Space Chimps

Product Description When a $5 billion Space Agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency recruits Ham III, grandson of the first chimpanzee in space, to help retrieve the wayward craft. But Ham is a free-spirited circus performer more interested in zero gravity high jinks than living up to his illustrious heritage. The simian slacker becomes a reluctant hero and learns the true meaning of courage as he and his crewmates, the plucky Lieutenant Luna and their by-the-book commander, Titan, risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet from an evil dictator. The Right Stuff meets the wrong stuff in this witty, out-of-this-world adventure. State-of-the-art CGI animation from Vanguard Animation, makers of the avian charmer Valiant, take this tale of a reluctant astronaut into another dimension. Amazon.com Youngsters probably don't know that a long time ago, chimpanzees were sent into space in NASA rockets before astronauts got the chance to go. But they will certainly know more about that historical fact after seeing the very clever and funny Space Chimps, a computer-animated film in which primates are sent off-planet once again by a space agency. When a probe from Earth gets zapped into a wormhole and ends up in the hands of a wannabe tyrant (voiced by Jeff Daniels) on a distant planet, a chimp crew is thrust in that same direction to see what's up. The simian team includes a by-the-book commander (Patrick Warburton), a brilliant scientist (Cheryl Hines), and a wild card named Ham III (Andy Samberg), a circus chimp whose grandfather happened to be an astronaut legend in the old space program. The script by Kirk De Micco and Robert Moreland is like a string of lighted firecrackers: rapid-fire puns, wisecracks, and blink-and-you'll-miss-them visual gags that will appeal to every age. De Micco, making his directorial debut, keeps the comic engine humming, but he also supervises radically different art direction schemes underscoring how different Earth is from the Seussian-like planet on which Ham and the other visitors find themselves. Ratcheting up the humor even more are three NASA-nerds harboring party animals within their pocket-protector-covered hearts, and a funny performance by Stanley Tucci ( Big Night) as an imperious senator. --Tom Keogh