FLY ME TO THE MOON (Ben Stassen). 84 minutes. Opens Friday (August 15). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN
There’s enough mild fun here to keep the six-year-olds pleased and their adult minders from groaning out loud, but neither group seemed to be wowed at any point during a preview screening.
The thin, blandly told story keeps cutting away from its trio of adventurous young houseflies (who stow away aboard the Apollo 11 flight to join Neil Armstrong on his moon walk) to spend time on repetitive scenes of worried parents. The excitement drops to zero every time.
The animation is handsome and well executed. The 3-D is ably done, but only reaches its full potential in some whimsical zero-gravity play and the Apollo 11 flight, where for a few moments it inspires a genuine sense of awe and wonder and suggests that 3-D’s resurgence may do much to enhance future sci-fi movies.
Tim Curry voices a Soviet saboteur fly that’s shoehorned in to provide the semblance of a climax, and Christopher Lloyd plays lovable Grandpa.
The cast does its best, but the characters are clichés and the lines flat and unfunny. Every idea is repeated at least three times, as though writer Domonic Paris thinks kids are too dumb to get it the first time.
