Space Chimps

Did You Know?

• The film received an Artios Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation Feature.
• A direct-to-video sequel, Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back, was released on May 28, 2010, in UK cinemas and on DVD in the US on October 5, 2010.

Plot

In outer space, an uncrewed, intelligent life-searching NASA space probe, Infinity, is dragged into an intergalactic wormhole and crash-lands on the other side of the galaxy. It lands on an Earth-like alien planet named Malgor, populated by colorful fishmen-like beings. Zartog, a tyrannical inhabitant, accidentally discovers how to take manual control of the onboard machinery and uses it to enslave the population. Faced with the possible extinction of Infinity and their budget, the scientists hire multiple chimpanzees as astronauts to regain contact with the probe and retrieve it: technical genius Comet, lieutenant Luna and commander Titan.

The Senator adds Ham III, grandson of Ham, the first chimpanzee in space to the team, who works as a cannonball at a circus in company of Houston, a friend of Ham III's grandfather. Ham III is uninterested in the mission, but despite his best attempts to escape, he is launched into space. Ham, Luna and Titan enter the wormhole, where the latter two pass out from the pressure, leaving Ham with the task of getting the ship out and landing it. They arrive on Malgor and the ship and Titan are taken by the henchmen of Zartog.

Titan, unaware of Zartog's agenda, teaches him about the probe's features. Ham and Luna journey to Zartog's palace. Ham reveals that he believes Space Chimps is a joke which makes Luna angry at him. They meet a big-headed alien named Kilowatt, whose head glows when she gets scared.

They go into a valley of the aliens' food where they meet some small, spherical creatures called globhoppers, which arrange themselves into a duplicate of Ham and copy his every move, and then they go into the cave of the Flesh-Devouring Beast. Kilowatt volunteers to distract the beast so Luna and Ham can escape, and is devoured in the process. They then go inside the Dark Cloud of Id, which they fall out of. Once at the palace, they rescue Titan and plan to leave.

However, Ham, Luna and Titan alter their course of action after noticing Zartog torturing the inhabitants by having them frozen in a pool of freznar, feeling they owe it to Kilowatt to stop Zartog. They abandon the ship, which returns home on autopilot. Zartog attacks the chimpanzees with the probe and threatens to freeze them all, but Titan tricks him into activating the probe's ejection mechanism, which launches Zartog into the pool of freznar and freezes him.

Kilowatt, who has survived, frees the chimps. The chimps re-establish contact with Houston and Comet to discuss their prospects on leaving. By Ham's suggestion and with help from Malgor's inhabitants, they manage to engineer a ship from the probe's constituents, launching it through a volcanic eruption while using the frozen Zartog as their nose cone. Before they re-enter the wormhole, Titan hands the controls over to Ham.

Though Ham becomes skeptical once more, he is reassured by a vision of his grandfather and steers it out of the wormhole. Comet advises him to decrease the ship's entry angle, and the ship starts spinning out, though Luna recovers in time to aid Ham. The repurposed mechanical arms soon fail, and the Zartog nose cone detaches in the atmosphere, damaging one of the ship's fins while Comet and Houston appropriate an HEMTT to prepare for the ship's arrival.

Since Ham needs to fly and Titan is still out, Luna climbs out to repair it. She succeeds and Ham regains control as the ship passes a media conference, but Luna loses her grip and is seemingly killed. Ham nearly crashes the ship and one of the arms break off, but he manages to successfully land it on the HEMTT. He leaves the ship and finds Luna merely knocked out.

Moments later, Houston, Comet and Titan catch up with them. Attracted by the commotion, the scientist, Senator and media discover the ship and the chimps. Under pressure from the press, the Senator decides to dramatically increase the space program's funding instead of cutting it. Subsequently, the scientists celebrate their return.

Zartog is later revealed to have landed in front of a suburban residence, as a Dachshund then urinates on him after he leaves the ship.

Voice cast

Andy Samberg as Ham III, Ham I's grandson and a circus chimpanzee who loves cannon acts and crashing. Cheryl Hines as Luna, Titan's lieutenant who is fearless and intelligent and Ham's love interest. Patrick Warburton as Titan, the flamboyant commander of the expedition. He has a great love of chimpanzee puns.

Jeff Daniels as Zartog, an alien tyrant who enslaves the planet Malgor. Kristin Chenoweth as Kilowalawhizasahooza (Kilowatt for short), an alien who befriends Ham and Luna. Carlos Alazraqui as Houston, a friend of Ham's grandfather; and Piddles the Clown. Zack Shada as Comet, a technical genius chimp.

Stanley Tucci as The Senator. Omid Abtahi as Dr. Jagu. Patrick Breen as Dr. Bob. Jane Lynch as Dr. Poole.

Kath Soucie as Dr. Smothers. Kenan Thompson as The Ringmaster, the owner of a circus where Ham III works. Wally Wingert as Splork, Infinity Probe, and Pappy Ham. Tom Kenny as Newsreel. Jason Harris as Guard.

Production

In 2002, Kirk DeMicco conceived a film premise of anthropomorphic chimpanzees on a spaceship from viewing The Right Stuff (1983), a fictional depiction of the Mercury Seven program. It included the line, 'Does a monkey know he's sitting on top of a rocket that might explode?' which made him wonder what happened if the monkey knew. Shortly after the lightbulb moment, he saw the famous space chimpanzee Ham on the cover of a 1961 issue of Life magazine; the chimpanzee's smug expression gave him the idea of a self-centered protagonist going on a dangerous space mission.

Using the Life magazine issue with him, DeMicco pitched his ideas to John H. Williams, comparing the plot to that of Tommy Boy (1995). Williams was instantly hooked and began working with him from there. They later decided on 'a great sci-fi adventure' for children that was also a mocking of science fiction media in the same way the Shrek films, which Williams also produced, parodied fairy tales. DeMicco wanted the planet to have the vibe of the Mos Eisley cantina of the Star Wars series.

The project and its title, Space Chimps, were first publicized in a Variety article on June 7, 2004, announcing it was next in Vanguard's production line after Valiant (2005). The film was produced in two years by Williams' Vanguard Animation studio with a team of around 170, a $37 million budget, and DeMicco as director. For the film, a new pipeline was created, as well as a studio constructed in Vancouver. Chris Bacon was chosen as composer, who was recommended to DeMicco by James Newton Howard.

The limited budget meant creative choices had to be made for the music to sound interesting; according to DeMicco, beds were occasionally used alongside the orchestra, and the Blue Man Group played PVC pipes.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 32% with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10, based on 90 reviews. The consensus reads: 'Space Chimps' cheap animation and overabundance of monkey puns feels especially dated in a post-Wall-E world.' Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of 'B+' on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave a positive review of three stars and said in his review that 'Space Chimps is delightful from beginning to end.' Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times said that Space Chimps was 'hilarious'. Lael Loewenstein of Variety called it 'fairly fatuous but enjoyably slim family entertainment'. The film has grossed $30.1 million in the United States, and $34.7 million in other countries, totalling $64.8 million worldwide.