MPAA Rating: G
Genre: Computer Animated/Adventure/Family
Age range: Ages 4 and up
Runtime: 81 mintes
Starring: Voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, Stanley Tucci
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: July 18, 2008
Space Chimps - Summary
Ham III is the great-grandson of the famous Ham, the first chimp to travel into space; why then, is he blasting off out of a cannon at the circus? Meanwhile, back at the Space Agency, three other chimpanzees are being trained for much greater things. In fact, when a Space Agency probe disappears through an intergalactic wormhole, a new mission to be manned by the three chimps is planned. A publicity-minded senator decides that Ham III would be the best poster chimp for the agency, though, and he is immediately brought in to replace one of the trained chimpanzees.
Ham may be a chimp, but he is reluctant to be the Space Agency's chump. Unfortunatley, he soon discovers that his class of primate has even less say than he thought, and he finds himself traveling through a wormhole in space with no way to override. On the other side, he and his team -- the lovely Lieutenant Luna and the brawny Commander Titan -- discover that there is life on another planet, and an alien named Zartog has been using the Space Agency's probe for evil purposes.
The chimps have 24 hours to secure themselves in the spaceship and get back to earth, but the situation on Zartog's planet may require more time to rectify. Ham, Luna and Titan must make a decision whether to stay and help the inhabitants of this distant planet, or play it safe and let the human's machine carry them safely back home.
Photo credit: Vanguard Animation
Space Chimps - Guide Review for Parents
The Space Chimps movie has some funny moments, the characters are fairly well developed, and the animation is presentable; the best thing about the movie, however, is the story premise. An animated story about chimpanzees in the space program is not a been-there-done-that experience, and it pays tribute to the real Ham, the first chimpanzee to go into outer space. Kids will love watching three chimps discover a new world and attempt to help its inhabitants.
Space Chimps did earn a G rating, but there is some content that parents may want to be aware of. The movie contains a lot of mild innuendo, and while most of these jokes will be over young kids' heads, older kids may pick up on them.
The movie also contains some violence mostly due to the teal-colored alien Zartog, who often makes good on his threats to dunk misbehaving followers into the "freznar," which freezes them solid (but they are still alive and can look around). The main characters also encounter a few hostile alien monsters, and one of them eats Kilowatt, an alien friend (she turns out to be fine in the end).
*For more detailed examples of this movie's content, please see the overview below.Space Chimps - Content Overview
The following lists a few of the most prominent examples of possibly offensive content in the movie (may contain spoilers):Violence (Medium)
- Zartog uses the space probe against his fellow aliens and establishes himself as ruler. He threatens to dunk anyone who disobeys in "freznar," a substance that freezes them solid, although they can still look around and if the freznar shell is broken they are fine.
- Some physical comedy occurs in the movie, including shooting a chip out of a circus cannon and some pretty harsh landings (of course the chimps are never badly injured).
- Aliens on flying creatures shoot spear-like objects at the chimps. A "flesh devouring beast" eats an alien friend of the chimps, but we later find out that the friend is fine (because the monster didn't chew and just swallowed him, so he was pooped out and came out OK, which is all described in the movie).
Sex/Nudity (Medium)
- Ham III is obviously attracted to Luna. He speaks to her openly about his feelings, and some jokes containing innuendo are made. Ham asks Luna what they are going to name their children, for example.
- Other jokes are made, like a reference to "chimps gone wild," but the innuendo will probably escape young kids.
Profanity (Medium)
- The phrase "Oh Lord" is used several times, and the phrase "Oh my God!" is used.
- The phrase "kicked his butt" is used.
Alcohol/Drugs (Low)
- Ham insinuates that another character is drunk because of the way the character is acting.
Bad/Disrespectful Behavior (High)
- Name calling in the movie includes words such as: dork, nerd, idiot, poop thrower, and others.
- In a moment of anger, Titan exclaims about Ham, "I'm gonna kill him!"
- Zartog uses others and threatens them. He claims that he will destroy the chimps.
Scary Scenes (Low)
- Three chimps are sent into space to travel through a wormhole and see what is on the other side. It is described as a dangerous mission wherein possible death could occur. Two of the chimps pass out and the other has to crash land the plane on a new planet.
- The planet contains some alien creatures who are unfriendly and come after the chimps shooting them with spear-like objects. The chimps also run into some alien monsters such as vines with an eye and teeth and a flesh-eating beast. (see also, scenes listed under "violence")
Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Low)
- Kilowatt decides to get eaten by the beast in order to save the chimps. The chimps are sad for Kilowatt when they think she was eaten.
- The chimps realize that they were not really in control of the mission and that they were only sent so that no humans would get hurt.
- One of the chimps has to fix a part on the space ship while in flight and the ship crashes. At first, the others think that the chimp is dead, but it all turns out OK.
Space Chimps - Discuss the Movie
- After watching Space Chimps, children may have questions about the following topics: astronauts (especially chimpanzee and animal astronauts), the space program, wormholes, aliens, life on other planets.
