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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 10/05/2008 : 17:35:20
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Fly Me to the Moon
Whatever you think about the film, the 3D animation is stunning. Whether it's a glass lab-phial that breaks inside the weightless Apollo 13 moon ship, or billows of smoke or handfulls of confetti -- every detail is perfect - reflections, shadows, action through glass. In that sense the film is a mini-masterpiece. But what lets the thing down is the double whammy of a mediocre script and a real lack of focus. It's almost, but not quite, a cartoon hallalujah to those neat-o guys who brought you the first moon landing, that giant step for mankind.
The great space race was set against a fabricated rivalry between the US and Russia, here dealt with by some good ole American flies and some sinister-looking Soviet flies [one, complete with a scar-face!]. You can tell the good guys because they're all 'just folks' - dressed in civvies, except for the three astronauts. All the Russians are in military uniform. Draw your own conclusion about Cold War messages.
And it's that fabricated fly-rivalry that forms the only thing passing for a story, secreted as it is among the nooks and crannies of the NASA mission.
There just isn't enough drama, there aren't enough cute characters [little pink maggots notwithstanding singing 'Dad's on the moo-oon!'], and there definitely aren't enough funny, witty, sassy lines. But it's bold and bright, and there are some gorgeous recreations of the view from the moon. I guess that and the thrill of seeing shards of broken glass spinning right for your eye -- I guess that'll shut up the kids for a bit. |
Edited by - BaftaBaby on 10/05/2008 18:07:28 |
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 10/06/2008 : 02:22:40
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Perhaps I'm in the minority - the combination of 3D plus my bifocals gave me a huge <b>headache</b> - especially during parts where there was a bright light in the scene (such as a full moon, or sunset, or spotlights or whatever).
I had to keep my eyes shut periodically for several minutes at a time or I would have had to leave the theater. I first noticed this during the trailer (we saw 3D 'journey to the center of the earth' and it had a 3D trailer for this as well) but I thought that was a fluke.
I agree with the rest of your synopsis, there just wasn't much there. Would have made an OK 30 minute cartoon episode of Jimmy Neutron or something. |
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Airbolt 
"teil mann, teil maschine"
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Posted - 10/09/2008 : 13:23:08
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It's a tough sell to make a fly appealing but they managed to make other insects appealing ( Bugs Life, Ants ). These maggots appear to be the most unappealing anthropomorphed characters ever.
I'm not the only person to find 3D headache-inducing then. |
Edited by - Airbolt on 10/09/2008 13:24:54 |
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 10/09/2008 : 18:43:16
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I suppose I should ad that the 4 young boys I took to see it (my kids and friends) absolutely loved it, they ate it up, kung fu flies and all.
So I guess the movie did the job.
(same kids eagerly awaiting Bolt) |
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Demisemicenturian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 10/22/2008 : 05:13:19
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Terrible, terrible film. Horrible anthropomorphism. Boring characters. The 3D was also a big strain for my eyes. I cannot see in 3D but have to wear the glasses in order to block out one of the pictures.
Because the characters and plot were so unengaging, I became very annoyed by technical errors, the worst of which was that the flies first experience weightlessness when they reach the Moon.  |
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Fly Me to the Moon
