Kids

NAT'S ABOARD THE APOLLO 11

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3 October 2008

Fly Me to the Moon
Dir Ben Stassen

By Dena Blakeman 

FEATURING THE voices of Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry and Nicollete Sheridan, with a special appearance from Buzz Aldrin) and in glorious 3D comes this delightful tale of a brave little fly called Nat with high ambitions. 

Along with his two best mates Scooter and IQ, Nat decides they are all in need of a real adventure and set in the 60's the timing seems perfect to visit the moon. Inspired by his Grandpa's heroic stories of saving the day Nat decides to ignore his mother's warnings and gets ready to board the Apollo 11 rocket that is just about to take off in a few days, 16 July 1969. The three mini astronauts sneak into the rocket, via Neil Armstrong's lunchbox and embark on this amazing adventure to outer space. On their journey they come across numerous obstacles, often hindered by Scotter's rather rounded form, but helped along the way by IQ's swotty suggestions. The badies in the story are the Russians in the form of Yegor and his superior Poopchev, whose daughter Nadia was once involved in a love affair with Nat's Grandpa, and whilst it seems a trite unnecessary to add this section into the story I suppose it's just a matter of realistically adding the historical Cold War and Space Race in there for historical significance.

Despite this however an extra feature - after the credits begin rolling in - is a totally unnecessary appearance by Buzz Aldrin stating that this isn't a true story as it would be virtually impossible for a fly to make it through the journey despite his protection of the flies in the film…"They are after all American flies."  Okay…. flashes of his well documented bitterness over the years at not being the most famous and loved astronaut - Armstrong of course being the first man on the moon and celebrated for his historical speech; 'One small step for man..' are remembered and a tone of bewilderment (on the part of grown-ups in any case) is left whilst exiting the cinema.

Nevertheless, the story in itself is largely enhanced by the 3D format where everything ordinary becomes extraordinary and the animation scenes are pretty outstanding and this is despite having to put on extra large 3D glasses which are I expect made for those wearing spectacles, but not quite so fitting for little heads. And most importantly the kids should all love this adventurous and un-frightening tale, with it's cute characters which is short and sweet enough to keep them listening throughout and simultaneously touching the images in front of their noses, often seen through a fly's perspective.

With good live action, all fans of 3D format should not miss this chance to see the first exclusively real 3D film for children (unlike converted films to 3D as in 'Chicken Little', 'Meet the Robinson's,) whether accompanied by kids or not, (after all the lads donning McFly t-shirts beside me and the kids in the screening where laughing more than us throughout the film and having a hoot of a time, even on a very early Sunday morning)!

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