Fly Me to the Moon is the first animated movie to be created and shot entirely in 3D. Impressive, maybe, but no amount of fiddling with funny glasses in the theatre will keep you from noticing a weak storyline.
It's 1969, and three young houseflies decide to become the first insects on the moon -- by sneaking onto the Apollo 11 space flight. The determined flies are Scooter (voiced by David Gore), Nat (Trevor Gagnon) and IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden)), and they've all watched as monkeys and other life forms get shot into space. Now that humans are going to the moon, the boys want to go too. They've all listened to grandfather's tales of flying with Amelia Earhart, and they're thirsty for adventure.
To stow away on Apollo 11, the young flies begin their journey by hiding out in the lunchbox of a NASA employee. I.Q. gets swatted, but he recovers, and there's a big, menacing dog to contend with, but the flies eventually get on that space ship and leave the earth's atmosphere. Their moms are worried and upset.
The flies enjoy weightlessness and appear on national TV. They are observed by some Russian flies who feel quite competitive about the space race, and those Cold War flies, led by the fly Poopchev (Ed Begley Jr.) determine to sabotage the American flies' effort. That's one way to introduce conflict into the story, even if it makes no sense to the kids in the audience.
Eventually, the humans notice that they have three uninvited guests on board the ship. The fly boys get stuffed into a test tube jail, but they break out in time to fix an electrical problem on the ship and save the day.
When Neil Armstrong goes for a stroll on the surface of the moon, little Nat goes with him. The houseflies may have added a wrinkle to an already complicated space flight, but as one of the astronauts proudly points out, "They are American flies, after all." Here is where your popcorn bucket can double as a barf bag.
Weird expressions of entomological jingoism aside, Fly Me to the Moon is a dull outing that appears to be an exercise in 3D technology and little more. (The idea that poo-eating house flies make cute l'il cartoon heroes? Don't get me started.) The film manages to present the Apollo 11 moon landing and the whole space race of the era without capturing one bit of the attendant excitement or tension; that's quite a feat.
And the humour runs to lines such as, "Oh, my Lord of the flies!" an expression used by one of the mother flies. It's mildly amusing the first time she says it.
By the third time, a viewer feels a tad homicidal. Insecticidal. Whatever.
Fly Me to the Moon has some very cool 3D moments, especially at the beginning, when objects really do seem to leap off the screen. For that reason, the movie might well appeal to kids, because what do they know?
At the end of Fly Me to the Moon, astronaut Buzz Aldrin shows up on screen to talk about the space program and point out that there really were no flies on the Apollo 11 mission. Talk about gilding the lily.
(This film is rated G)
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