Nappaland Movies

☼☼☼

FLY ME TO THE MOON (G)

Plot Summary: Three young flies make the adventure of a lifetime when they hitch a ride to the moon.

Reason for the Rating: N/A.

There is almost nothing cuter than seeing a child in a 3-D movie. A small face wearing big glasses, and little hands reaching out to touch something that isn’t there. The sweetness and innocence just makes you want to reach out and give a big hug. And really, that’s about the best part of this movie.

Fly Me To The Moon is a 3-D adventure that grabs our attention because, honestly, who hasn’t dreamed about traveling to outer space, seeing earth from the moon’s perspective, and floating in weightlessness? Nat, I.Q, and Scooter (voiced by Trevor Gagnon, Philip Bolden, and David Gore) are three adolescent flies who dream the same dream. A dream which has been encouraged by Nat’s Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd), who often re-lives his adventures of flying around the world with Amelia Earhart. As their luck would have it, Apollo 11 is about to launch, and these three flies make it aboard just in time for take-off.

While the adventure they have is fun, it’s just not all that interesting or engaging for the audience, nor is it funny. The dialogue is often awkward, and the storyline flat. Which is unfortunate, because the special effects are amazing. There are times when it looks like this huge rocket is hanging right in front of you. Or the bugs are flying right over your head. But, besides the boys flying to the moon, there isn’t any suspense to keep your attention. Oh, there is the small storyline in which Yegor (Tim Curry), a Russian fly, attempts to sabotage the Apollo 11 mission, but small children are not going to understand the reference to the Cold War, and it’s really not even an interesting plot line.

Additionally, the flies aren’t even fly-like. They don’t look like any kind of animal or bug I know of. Especially the female flies, which are all quite buxom, and most have hour-glass figures. Call me silly, but when I go see a movie about a Lion King, I expect the lion to look like a lion, or Nemo to look like an angel fish, or a honey bee to look like a honey bee. The creatures in this film could just as easily have been in Monsters, Inc as Fly Me To The Moon.

The difference between adult expectation and those of children are vast, though. Despite all I didn’t enjoy, my children thought it was a fun movie, mostly because of the 3-D effects, and that they got to keep the glasses.

NAPPALAND RECOMMENDS:

Have a real 3-D experience with your kids and spend the evening playing ball, a board game, or whatever they want to do. You’ll laugh, talk, and build some great memories.

AFTER THE SHOW: 

• If you could go anywhere, where would you go? What would you like to see there?

• Nat’s grandpa was always telling stories about when he was young. What is your favorite family story?

• How did God take care of Nat and his friends? How does he take care of you?

JW

☼☼☼

Note: All movie-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective movie studios.