Summer Movie Suicide Mission No. 22: Space Chimps

In which one man attempts to view every summer blockbuster for the entire season, regardless of taste, genre, or primates in outer space.

We’re living in a post-Dark Knight universe now, and, for all intents and purposes, that film heralded the end of the summer movie season. While there are some anticipated films left before summer’s out (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, The Clone Wars) which are sure to make some pretty nice box office, there’s really nothing left that rivals the sheer spectacle of the huge Batman installment and some of the other actioners that preceded it. What we’re left with is a pretty good bit of filler, as throughout August the movies will roll into and out of theaters at a pretty fevered pace, with as many as four movies arriving per week. A pretty tall order for someone who has to watch all of them, but I’ll manage.

Space Chimps, which premiered in late July and disappeared pretty quickly, marks the first strain of the summertime death rattle, one of the last kid-friendly flicks to hit theaters before the little bastards pack it up and head back to school. The family friendly fare, though, has been pretty consistently good throughout the season. WALL-E rivals only The Dark Knight for the honor of best film of the summer, and Kung Fu Panda was a nice surprise. Space Chimps, though, marks a film with less ambition and focus than either of those two rivals. If you could even call them rivals, as I don’t think Starz Media is really playing in the same league as Pixar or Dreamworks.

Despite the laughs that greeted me every time I told someone that I’d just seen a movie called “Space Chimps,” the film itself is not nearly as terrible as it should have been. First, it’s delightfully short. I’ve found all summer that brevity is almost always a blessing. Second, Chimps presents a world that’s nice enough to look at, even as the story flies off the rails a bit. The true history of chimpanzees used for early tests in space travel provides an interesting backdrop for a narrative, but this film fails to do anything with it.

The casting is, perhaps typically for a third or fourth-tier animated feature, not really up to snuff. Often studios cast well-known stars in voice acting roles, not recognizing that voiceover work is an altogether different skill from a typical on-screen appearance. Sometimes this strategy pays off, but more often than not, it doesn’t. Space Chimps reaches for the best it can get in terms of talent, ultimately deciding that anyone with a recognizable name will suffice, even though none of these B-listers are likely to bring in an audience by name alone. The producers would have been better off casting professional voice talent rather than just grabbing the likes of Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Andy Samberg (”Lazy Sunday,” “Dick in a Box”), who just read their lines pretty aimlessly. I also have a personal predisposition against Patrick Warburton (playing the third-billed chimp; I don’t think anyone really cares about this movie enough for me to bother with a summary), who’s a seasoned voice actor but has little by way of range and has pretty much worn out his welcome with me.

Of all the movies I’ve seen this summer, Chimps is likely the most forgettable. Even sitting in the theater, I kind of felt like I had just surfed across HBO Family, found it sitting there, and tuned out for 80 minutes. This is background noise for the kiddies. I’d strongly recommend it for any frantic parents who see it in the five dollar bin at Wal-Mart. I just wouldn’t recommend it for anyone else.

Film: Space Chimps
Director: Kirk Di Micco
Stars: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Daniels

Viewing Situation: Weekday matinee, 3 people, one child, one mother in the lobby on her cell phone; digital projection
Rotten Tomatoes Average: 33%
My Grade (Out of 10): 3

Next Up: Step Brothers