Film Review: 'Fly Me to the Moon' Launches in 3-D

At its heart, the new film "Fly Me to the Moon" offers immersive 3-D effects that will likely entertain kids with visions of America?s first lunar landing of even if its story falls flat with parents.

Billed as the first animated film made exclusively in 3-D, the movie follows three young flies as they tag along with NASA?s Apollo 11 mission to land the first astronauts on the moon in 1969.

Leading the trio is Nat (voiced by Trevor Gagnon), who enlists the aid of his pals — the bespectacled pal IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden) and tubby Scooter (David Gore) — to hitch a ride aboard Apollo 11 and escape their terrestrial life in a local junkyard.

Directed by Ben Stassen, ?Fly Me to the Moon? is aimed at being both educational and entertaining. But while it offers a competent portrayal of NASA?s moon landing and a housefly version of the competitive space race between the U.S. and former Soviet Union, the story?s action and simplistic dialogue seem geared solely towards young children with the inevitable burp and fart jokes.

Nat and his friends enjoy weightlessness, stow away in the spacesuits of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for their historic moonwalk and take advantage of their miniscule size to save the mission when things go awry. Meanwhile, their family and friends — including Nat?s adventurer granddad voiced by Christopher Lloyd — are called upon to thwart some Soviet spy flies at NASA?s Mission Control.

A short-lived housefly is an odd, if perhaps practical, creature through which to tell the story of Apollo 11. But to his credit, Stassen avoids peppering the film with in-your-face 3-D antics, and instead uses the technology to try and build a larger sense of immersion. 

And while some history buffs may complain at some inconsistencies in the mission?s presentation, the rocket, Apollo capsule and moon lander themselves are impressively rendered. The movie is also the second animated film of the summer after ?Space Chimps? to draw on NASA's factual history, which hits the 50-year mark this year, for fictional adventure.

If little else, a cameo by a real-life Apollo 11 Aldrin, who lets viewers know that his historic flight actually reached the moon without the help if a trio of fly stowaways, is good for a chuckle for the adult set.

Aldrin, who has been working on his own to promote human spaceflight, told SPACE.com that efforts like ?Fly Me to the Moon? are just one way to try and encourage today?s youth to pursue math, science and space-related studies.

?I just think it?s one of the best combinations of informative history and entertainment in high technology,? Aldrin told SPACE.com of the film. ?It?s mixed with the reality and I just am so happy the way that it has turned out.?

"Fly Me to the Moon," is rated G and opens in theaters today. Running time: 84 minutes.

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