Fly Me to the Moon (2008 film)

Fly Me to the Moon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ben Stassen
Written by	Domonic Paris
Starring	Trevor Gagnon Philip Daniel Bolden David Gore Christopher Lloyd Kelly Ripa Nicollette Sheridan Tim Curry
Edited by	Kerry Fulton
Music by	Ramin Djawadi
Distributed by	Kinepolis Film Distribution (Belgium) Summit Entertainment (United States)
Release dates	30 January 2008 (2008-01-30) (Belgium) 15 August 2008 (2008-08-15) (United States)
Running time	84 minutes 50 minutes (IMAX version)
Countries	Belgium United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$41.7 million

Fly Me to the Moon is a 2008 Belgian-American computer-animated 3D science fiction comedy film directed by Ben Stassen and written by Domonic Paris. It was released in digital 3D in Belgium on 30 January 2008 and in the US and Canada on 15 August 2008. The film was also released in IMAX 3D in the US and Canada starting 8 August 2008. Fly Me to the Moon was and produced by nWave Pictures in association with Illuminata Pictures, and distributed by Summit Entertainment and Vivendi Visual Entertainment in the United States.

Plot

The narrator explains that in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Earth's first satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit. Four years later in 1961, when NASA was putting a monkey named Enos aboard Mercury Atlas 5, astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man on Earth to go to space. Feeling the sense of urgency to overtake the Soviets in the space race, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made a huge statement toward a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating that before the decade is out, he plans to launch a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth.

Eight years later, in 1969, an 11-year-old fly named Nat and his two best friends, I.Q. and Scooter, build a "fly-sized" rocket in a field across from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where Apollo 11 sits on the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39. From his earliest memory, Nat's grandfather, Amos, often tells him of his many adventures such as his daring rescue of Amelia Earhart when she crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her historic flight in 1932. Wanting to be an adventurer like his grandpa, Nat tells his friends his plan to get aboard Apollo 11 and go to the Moon. They, with some reluctance, are in. The next morning, the three flies make it in to Mission Control and manage to stow away inside the space helmets of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.

Back on Earth, Grandpa, Nat's mother and the others watch TV to get news of their offspring's adventure. As the astronauts appear on camera, the heroic flies wave in the background, visible to other flies but barely seen by humans – except for the attentive NASA flight controller Steve Bales, who informs Armstrong of the "contaminants" on board. In the Soviet Union, there are other flies watching TV – Soviet flies who cannot tolerate the idea that American flies might get to the Moon first. A Soviet plan is hatched and special operatives are enlisted to interfere with the American mission. The Soviet Union puts all its hopes of success on the back of one operative named Yegor. Fortunately, a Soviet fly named Nadia hears Scooter calling out the name of Amos, who she met in Paris and loved many years ago.

Back on board the space ship, as the burn cycle to enter the Moon's trans-lunar injection orbit begins, the spacecraft is violently rocked. There's a short circuit in the service module that must be fixed manually or the ship won't be able to complete its mission. Nat and I.Q. fly through a maze of wires, find the problem and repair it just in time. Unaware of the flies' aid, the ship enters orbit and just as they congratulate each other, the flies are sprayed with a numbing aerosol and held captive in a test tube vial.

The flies manage to break the vial. Nat sneaks into Armstrong's helmet just in the nick of time. The Lunar Module Eagle lands on Mare Tranquillitatis. From inside the helmet, Nat beams with every awe-inspiring historic step. I.Q. and Scooter join him on the surface inside Aldrin's helmet. After a climatic rescue with Nat bringing Scooter back to Columbia, Eagle is jettisoned. Back on Earth, other plots are being set in motion. After more than 30 years apart, Nadia arrives in America and visits Amos, though the joy of their reunion is brief. She tells Amos and Nat's mother about the Soviet plot to divert the mission. Amos takes off with a renewed youthful vow to save the mission. At Mission Control, the Soviet operatives prepare to alter the descent codes. Unaware of the potential danger looming, the astronauts and the little flies sit back and prepare to come back home.

Amos, Nat's mother and Nadia join forces to stop Yegor and the Soviet plan as the command module Columbia hurtles closer and closer toward Earth's atmosphere. In a series of death-defying stunts, they crush the Soviet threat. After a tense period of radio silence due to ionization blackout, Columbia splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, where it is recovered by USS Hornet. Nat, I.Q. and Scooter return to their junkyard as heroes.

At the end, the real Buzz Aldrin explains that no flies were on board during the historic flight, and it is scientifically impossible for a bug to go to space.

Cast

• Trevor Gagnon as Nat McFly
• Philip Daniel Bolden as I.Q.
• David Gore as Scooter
• Christopher Lloyd as Amos McFly
• Kelly Ripa as Mrs. McFly
• Nicollette Sheridan as Nadia
• Tim Curry as Yegor
• Ed Begley Jr. as Poopchev
• Adrienne Barbeau as Scooter's Mom
• Robert Patrick as Louie
• Mimi Maynard as I.Q.'s Mom
• Buzz Aldrin as Himself
• Cam Clarke as Ray
• Steve Kramer as Leonid
• Max Burkholder as Mom's Maggot
• Jessica Gee as Maggot #1
• Mona Marshall as Maggot #2
• Barbara Goodson as Maggot #3
• Gregg Berger as Pale Russian Flies

Production

The total production budget of Fly Me to the Moon is €17.3 million (about $25.2 million). nWave financed about 75% of the budget itself. To raise the rest, investors could benefit from Belgium's Tax Shelter system. The Flanders Audiovisual Fund contributed €100,000 ($146,100), 10% of its annual budget for animation.

Apart from the feature-length version, two further versions of the films exist. The 49-minute Attraction version was released across theme parks starting in the summer of 2007. Venues showing this version, which features added 4D effects, include Isla Magica in Spain, Mirabilandia in Italy, Bellewaerde in Belgium, Bakken and Planetariet in Denmark, and Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK, as well as the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the Museum of Science in Boston. This version of the film omits the subplot about the attempt by Russian flies to sabotage the mission. The 13-minute Ride version is featured at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and Six Flags Over Texas in Texas.

Fly Me to the Moon marked the final film role of actor Charles Rocket; it was released three years after his death in 2005. Charles Rocket played the voice of Mission Control for the scenes set in 1961.

Release

Fly Me to the Moon was distributed in the U.S. by Summit Entertainment and in the U.K. by Momentum Pictures. As IMAX 3-D films are usually less or around an hour, some scenes were cut and censored from the IMAX version. The IMAX version starts with the opening scene which shows the first monkey being launched to space. It then cuts to Nat sneaking out to meet his friends and sneak into the command centre, cutting out the scene with Nat and Amos, discussing Amelia Earhart. The IMAX version also cuts out the Soviet subplot.

Fly Me to the Moon was released on DVD in North America on 2 December 2008. Two versions were released, a standard 2-D version and a 3-D version of the film that includes two pairs of 3-D glasses. Bonus features on both version include an interactive game, production notes and more.

Box office

Fly Me to the Moon was released in 12 IMAX 3D theaters on 8 August 2008 in Canada and the United States, and in a further 18 on 15 August 2008. The film was released widely in 3D equipped theaters on 15 August 2008. It earned $704,000 on opening day in 452 theaters and $1,900,523 in its opening weekend, drawing in the number 12 spot. As of 4 November 2009, the film has grossed $41,412,008 worldwide.

Reception

A review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, calculated a rating of 19% with an average rating of 3.9/10, based on reviews from 80 critics. The site's consensus reads: "Flatly animated and indifferently scripted, Fly Me to the Moon offers little for audiences not comprised of very young children."

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• List of 3D films
• RealD Cinema
• List of IMAX films

External links

• Fly Me to the Moon at IMDb
• Fly Me to the Moon at Box Office Mojo
• Fly Me to the Moon at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fly Me to the Moon at Metacritic