Fly Me To The Moon 3D

It’s a great movie for kids, until you have to explain the knife fight and the Cold War. Can little Sammy spell shiv?

Trevor Gagnon provides the voice for Nat – a young fly who dreams of having the kind of adventures his grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) tells about in his wild stories of past glory. Now, the kid has a chance.

The flies live near Cape Canaveral in 1969, so Nat, Scooter (David Gore) and IQ (Philip Bolden) decide to stow away on Apollo 11, thinking this trip to the moon will only be a short one of a few hours. Of course, it’s planned for a week.

Can Nat, Scooter and IQ make it through a week in space?

Will the astronauts discover their unauthorized passengers?

Can you spray Raid in space without poisoning yourself, or the Tang?

That simple plot is enough to keep kids of all ages entertained as the audience gets a dose of some wonderful 3D action. It’s a great introduction to the film effect for children who will be amazed at how the entire movie seems to be inches from their faces (even this big immature man was giggling in wonder). Most of the story is fun, lighthearted, and sometimes strays into potty humor, but most of that is forgivable.

What truly hurts Fly Me To The Moon 3D is a story about how some Soviet flies, in the name of communism and winning the Cold War, want to sabotage the mission, and send in a covert operative who likes to use his big knife to get his way (Are they from KAOS?). Kids the movie will appeal to have no idea about the Cold War, so the whole plot feels unnecessary and can only cause confusion for little ones who just want to see the flies having fun on Apollo 11 (the best scenes in the movie).

However, it’s the allusions to and outright invocations of violence as well as the prospect that the characters on screen could bite the dust that might leave parents trying to calm down the kiddies. This is not cartoonish violence like the Coyote attempting to drop an anvil on the Road Runner. This is a hitman who wants to gut our heroes like a fish, and flies who are smacked and sprayed with the intent of sending them to Fly Heaven (or Fly Hell if you truly hate bugs).

Even worse, just when you think Fly Me To The Moon 3D is over and you and the kids can head off to get some ice cream, the real Buzz Aldrin shows up on screen in the ultimate Buzzkill. It’s sweet that the producers want to take a moment to remember everyone who made such a historic moment in history happen, but, like the Cold War subplot, it isn’t needed here.

Overall, the laughs and good stuff outnumber the moments of yuck.

Fly Me To The Moon 3D is rated G.