'Fly Me to the Moon' (2008) - Movie Review for Parents

MPAA Rating: G
Genre: CG Animated/3D/Family/Comedy
Age range: Ages 3 and up
Runtime: Approx. 89 minutes
Starring: (voices of) Kelly Ripa, Ed Begley Jr, Nicollette Sheridan, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, Philip Bolden, David Gore, Trevor Gagnon, Buzz Aldrin
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: August 15, 2008

Fly Me to the Moon - Summary

Nat (Trevor Gagnon) is a fly who was born for adventure. Hearing his granfather's (Christopher Lloyd) exciting tales, including the one about the time he flew with Amelia Earhart, has inspired Nat to do something just as grand. Now, he has the perfect opportunity -- the year is 1969, and the humans are about to send a manned rocket ship to the moon. All Nat has to do is convince his pals, IQ (Philip Daniel Bolden) and Scooter (David Gore), to come along for the ride.

Nat is able to sneak past his mother (Kelly Ripa) and get himself and his friends onto Apollo 11, but that turns out to be the easy part. Among other mishaps involving Nat and his friends, NASA realizes that there are "contaminants" in the spacecraft, and the astronauts are instructed to catch the flies. Meanwhile, as the three fly friends are struggle to get to the moon, the mission is endangered by sabotage from the ground.

Angry about the American's imminent success in space, Russian spy flies are out to ensure the mission fails. Luckily, Grandpa's old friend Nadia (Nicolette Sheridan) warns him of the danger, and he sets out to handle things at ground control. Between the trouble in space and what's going on at ground control, NASA will never know how much they owe to the brave McFly family.

Fly Me to the Moon - Guide Review

Kids will find Fly Me to the Moon to be a fun and educational adventure, especially if they see it in 3D. The movie contains a couple of scenes that really pop in 3D and were obviously created with kids' sense of wonder and humor in mind. Fly Me to the Moon is solidly directed at young kids and doesn't contain the adult-aimed humor that many animated movies do, but there are a few funny parts, and the story is fairly interesting for the whole family.

This G-rated flick does have one feisty character -- Grandpa McFly loves to talk about the good old days, and he doesn't leave out comments about how he could "put away the vodka," and such. He also asks Nat, "Know any hotties who wanna go honey dippin'?"

The movie contains a few mild words that parents probably wouldn't want kids to repeat, and there is one fighting scene where the nemesis wields a knife (the enemies in the movie are Russian flies, so parents may have to explain the space race to kids, and the tensions that existed between the US and Russia). Moments of peril regarding this and other scenes in the movie are relatively brief, but may be frightening or suspenseful for very young children.

*For more detailed examples of this movie's content, please see the overview below.

Fly Me to the Moon - Content Overview

The following lists a few of the most prominent examples of possibly offensive content in the movie (may contain spoilers):

Violence (Medium)
- Russian flies seek to sabotage the space mission. The lead spy, Yegor, is a scar-faced villain who fights with Nat's friends and family as they try to stop him.
- Yegor traps Grandpa by turning on a large fan that sucks him toward it. Grandpa has to hang on for dear life to keep from being sucked into the fan.
- Yegor fights with Grandpa and other flies, and in one fight he pulls out a knife.

Sex/Nudity (Low)
- Grandpa says, "Know any hotties who wanna go honey dippin'?" to Nat.
- Grandpa talks about Nadia and her kiss. He kisses Nadia.

Language (Medium)
- Nat's Mother frequently uses the phrase "Oh Lord of the Flies!"
- The words "butt," "crap," "idiot," "stupid," and "losers" are used.
- The phrase "I should kill you!" is used.

Alcohol/Drugs (Medium)
- Grandpa makes jokes about how he used to "put away the vodka".
- Grandpa jokes about flies on a beer can.
- An ashtray is shown and cigarette butts can be seen.

Bad/Disrespectful Behavior (Medium)
- Name calling in the movie includes words such as: idiot, pipsqueaks, stupid, fatso, and others.
- Nat and his friends sneak out behind their mother's backs to try and hitch a ride on Apollo 11.
- Nat's grandfather, upon seeing Nat's mother faint for the umpteenth time due to a stressful situation, says disgustedly, "Women!"

Scary Scenes (Low)
- Grandpa and others fight with Yegor and his agents.
- Nat, Scooter, and IQ are trapped in a glass tube. At first, they are unconscious and Nat is afraid they are hurt or dead. Later, IQ is afraid that Nat and Scooter were trapped in the lunar module and would not make it home. (see also, scenes listed under "violence")

Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Low)
- Nat and IQ worry that Scooter has been squished, but he turns out to be fine. A couple of other scenes involve similar situations in which the flies briefly fear for the life or safety of one or more of their friends.

Fly Me to the Moon - Discuss the Movie

• After watching Fly Me to the Moon, children may have questions about the following topics: astronauts, the space program, Apollo 11 and flying to the moon, flies' life span, vodka, Russian/US relations, the Space Race, Amelia Earhart’s cross-Atlantic flight, the first chimp in space.