FLY ME TO THE MOON 3D
Belgium, 2008, 84 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Christopher Lloyd, Tim Currie, Robert Patrick, Kelly Ripa, Trevor Gagnon, Philip Bolden, Nicolette Sheridan, Ed Begley Jr, David Gore, Adrienne Barbeau. Buzz Aldrin as himself.
Directed by Ben Stassen.
It's not just fly to the moon but 'flies to the moon'. How often have we said that we would like to be a fly on the wall to be present at some event. This animated film takes the saying to its logical space age conclusion. On Apollo 11 there were some stowaway flies who shared in the voyage and one who walked on the moon with Buzz Aldrin (though Aldrin himself appears at the end to reassure us that there really were no 'contaminants' on the moon mission).
This is an amiable blend of fantasy for children and a lesson on the exploration of space. The three young flies are bright company: one is ordinary, one is bespectacled and the other eats a lot and the only way he can enter the link of the moon capsule back to the spacecraft is a windbreaking experience. But, bye and large, that is about the only 'rude' thing in a film that is wholesome for (younger) family audiences.
Quite some attention is given to the moon voyage – and it looks quite impressive in very sharp 3D photography.
There is also a reminder of Cold War espionage and sabotage as well as the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the US in the 1950s and 1960s in a sub-plot where a glamorous fly (does seem a contradiction in terms but seems plausible here!! and she is voiced by Nicolette Sheridan) from Russia comes to help out her old flame, now Grandpa, to stop Igor and other Soviet fly agents from destroying the moon mission. Christopher Lloyd is a cheery, vigorous voice for Grandpa.
An animated film that is lightly amusing and instructive.
1.An entertaining family film? The blend of animation? Space exploration? For what target audience?
2.The animation and its style, the flies and their world? The contrast with Cape Canaveral and the space centre? The shuttle, the moon landing? The blend of the children’s world with the actual world? The 3D and its effect?
3.A film made on the European continent, the American perspective? The memories of the cold war, Soviet-American? rivalry? Espionage, sabotage?
4.The flies’ world, the parallels with the human world? The setting in Florida at Cape Canaveral? The three young flies, the ordinary young fly, the fat always-eating fly, the bespectacled fly? Their being together, the fat fly always eating? The watching of the space shuttle?
5.The background of space technology and exploration in the 1950s? The Sputnik, Russian supremacy, Yuri Gagarin? The American rivalry? The monkeys in space? Kennedy and the ambition for going to the moon? 1969, the development of technology, the Apollo spacecrafts? Preparation for the moon landing?
6.The flight to the moon, the astronauts, life in the shuttle? Loss of gravity? The flies in the container, it breaking? Their arrival on the moon? The decision that Nat should go? His being the initiator? The other two flies watching? The exhilaration of the moon walk for Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, the famous images, the photo, the flag, the famous words about the giant step? And the giant step for the flies? The fly family watching the television?
7.The Russian background, the Russian spies? Nadia, the past experience with Grandpa? Her decision to come to America, helping out against the sabotage? Igor and his associates? In the space centre, the plans, Grandpa and the fight? Nadia and her saving the day? Nat’s mother and her also intervening?
8.Grandpa’s background, his story about Amelia Earhart? His saving her life? His work in aerodynamics over the years? The importance of the flies and their ability? His hopes to go to the moon, happy that Nat went?
9.The domestic comedy with the flies? Jokes about flies and their eating habits, their role in the world? The achievement with the space shuttle? The flies going to the moon? The tickertape parade at the end? The happy ever after?
