Huston, we have a problem! There are some houseflies in our
spaceship- Little do the astronauts know that the flies are going to save the
day…all with 3-D effects.
“Fly Me to the Moon” is an animated fantasy created
expressly for 3-D which makes the viewers feel like they are truly in a trip to
the moon. The effects are really good and complex as the movie is the first
animated movie made especially for the 3-D format. As for the viewers, they
will most likely be children, little children who will beg their parents to
take them see the cartoon…I mean movie.
While the children will be heard saying “wow” and “how cool”
most of the time (thanks to the visual effects), their parents or the people who
came out of curiosity will most likely lose their interest in the first 5
minutes of the movie. Why? Because the story is boring and full of clichés
like..a trip to the moon, a Russian fly spy, zero-gravity effects, sabotage,
saving the day, happy ending..so on and so fourth.
So, basically the movie is all about the effects which are
enough to make you want to go and see the movie but the story won’t be able to
make you stay until the end…maybe your children will.
The action revolves around 3 little houseflies Nat, Scooter
and IQ, with the voices of Trevor Gagnon, David Gore and Philip Bolden, who are
3 adolescents living in a dump near Cape Kennedy
with their families. Having his grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) tell him
stories about the time he was on the same flight as Amelia Earhart and flew
across the Atlantic, Nat gets the idea to hide inside the Apollo and fly to the
Moon. Convincing his friends Scooter (the omnipresent funny dude) and IQ (the
omnipresent intelligent dude) to join him, they all manage to get into the 1969
spacecraft, being comrades with Neil Armstrong and the rest of the crew.
All is well until..things..eventualy go wrong…and again,
full of clichés: the Russians get mad at the U.S. because they got ahead in the
space race and they send a spy. No, not a human spy but a fly-spy (Tim Curry) to
sabotage the plans. So, American flies are not so special, as Russian flies
also thought of flying to the Moon. As flies are no match for human astronauts,
Nat, Scooter and IQ have to save the mission. Oh, when did all get so complicated
for out poor little flies? I remember a time when all they had to do is buzz
away and eat all kind of yucky stuff..now, all of a sudden, they’re off to save
the day.
Surprisingly (NOT!) all ends well and the three little flies
are happy and on the Moon while viewers have left the cinema.
Written by Domonic Paris and directed by Ben Stassen, the
movie is right to brag about its sophisticated effects, but the plot is not at
all special or original..or..attractive,but I’m sure kids will love it.
Fly Me to the Moon
Directed by Ben Stassen
Written by Domonic Paris
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
With the voices of Christopher Lloyd (Grandpa), Kelly Ripa
(Nat’s Mom), Nicollette Sheridan (Nadia), Tim Curry (Yegor), Trevor Gagnon
(Nat), Philip Daniel Bolden (I.Q.), David Gore (Scooter), Ed Begley Jr.
(Poopchev), Adrienne Barbeau (Scooter’s Mom), Robert Patrick (Louie) and Buzz
Aldrin (Himself).
