Fly Me to the Moon

What’s the Story?

In May 1969, daydreaming young house fly Nat (voiced by Trevor Gagnon) and his two pals -- brainy IQ (Philip Bolden) and chubby Scooter (David Gore) -- stow away on the Apollo 11 with NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins. Back on Earth, the fly boys' families, led by Nat's daring Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) -- who accompanied Amelia Earhart on her cross-Atlantic flight -- must fend off menacing Soviet flies from sabotaging the moon mission.

Is It Any Good?

Although FLY ME TO THE MOON's inventive 3D scenes are well-executed (director Ben Stassen is a 3D specialist), the movie's pacing and plot development are amateurishly flat. There's not much dramatic tension (a key element of most animated adventures), and the main characters, while cute, just don't engage viewers. For some reason, Nat and IQ continuously implore Scooter to go on a diet -- so much so that one sequence seemed like a weight-loss PSA aimed at kids. Unfortunately, preachy anti-obesity speeches don't make for entertaining dialogue.

The most exciting character is Grandpa, who gets back into action when Soviet flies dispatched from the Kremlin (the sight of flies dressed like uniformed Communist operatives is one of the rare laugh-aloud moments) try to disrupt NASA control's communication system. (Yes, you should be prepared to answer questions about the Cold War after the credits.) It's too bad the movie didn't focus on Grandpa's exploits. He's one fly who shouldn't get swatted.