vchimpanzee Disclaimer: I have no particular interest in chimps. The first email I ever sent was to what was at the time my favorite pop radio station, complimenting the chimp they had obviously hired to come up with their short-lived strange music mix.This turned out to be better than I expected. Sure, the humor was silly, but it was fun. The nerdy scientists had some of the best lines. And there were enjoyable jokes--if you're not expecting real quality, that is--from our heroes, the aliens, and the villain.This was also an inspiring story, because our heroes had to accomplish so much on their own, unable to communicate with home base. And their counterparts back home proved quite intelligent, even if humans could only hear screeching noises from them. The original Ham provided a touching moment from the great beyond.I don't recall any standout performances, but Kristin Chenoweth was so cute as a tiny alien creature with a beautiful operatic voice whose contribution proved valuable. Whenever she got scared or excited, she hit that high note so marvelously.It had to be intentional that Luna looked like Cheryl Hines. I don't recall any other characters being drawn to look like the corresponding voice actor, but she was really good-looking for a chimp. I don't actually think the real Cheryl Hines has that pretty a face, but I can see how one might think she is pretty. And the resemblance adds so much to Luna, making her seem more human.The G rating is a little surprising considering all the potty humor, but apparently more is considered acceptable these days. The "violence" of the villain freezing those who disagree isn't as bad as it looks.It's a worthwhile film, but nothing ground-breaking.

ccthemovieman-1 Have you seen movies that almost wore you out after 45 minutes? Im talking about too much action, too much bickering and yelling between people, too much happening the screen, too loud.....just too much. You want to cry, "enough, already....give us a few lulls!" That's how found this cute-at-first animated film which starts off great but quickly spirals into the "too much" category and never lets go. Maybe I'm just too old for this sort of thing; maybe this is what five or ten-year-olds want....but I'm not surprised this animated film wasn't a hit - with adults or some kids.Don't get wrong: there are a number of funny lines in here, the animation is great in spots, and some of the characters (i.e. "Kilowatt") are very appealing. It's just that the film feels rushed, right from the start. One can never just settle down and enjoy the stories, character and artwork. This story needed more lulls.It also need less ("wink" "wink") inside, pretentious remarks by the writers, who tried too hard to get their PC agendas in here throughout. The "heroes," the space chimps, were always bickering among themselves. That led to some funny put-down lines but also got tiring, too, after almost an hour of it. The villain, "Zartog," meanwhile, was just plain stupid. Nobody that silly/dumb, even in science fiction, could rule anyone.In all, it was just too disjointed and too frenetic - all the while being predictable - to enjoy. Although only 80 minutes in length, I found myself often checking how much time was left in the film.

mungflesh The writing in Space Chimps feels very Family Guy esquire, which I am not at all a fan of.Whilst there's (virtually) no offensive language or crudeness, the gags almost solely depend on quick-fire references to other films and TV shows etc. For me, this gets tedious and is a very lazy way to write comedy IMO. For my 3 1/2 year old, it's not possible for him to understand any of the references. He's too young for Space Chimps and if I had known, I wouldn't have taken him. Even for 8 year-olds I think the references would be way before their time. It's as if the gags are written ONLY for adults, which to me puts the film in a no-mans land where it is neither for kids nor their parents.The way CGI films should be made, is that a script meant for real actors, which is technically too costly to achieve "in the flesh", can then be made using CGI. In reality, there's probably a think-tank of people who design the visuals and then the script, which is why many of these ventures are weak.

TxMike Most of the voices provided here are by actors most of have never heard of, the exceptions being Jeff Daniels and Stan Tucci. Nevertheless, the voices are very nicely done.This is a story of modern day space exploration, but featuring the fact that we first sent Chimps up into space to verify that a near-human species could survive. We now know that they did, and then we did.Andy Samberg voices Ham III, the grandson of Ham I who was the first Chimp in space. Ham III is working in a circus and his specialty is being shot far into the air, through a hole in the tent, and then falling back through the hole and into padding. But we see that he mostly misses.An unmanned space probe is lost, apparently sucked into a far galaxy via a wormhole, so space agency bureaucrats come up with the idea to send Chimps, and they want Ham III because of his grandfather's feats.Ham III is not at all cooperative, but soon finds himself blasted into space with cute female Chimp Cheryl Hines as Luna. This makes his trip tolerable.They manage to get sucked into the same wormhole and crash land in this strange world with strange beings. But fortunately they all speak the same language and there is water and air on the planet. The rest of the story is about them surviving a ruthless dictator who is now using the lost space probe for his evil benefit. And then converting this craft into something that can get them back home to Earth, with the help of a soon to erupt volcano as the strange world's 3 suns align.This is just fluff of entertainment, but fun and funny fluff. Of course we know Chimps can't talk and repair sophisticated electronic gear, but we also know that Marty McFly can't travel through time in a Delorean. Sometimes we just have to put reality aside and enjoy what we see!