Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Space Chimps Review
















Space Chimps

 
Release Date: 25th September 2008 - Australia


Production Companies
Vanguard Animation
Odyssey Entertainment
Starz Animation
Starz!
Studiopolis
The Weinstein Company 
 
Distribution
Roadshow Distribution


Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 77 minutes


Budget: $37,000,000

Box Office Gross: $64,834,964
(Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Ham III, the grandson of the first chimp astronaut, is blasted off into space by an opportunity-seeking senator. Soon, the fun-loving chimp has to get serious about the mission at hand; ridding a far-away planet of their nefarious leader. Fortunately for Ham III, two of his simian peers are along for the ride. (Source - IMDb)


Voice Cast
Andy Samberg - Ham III
Cheryl Hines - Luna
Patrick Warburton - Titan
Jeff Daniels - Zartog
Kristin Chenoweth - Kilowatt
Kenan Thompson - Ringmaster
Zack Shada - Comet/Nava Boy
Carlos Alazraqui - Houston
Omid Abtahi - Dr. Jagu
Patrick Breen - Dr. Bob
Jane Lynch - Dr. Poole
Kath Soucie - Dr. Smothers
Stanley Tucci - Senator
Wally Wingert - Splork/
Various

Crew
Story/Screenplay/Director - Kirk De Micco
Screenplay - Robert Moreland and Joe Piscatella (Uncredited)
Additional Screenplay Material - Jason Mayland
Executive Producers - Eric M. Bennett, Morris Berger, Neil Braun, Steve Brown, Jerry Davis and John W. Hyde
Producers - John H. Williams and Barry Sonnenfield
Co-Producer - Curtis Augspurger
Production Designer - Bo Welch
Additional Production
Designers - Keith Graves
and Deane Taylor
Concept Designer - Tohru Patrick Awa
Character Designer/Storyboard Artist - Sterling Sheehy
Character Designers - Stephanie Choi,
Peter DeSeve, Harald Siepermann and Eddie Yang
Animation Director - Adam Wood
Supervising Animators - Claus Pedersen
and Graham Silva
Background Designer - Jose Martinez
Lighting Director: Vanguard Animation - Erik Mattson
Lighting Supervisor - David Hirst
Cinematography - Jericca Clelamd
Head of Layout/Visual Effects - Steven Elford
Film Editor - Debbie Berman
Supervising Editor - Tom Finan
Music - Chris Bacon
Composers: Additional Music - Blue Man Group
and Gad Emile Zeitune


Review
Vanguard Animation, the studio headed by one of the producers of 'Shrek' has been producing a few animated films in the past decade and each of them were ranked as okay to mediocre. Their third movie 'SPACE CHIMPS' had appalling box office takings it was outranked by its formidable competitor 'WALL-E'. While it wasn't a surprise hit by any chance, the film however did spawn a sequel that was never released in theatres. The original movie however feels like an animated movie that wastes its potential and was literally written by monkeys on typewriters. The animation isn't too great and the story-line is much too bland and not original enough. The over-abundance of ape puns were all over the movie like it's all covered with monkey paw-prints. A few bits of comedy remained funny and most of the other jokes don't quite get the same laugh from its intended audience.

The voice cast is imperfect, particularly Andy Samberg who is not a horrible actor but tries to give his character a daredevil persona which falls flat. Jeff Daniels who was a great actor, from his extraordinary supporting and leading parts in acting, drama and comedy has been miscast in the role as the evil alien Zartog and this may be the reason why he never has been offered any more voices in the animated features. Stanley Tucci had bad luck to voice a certain senator who seems to care about himself more than NASA as well as the opportunity that he craves. Only Patrick Warburton succeeds in following the characterisation of by-the-book chimp Titan and he seems to be more quick to follow an ill-gotten script.

Monkey see, monkey don't, this is the phrase I would use to sum up my review. 'SPACE CHIMPS' is a simple, yet juvenile family animation for young kids.

Star rating: (4/10) Below Average

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