flies in space

'Fly Me to the Moon' Lacks Buzz

A scene from the 3-D animated film "Fly Me to the Moon."
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

It has been nearly 40 years since Astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first men to step on the moon's surface.

``Fly Me to the Moon'' takes the audience back to July 1969, when the whole world eagerly awaited man's first landing on the moon. Even houseflies are buzzing about the historic space flight. Perhaps most excited are three young flies, the adventurous Nat, the nerdy IQ and the chubby Scooter, who are even building their own makeshift space shuttle.

Nat dreams of excitement and adventure, inspired by his grandfather who accompanied female pilot Amelia Earhart on her historic trans-Atlantic flight. Grandfather McFly apparently saved Earhart from crashing her plane, by going up her nose and causing her to sneeze.

Nat comes up with a plan for him and his buddies to fly to the moon with the Apollo 11 astronauts. They sneak out from under the noses of their protective mothers, slip into NASA and manage to hitch a ride inside the astronauts' helmets.

Directed by Ben Stassen, ``Fly Me to the Moon'' is the first ever computer animated feature film created and produced solely for 3D projection.

Thanks to the 3D technology, you'll find yourself looking at the world through the flies' eyes and gliding through blades of grass. You may even find yourself squinting as you anticipate the blades of grass hitting your eyes.

One of the highlights of the film is Apollo 11's take off from the Kennedy Space Center. It makes you feel as if you were there watching the spectacular blast off. The scenes in outer space are also equally impressive.

The animators created cute characters, with huge dopey eyes, translucent wings and bluish skin color, that bear little resemblance to real houseflies.

However, the problem with ``Fly Me to the Moon'' is that once you take out the 3D technology there's not enough excitement or charm in the film. Nat, Scooter and IQ are cute but bland, and fail to connect with the audience.

The plot takes an odd turn when some Russian flies, apparently envious of Apollo 11's achievement, head to the U.S. to sabotage the return flight. Of course, everyone already knows the Apollo 11 astronauts returned home safely, so there's no suspense. But the real question is will the houseflies survive? It's a no-brainer.

At the end of the film, Buzz Aldrin even makes a cameo appearance to shoot down the film's entire premise that flies could have traveled with the astronauts on the lunar module. It's not exactly the equivalent of someone telling the kids there's no Santa Claus, but it does take some of the fun out of the movie.

The film is dubbed in Korean and opens at IMAX theaters Oct. 30.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr