| Written by Low Lai Chow,
on Tuesday, 12 August 2008
|
Published in : Culture, Flicks |
Talking simians. You see them in movies a lot. They are scary s**t. Oh, hang on, we aren't talking about Planet of the Apes or our last trip to the zoo. Sorry.
Space Chimps has a simple premise: when a US$5 billion space agency probe gets sucked into an intergalactic wormhole, bochup circus stunt monkey Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) is shot into space with fellow simian astronauts, the no-nonsense Lt. Luna (Cheryl Hines) and burly Titan (Patrick Warburton) to investigate.
 There they encounter the evil alien dictator Zartog, who has harnessed said space agency probe to oppress his planet's inhabitants. One of them is the ridiculous Kilowatt (right), a Darwin-defying creature whose huge head lights up like a lightbulb when it is frightened.
Our chimp mate Ham III's got a lot of baggage to discard -- banana-papa Ham I was the first chimp in space, try topping that. Uncannily, just like how Ham III has to live up to his family's pioneering space exploratory track record, Vanguard Animation's Space Chimps has had to live up to, if not surmount, a recent chain of impressive animated films, like DreamWorks' irreverent Kung Fu Panda and Pixar's Wall-E (screening soon in Singapore).
Not to mention Shrek too, whose lofty shadow looms huge over its (and Space Chimps') creator John H. Williams.
But instead of showing off all it can do, Space Chimps, much like its protagonist Ham III, goes for the slacker option: it totally disregards its competition and just gets on humbly with its fast and furious chimp puns ("Chimp my ride", "chimp-pressive" etc), and blink-and-miss pop-culture references. Take, for instance, this affirmative exchange between the chimps:
Titan: Are you in an aluminium suit?
Ham III: Yes.
Titan: Are you in a rocket?
Ham III: Yes.
Titan: In outer space?
Ham III: Yes.
Titan: Are you David Bowie?
Ham III: ... no.
The end result can be vexingly jarring and head-scratching at bits. Scenes are self-contained, and when we say 'self-contained', we mean just that, with startling transitions from one scene to the next.
And the larger-than-life punch which we have come to expect of animation isn't always apparent; well evidenced by how the pre-primary son of a radio personality who sat next to us switched from a fidgety mode to such fierce boredom, he finally dozed off.
"HEY LOOK, EVEN THE KID'S ASLEEP!"
"WE TRIED OUR BEST, YOU KNOW."
That said, we have nothing but respect toward the film's non-pretentious bravery. While Space Chimps doesn't get extra brownie points for its non-existent absorbing storytelling or lack of pioneering triumphs over the usual-suspect animation incumbents, it is a confident stab with numerous pockets of charms, if you keep your eyes open.
If Vanguard Animation continues poking somehow, we're sure we'll soon see something good.
Space Chimps opens in theatres islandwide on Aug 14.
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THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF AUG 11-17 :: The Wash Your Hands Issue
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