You go into a movie called "Space Chimps" with certain preconceived notions. Assuming that it's not a documentary about the early days of the space program - and it's not - you figure it must be a kids' movie, and hope that it will be at the very least good, dumb fun.
Right on all counts.
"Space Chimps" tells the story of Ham III (voice of Andy Samberg, doing his best Ben Stiller), the grandson of Ham I, the first chimp astronaut. But the simian apple, as it were, has fallen far from the tree. Ham III trades on his lineage by working in a cheap circus, where he's blasted out of a rocket every night. Sometimes he lands on-target. Most times he doesn't. That's meant to show that he's a free spirit, though it comes off mostly as a poor sense of direction.
Meanwhile, a headline-loving senator (Stanley Tucci) wants answers as to why a probe has gone missing. The answer isn't what he expected: It's been sucked into a wormhole and come out on the other side of the universe. Sensing a good long news cycle with himself at the center, he demands that the chimps the space program has been training as a public-relations stunt be sent to find it.
They're certainly prepared. Titan (Patrick Warburton) is a by-the-book sort. Luna (Cheryl Hines) is an all-around good astronaut, and something of a chimp babe, to boot. Comet (Zack Shada) is the brains of the operation.
But they're not enough for the senator. He wants a chimp with star power.
Enter Ham. Not willingly, however. Ham likes the life of an underachiever and spends the first part of the movie scheming about how to get back to the big top.
Then, suddenly, off they go, blasting into space, without further explanation. Maybe most 4-year-olds won't notice or mind the sudden unexplained leap in plot, but, uh, what? Has Pixar taught us nothing?
Anyway, the probe has landed on a planet where it's being used by the evil Zartog (Jeff Daniels) to enslave its people, or whatever it is you'd call them. He has had a taste of Earth life and has enlisted the population to build a replica of a Las Vegas casino. Of course, that means diverting the goo that comes out of an about-to-blow volcano into the town below, which will destroy everyone's homes. But that's the kind of evil creature Zartog is.
Titan, Luna and Ham eventually show up, aided by light-bulb-headed Kilowatt (the always loud Kristin Chenoweth). Not a lot of surprises here, but there are a few good laughs aimed at grown-ups, and Ham is a big enough, well, ham to please the part of the crowd too young to have read or seen "The Right Stuff."
"Space Chimps," then, is exactly what you think it is. Nothing more, certainly, but at least nothing less. It's not going to make you forget "WALL-E" - or even think about it - but it'll keep the kids entertained for a while and give their parents a chuckle or two along the way.
Rated: G.
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