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Space Chimps
20th Century Fox


3.9

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: G

Starring Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, and Stanley Tucci

When a $5 billion Space Agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency recruits Hamm 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 fearless Lt. Luna and their uptight commander, Titan, risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet form and evil dictator. (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Adventure \| Animation \| Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Robert Moreland Kirk De Micco
DIRECTED BY:	Kirk De Micco
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 25, 2008 Theatrical: July 18, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	81 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

The New York Times Neil Genzlinger

If "Wall-E" pushes the boundaries of what can be done in an animated movie, Space Chimps proves that the old formula is still pretty effective when executed well.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Delightful from beginning to end.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Kids might find the sight of monkeys -- sorry, apes -- wrestling in outer-space funny, but unless they're unusually sophisticated, much will probably just confuse them.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The CG animation is nothing special, but the characters are surprisingly fun and the story is full of enough puns, wordplay and slapstick to elicit laughs from across the age spectrum.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Who doesn't love an animated, anthropomorphized-chimpanzee-starring, sci-fi romantic comedy?

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Why would you take your kids to see Space Chimps, an uninspired animated feature about chimp astronauts, when you could take them instead to see "Wall-E"? And if they've already seen "Wall-E," you're really lowering the bar by venturing into this one.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Story remains Vanguard's weak point.

Variety Lael Loewenstein

Enjoyably slim family entertainment.

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

The film is suitable for all ages, but there's probably not enough fuel beyond cute chimps in Candyland to achieve orbit for the kids.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Short, cheap, weird, and passably diverting.

Washington Post John Anderson

Kids sense when a movie is being noisy and frantic just to keep them distracted; these apes are overcaffeinated.

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

While candy-colored graphics should dazzle kids, Space Chimps has little draw for audiences spoiled by the Pixar-given knowledge that CGI can entertain -- and not just stupefy -- moviegoers of any age.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Sucks a whole lot of talented people into a wormhole of lousy. The film either needed to be a lot wittier to make up for the way it looks, or a lot better-looking to compensate for the funny it isn't.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Only a truly dreadful story could make 81 minutes seem like an eternity. And Space Chimps is just that leaden experience.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason McBride

Space Chimps might have been saved, in fact, by using real monkeys in the astronaut roles. Or, better yet, by having a monkey in the director's chair.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

And then there is the most annoying animated sidekick in a long time: a bulb-headed, trying-to-be-cute glow creature called Kilowatt (Kristen Chenoweth), who sings an ear-piercing, high-pitched note when it's scared, which is often.

LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky

The animation, incidentally, is half-a--ed, like they ran out of the $292.96 budget halfway through. Rip-off indeed.

New York Post Kyle Smith

I went in expecting to be disappointed, but even so, I was disappointed.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.9 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris C. gave it a0:
No. Just no. I had a little bit of hope for this movie. The trailers made it seem like it could be somewhat witty. But as I sat down in the cinema I could feel a growing sense of dread in my gut. It was right too - straight away we have the most annoying main character of all time, a bunch of scientists who could have been a saving grace but weren't given a chance, stupid pop culture references that the little ones won't understand and the older ones will notice but not care about, and some stupidly abrupt transitions. The other two main characters are terribly underdeveloped. The movie's main plot is completely out of the blue, and laughable at that, but it could have worked if it had been supported by a script that was funny and at least slightly intelligent. Sadly, it was not. Annoying "joke" after annoying "joke", a character introduction that was totally sudden forcing a lot of exposition into a short amount of time, cliched "The power of (insert positive emotion here)" stuff that we've all seen a hundred times, complete personality changes meaning any previous character development is lost - it all adds up to an experience quite unmatched by any other animated feature. In that I mean, your palm will be on your face the entire time. Films like this are the reason people hate children's movies. It is practically an insult to both beautiful interstellar fantasies like WALL·E and fun, fast paced comedies such as Kung Fu Panda. A rotten end to a summer of fun. Don't waste your money. I mean it. Don't make me come over there.

C T gave it a2:
An uninspired wreck.

Chad S. gave it a5:
While "Space Chimps" is on the ball in recognizing the language barrier between chimpanzee and human, the same attention to detail isn't applied to the primates' relations with the alien life forms. Left to our own devices, the audience can safely presume that the extra-terrestrials are yapping away in Bonobo-ese. Although the space creatures don't appear smart enough to build Zartog's Trump-like edifice of self-aggrandizement, let alone Stonehenge, they are superior beings who apparently possess the skills of a multi-linguist; a race of galactic Doctor Doolittles. If "Space Chimps" had more ambition, however, the space probe could have landed on the planet of the apes, not planet Teletubby, and open up more possibilities for an interesting movie. War on earth, perhaps? Chimps libre? Faced with the dilemma of being wild in a galaxy far, far away, or being a lab animal after the space "rats" outlive their usefulness, would give this safe film a little of that 'ol "Babe" pathos. The chimpanzees get melancholic, not angry, when they discover that the humans didn't trust them enough to navigate their fancy-schmancy flying contraption(it was on auto-pilot). Because "Space Chimps" is lock-stepped in its children's movie trappings, the expendable primates prove their mettle to the space program brass, like an African bobsled team showing the Olympic committee that they belong with the big boys, instead of throwing their poo(or is that just monkey behavior?) in indignant outrage. Too bad, because a barrel of militant chimpanzees would be much more fun than these stalwart astronaut wanna-bes. Give me bananas, or give me death!

James L. gave it a0:
all right people there is a cheap animation here. The story pretty falls flat for such a 81 minute movie. Watched in advance screening yesterday. Oh my god. You would not believe how horrible this movie is! This should be contender of the worst movies ever made. Don't see this movie people.

Mr. Anonymous gave it a0:
after seeing wall-e this movie seems like the biggest piece of garbage ever made. Avoid this rip off at all costs and see wall-e.

Paul L. gave it a0:
This is far the worst animation made. Come on the story sucks, and the characters strengths is becoming to get weak. Don't see this people. Don't waste your money on this cheap piece of garbage. The animation is so cheap like it's updated from Wall E.

Hue H. gave it a0:
Hands-down the worst movie I have EVER seen. It felt like a submission from a computer animation student project. Don't waste your precious money or time.

Space Chimps 20th Century Fox

Space Chimps
20th Century Fox