Fly Me to the Moon
In July 1969, NASA Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. In Fly Me to the Moon, the animated retelling of the 1969 Apollo II mission, three fictional Florida houseflies hitch a ride on the historic flight - and launch filmmaking into an all-new realm of 3-D wonder.
Directed by Ben Stassen, and written by Dominic Paris (based on a story by Gina Gallo and Paris), Fly Me to the Moon is the first animated feature to be created and released exclusively for 3-D. Hollywood has journeyed into the realm of 3-D off and on since the early 1900's, but the new 3-D effects in Fly are sophisticated and incorporated into the design of the film; they're not the odd cheap tricks and in-your-face gimmicks seen in past 3-D projects. In this film you'll actually find yourself swatting at the flies in the air; flies clad in their own little NASA-inspired space suits, no less.
The whirring insect trio is led by the adventurous day dreamer, Nat (Trevor Gagnon), whose Gramps tells of his own youthful wild days flying with the likes of Amelia Earhart. Then there's the brainy-nay-dweeby, IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden). And rounding out the space-trotting threesome is the pudgy Scooter (David Gore). While these Class Diptera buddies are in flight, they handle some space capsule repair work and even go along with Armstrong on their momentous moonwalk, while back on earth, Gramps and Nat's mom (Kelly Ripa) attempt to thwart a Russian sabotage plot led by enemy operatives (Tim Curry and Ed Begley, Jr.).
Fly is well meaning in its intent to entertain and educate the whole family, but the storytelling falls a little short. I'm not sure that even entomologists find flies and squirming baby maggots all that fascinating, let alone cute. And there's some Cold War history that parents may have a hard time explaining to youngsters. It's a nice lesson for children about the historic moon landing, and the real moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin, makes a live-action cameo at the end, but it's the 3-D fun house that keeps the film in flight. Fly will likely pass muster with most youngsters, however parents may be squirming in their seats much like the baby maggots on the screen.
The one thing we can all agree on with Fly Me to the Moon, however, is that when we don our 3-D glasses now - and in the years to come - we're in for much more than the predictable 3-D ploys of the past. Stassen, whose company nWave pioneered 3-D films for large-screen IMAX cinemas, has crafted a technically proficient cartoon with a lot of 3-D fun that has launched a new wave of animation. In fact, DreamWorks and Disney are both jumping on the bandwagon in forthcoming animated films, and James Cameron and Tim Burton each have 3-D projects in the works. No longer a gimmick and much more than a fad - digital technology is creating 3-D effects that are genuinely new and improved.
Fly Me to the Moon has some mild gross-out humor like flies burping and sneezing in your face and even a few dung jokes, but in the 3-D effects department, the eagle has landed.
By Sara-Lynn White
The opinions expressed in this review does not necessarily represent the opinions of Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios.
