This is a comedy adventure about three NASA chimps that are sent to a galaxy far, far, away. Circus monkey Ham III works in a circus where he's regularly shot from a canon, but still lives in the shadow of his grandfather’s legacy. His grandad, Ham I, was the first chimp shot into space in 1961.
Ham III is a natural born rebel against authority, and is initially reluctant to go on a dangerous space mission to rescue a lost space probe. He decides to go but must get plenty of ‘right stuff’ astro-training alongside two highly prepared chimps, Luna and Titan.
NASA's by-the-book methods clash with Ham's mischief-making, but once the space training ends, the mission begins. However, there are numerous dangers along the way, including a big-toothed monster and a mad alien named Zartog, who harnessed the previous space probe for world-domination purposes.
The three chimps find themselves on a strange, uncharted planet, where they embark on a fantastical journey to save its inhabitants from a tyrannical leader.
The animation is not up to the same standard as other similar flicks this summer such as Wall-E and Kung-fu Panda, but it’s still pretty funny and colourful at times. Patrick Breen voices one of the trio of egghead scientists - getting big laughs from the audience with his flawlessly deadpan humour.
It is slightly disappointing from an adult’s point of view, and doesn’t have nearly the same impact as its successful animated predecessors such as Toy Story, Shrek, and Ice Age. The animation is suprisingly flat, and the jokes are quite tired at times. However, the monkey adventure is harmless and silly, and there are worse things you could be doing for 90 minutes.
