the sweet spot. If ultimately a little safe in its brand of intertextual humour, the inspired silliness of Space Chimps has mostly got the right stuff. It should lift off with young families." Julian Shaw FILMINK "The comedy has good timing with some instant cuts to juxtaposed images. I'm sure that's what the kids will be thinking of when the monkeys splat up against windows. I liked all the monkey puns. They use their feet a lot too, so they do take advantage of simian anatomy. One of the better non-Pixar animated films out there. Of course they do The Right Stuff. Some good sci-fi homages too." Fred Toppel CANMAG "The beauty of this rather conventional, kiddy adventure is that it revels in not taking anything seriously. The script is peppered with stupid physical comedy, silly puns and dry witticisms on the concepts of space and monkeys. Playfully visual and wryly funny. " Adam Fendelman HOLLYWOODCHICAGO "A lighthearted treat for pint-sized moviegoers with tender tastes, featuring a clownish slacker living in the shadow of his famous astronaut dad, who learns to stop monkeying around and be a capable chimp off the old block. It's a pleasant enough visual treat for the small fry in the audience." Prairie Miller NEWSBLAZE "The characters are surprisingly fun and the story is full of enough puns, wordplay and slapstick to elicit laughs from across the age spectrum. "Space Chimps" is a bright, entertaining package." Kirk Honeycutt HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"Roughly Apollo 13 gone ape, this perky toon from Vanguard Animation starts formulaic and gets pleasingly bonkers, when our simian astronauts crash-land on a deeply trippy alien planet complete with camp villain and something called the Cave of the Flesh-Devouring Beast. It may look half-finished, but it's bright and silly and passes the time." Tim Robey DAILY TELEGRAPH U.K. "The animation is fluid and inventive, the pace is well maintained and the characterisations deliver recognisable human elements in chimps' form. A sweet and harmless family film. Safe enough for youngsters, short enough for their adult minders." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "Entertaining, nicely animated and frequently funny family adventure with superb vocal performances and an extremely witty script." Matthew Turner VIEW LONDON "You won't go ape over 'Space Chimps.' But it won't hurt your kids to monkey around with this for 90 minutes. There's an underlying theme here that will appeal to animal lovers. It's not "WALL-E" by any means. But for an entertaining diversion, "Space Chimps" has the right stuff." Linda Cook QUAD CITY TIMES "The film is pacy, full of humour rather than thrills and not too long. Not for connoisseurs of animation but fun for the young. This one is for younger children." Derek Malcolm EVENING STANDARD U.K. "Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: Space Chimps is hilarious." Neil Genzlinger NEW YORK TIMES

The Inside Story Ham, the grandson of the first chimp in outer space, has been happily eking out a living as a chimp cannonball in a third-rate circus when the space agency makes him an offer he can’t refuse. A wormhole has transported the Infinity Space Probe into the farthest reaches of the universe. As a political PR stunt, Ham is recruited to join a team of specially trained ape astronauts assigned to rescue the lost vessel. His love of flashy acrobatics and aerial maneuvers make Ham a successful high-flyer, but his irreverent antics and goofball humor quickly alienate his professional astro-chimp colleagues. Ham spends most of his time tweaking the ship’s pompous commander, Titan, or flirting with Luna, his fetching lieutenant, but as the only one immune to the effects of the wormhole, he is indispensable to the mission. After a crash landing on the planet Malgor, Titan is taken prisoner by Zartog, a megalomaniacal alien who has commandeered the Infinity and enslaved the other Malgoreans. In exchange for her help navigating the dreaded Valley of Really Bad Things to rescue their commander, Ham and Luna promise a desperate alien named Kilowatt they will free her people. While that may sound a little far-fetched and highly entertaining for families and younger viewers, there is more to the premis of this animated story than meets the eye. Ham, was in fact a real chimp, and yes, he did go into space. Space Chimps pays lighthearted tribute to the original Ham, one of the first heroes of the American space program. The John Glenn of the monkey world, Ham blasted off from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1961 and traveled one hundred and fifty five miles in sixteen and a half minutes before splashing down safely in the Atlantic. Ham's reward? A delicious apple. Ham’s incredible journey began in the central African nation of Cameroon. When he was three years old, the intrepid chimp left the equatorial jungle for Alamogordo in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. With five other specially selected chimpanzees, Ham attended a rigorous training program to prepare for space flight. His name is an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission, the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base. Because of the unknown risks of space travel, NASA decided to send a chimp where no man had gone before. Ham and his classmates were chosen for this monumental mission because of chimps’ close physiological resemblance to humans and their high intelligence. The chimpanzee assigned to the historic Mercury-Redstone suborbital launch would be asked to perform a lever-pulling chore throughout the mission. This would test the capsule’s life-support systems and prove that levers could be pulled during launch, weightlessness and re-entry. Training for the recruits was tough. A team of twenty medical specialists and animal handlers supervised as Ham and his classmates learned the control panel of the Mercury Redstone. Their assignment included pulling a right-hand lever when a white light came on and a left-hand lever when a blue light came on. They were rewarded with banana pellets for making the correct choice. Once their training was complete, the space chimps were taken to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Only one chimp would be chosen for the inaugural flight. Ham wasn't yet four years old when he received the assignment of a lifetime. A smart, loveable chimp with a sunny personality, Ham was affectionate, cuddly and loved the spotlight. He was the perfect candidate. When the launch day finally came, the ship’s liftoff and entry into space went smoothly, but the fuel burned more quickly than anticipated, propelling Ham more than 100 miles farther than planned. Traveling too high, too fast, the Mercury-Redstone was out of fuel in just over two minutes. Ham withstood gravitational forces of up to 14.7 G’s, about 3.3 G’s more than planned. Despite the increased speed, Ham maintained his concentration and performed his required tasks with great accuracy. His lever-pushing performance was just marginally slower than on Earth. The capsule partially lost pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him from suffering any harm. He also experienced about seven minutes of weightlessness during the flight, with no ill effect. Just over a quarter hour after liftoff, Ham’s capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. His spacecraft took on water due to the impact, but he was successfully recovered and taken to a waiting vessel. Ham’s only injury was a bruised nose. Safely back on Earth, Ham was given a physical examination and pronounced fatigued but medically sound. In apparent good spirits, Ham happily posed for pictures with the sailors on the recovery ship before enthusiastically enjoying his apple. With the flight a success, Ham became an international celebrity and received the ultimate pop culture honor of the day: his picture on the cover of Life magazine. Using the information gathered during Ham’s successful flight, Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard would make the same flight aboard the Freedom 7 just four months later. After completing his mission, Ham lived in the National Zoo in Washington, DC for seventeen years. He was extremely popular with visitors, but not with his fellow chimps. Like many a human superstar, Ham had trouble adjusting to private life. He later moved to a zoo in North Carolina and found a lovely lady chimp with whom to share his life. Ham died of natural causes on January 19, 1983 at the age of twenty seven and was buried in the front lawn of the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. From two of "Saturday Night Live’s" hottest young performers to an Emmy® Award nominated alumna of the renowned Groundlings comedy troupe to a singer trained in opera, each of the cast members brought his or her distinct gifts to the project. Space Chimps is the story of Ham III, the grandson of the original Ham who went to space and became a national hero. The concept of astronaut primates exerted a strong gravitational pull on the film’s voice cast. Andy Samberg, who has established himself as a cutting-edge comedian through his edgy and off-kilter "SNL Digital Shorts", plays Ham, the circus performer turned space traveler. His fellow astronaut and love interest Lieutenant Luna is played by Cheryl Hines, an Emmy Award® nominee for her work on HBO’s "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Commander Titan, the third space chimp, is voiced by Patrick Warburton, who stars on the CBS sitcom "Rules of Engagement". Kristin Chenoweth, a bona fide Broadway star with two Tony Awards® to prove it, provides the voice of the brave alien Kilowatt and Kenan Thompson, another 'SNL' cast member, plays the ringmaster of the circus where Ham III performs as a human, make that, chimp cannonball. What They Had To Say? Andy Samberg: "What I liked most about the script was probably the space part. And the chimp part. I would say of my many totem spirits, chimp is definitely one of them, so I'm pretty much interested in any project that involves chimps. And if you put the two together, I mean, that's like, two full fans' worth of person."
Kenan Thompson: "For some reason, I love to see animals controlling spacecrafts and going to different places. It's kind of like pigs in space. You gotta love it. And it's about monkeys. I always love stuff about monkeys."
Cheryl Hines: "I got involved in Space Chimps through Barry Sonnenfeld. He sent me the script, and I read it and I thought it was a cute story. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the movie's about. The title alone kind of says it. I mean, my first reaction was, am I one of the chimps?"
Kristen Chenoweth: Like Cheryl, I had done RV with Barry Sonnenfeld. And he called me and said, 'I have something that I want you to read, no pressure. Please don't feel pressure. I'm just really thinking of you for it.' I read it and I then read it twice. I liked it."
Patrick Warburton: "I thought it was time for the subject to be dealt with on the big screen. I've always felt like chimps were the real astronauts. They were the first ones up there. They've never gotten enough credit, really. And it's a crime. This is an opportunity to make that right. Plus my kids are into space and monkeys, so this is perfect. Sometimes I like to just surprise the kids, you know. Here's a little something Daddy did. It's opening in theaters all over the world."
Andy Samberg: "I’m Ham III, the grandson of Ham, the original Space Chimp. This Ham's a little down and out, although he doesn't think of it that way. He's working at the circus, getting shot out of a cannon. They recruit Ham because he's a big name in the chimp world of space travel. "
Cheryl Hines: "My character, Lieutenant Luna, is second in command on this mission. She’s very proud that she gets to go. Then Luna and Ham see sparks, as you often do when you're stuck in a spaceship or on a new planet with someone."
Patrick Warburton: "Titan is the alpha male chimp. Commander Titan has been an astronaut for many, many years. And then here comes this chimp, Ham, who's nothing but trouble, a circus freak. He doesn't have much respect for Ham in the beginning, but they eventually become a team and they get a lot accomplished together. Titan’s a pretty much no-nonsense kind of guy. In real life, I get bossed around a lot. I have four kids and four dogs and a wife."
Kristen Chenoweth: "I play Kilowatt, a creature from space. I really didn't do a lot of research because of the space aspect of it and the alien aspect of it. She’s this precious little thing that has a big head, a huge head. I picture her as maybe green and she does have light around her. She's got a great heart. I did a lot of my own vocal warm-ups as my character. My background is in opera and I'm a singer. So I started thinking of some of the vocal exercises that we did when I was taking voice. I get great response from the booth. I relate it to being on stage in concert."
Andy Samberg: "I think I speak for everyone when I say that the appeal-o-meter for Space Chimps is going to go through the roof. (Not to be confused with the peel-o-meter, like on a banana). Space and chimps every time." Synopsis

When a five billion dollar US space agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency recruits Ham III, grandson of the first chimpanzee in space, to help retrieve the wayward craft. But Ham is a free-spirited circus performer more interested in zero gravity high jinks than living up to his illustrious heritage. All he wants to do is head back to the Circus and perform his next show. The simian slacker becomes a reluctant hero and learns the true meaning of courage as he and his crewmates, the plucky Lieutenant Luna and their by the book commander Titan, risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet from an evil dictator into whose hands the probe has fallen. Zartog hasn't quite worked out every aspect of the probe's Rover, but what he does know he's using to terrorize and dominate the population. Can he be stopped?

The Verdict "Perhaps the biggest hurdle "Space Chimps" faces is the fact that it is running up against the greatest animated production of all-time, "WALL•E". It's a hard ask to expect critics who have already seen "WALL•E", to stay focussed, a task many of them obviously are unable to do. The easiest thing for them is to make wildy unequal comparissons with "WALL•E" and use them to denegrate what really isn't a bad film. I like the honesty of NEW YORK TIMES film critic Neil Genzlinger who said, "Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: Space Chimps is hilarious." That statement is pretty close to the mark when it comes to assessing the target audience "Space Chimps" is aimed at. It's not aimed at grown-ups. It's aimed at little tackers. It's bright, colorful and the characters antics will grab their attention. The good news for parents, relatives or carers accompanying kids to see "Space Chimps" is; they won't feel as though they are undergoing some form of torture. There's enough here to ensure 'older' viewers don't suffer. At a time when parents are screaming out for 'family' films, "Space Chimps" is a bit of a god-send. Worth taking the kids to. SOLID 3 STARS." Crew Bytes "SPACE CHIMPS" was .......
directed by Kirk DeMicco ["Space Chimps"]; screenplay by Kirk DeMicco ["Quest for Camelot"] and Rob Moreland ["Ground Control" and "Thunder Pig"]; art direction by Matthias Lechner ["Help! I'm a Fish"]; casting by Matthew Jon Beck ["Monsters, Inc", "Finding Nemo", "Brother Bear" and "Home on the Range"]; production design by 1995 LAFCA Award winner Bo Welch ["The Lost Boys", "The Birdcage" and "Men In Black I & II"]; edited by Debbie Berman ["The Zero Sum" and "Within"]; cinematography by Jericca Cleland ["Space Chimps"]; original music by Chris P Bacon ["Blood Diamond", "The Water Horse" and "I Am Legend"]. Who's Who

Andy Samberg Cheryl Hines Jeff Daniels Patrick Warburton Kristin Chenoweth Kenan Thompson Carlos Alazraqui Zack Shada Omid Abtahi Patrick Breen Jane Lynch Kath Soucie Stanley Tucci Wally Wingert Jessica Gee Tom Kenny Jason Harris Lloyd Jay Keiser Tom Jacomb Curtis Augspurger

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Ham III Luna Zartog Titan Kilowatt Ringmaster Houston Comet Dr Jagu Dr Bob Dr Poole Dr Smothers Senator Splork/Infinity Probe/Pappy Ham Ship Voice/Infinity Probe/Additional Voices Newsreel Guard Cloud of Id Reporter #1 Reporter #2

Run Time 81 minutes Rated G [AUST] Copyright ©2008 - Vanguard - All Rights Reserved ©2008 All Rights Reserved - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages - Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.