Space Chimps (2008)(20th Century Fox)

Source: 20th Century Fox

When a $5 billion Space Agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency recruits Ham III, grandson of the first chimpanzee in space, to help retrieve the wayward craft. But Ham is a free-spirited circus performer more interested in zero gravity high jinks than living up to his illustrious heritage. The simian slacker becomes a reluctant hero and learns the true meaning of courage as he and his crewmates, the plucky Lieutenant Luna and their by-the-book commander, Titan, risk everything in an effort to save the peaceful inhabitants of a distant planet from an evil dictator.

The Right Stuff meets the wrong stuff in this witty, out-of-this-world adventure. State-of-the-art CGI animation from Vanguard Animation, makers of the avian charmer Valiant, take this tale of a reluctant astronaut into another dimension. The film is directed by Kirk DeMicco, whose screenwriting credits include Quest for Camelot and Racing Stripes. It is written by Kirk DeMicco and Rob Moreland, from a story by Kirk DeMicco.

Space Chimps features the voices of Andy Samberg ("Saturday Night Live"), Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Patrick Warburton ("Rules of Engagement"), Kristin Chenoweth ("The West Wing"), Stanley Tucci (Robots), Kenan Thompson (Snakes on a Plane), Jane Lynch (The 40 Year Old Virgin), Carlos Alazraqui (Happy Feet), Zach Shada (Ice Age: The Meltdown), Patrick Breen ("Boston Legal"), Kath Soucie ("The Replacements") and Omid Abtahi ("Sleeper Cell").

The film is produced by John H. Williams (the Shrek trilogy) and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), the latter also serving as creative consultant. Tom Jacomb is associate producer and Curtis Augspurger is the film's co-producer. Executive producers are Neil Braun, Eric M. Bennett, John W. Hyde, Jerry Davis, Steve Brown and Morris Berger. Music is by Chris Bacon and the Blue Man Group. A Vanguard Animation film, Space Chimps is presented by Starz Animation.

Ham (Andy Samberg), the grandson of the first chimp in outer space, has been happily eking out a living as a chimp cannonball in a third-rate circus when the Space Agency makes him an offer he can't refuse. A wormhole has transported the Infinity Space Probe into the farthest reaches of the universe. As a political PR stunt, Ham is recruited to join a team of specially trained ape astronauts assigned to rescue the lost vessel.

His love of flashy acrobatics and aerial maneuvers make Ham a successful high-flyer, but his irreverent antics and goofball humor quickly alienate his professional astro-chimp colleagues. Ham spends most of his time tweaking the ship's pompous commander, Titan (Patrick Warburton), or flirting with Luna (Cheryl Hines), his fetching lieutenant, but as the only one immune to the effects of the wormhole, he is indispensable to the mission.

After a crash landing on the planet Malgor, Titan is taken prisoner by Zartog (Jeff Daniels), a megalomaniacal alien who has commandeered the Infinity and enslaved the other Malgoreans. In exchange for her help navigating the dreaded Valley of Really Bad Things to rescue their commander, Ham and Luna promise a desperate alien named Kilowatt (Kristin Chenoweth) they will free her people.

Titan is about to be turned into a statue in Zartog's growing gallery--made up of uncooperative minions dipped in molten lava and displayed as a reminder of his omnipotence--when his companions stage a heroic rescue and retake their ship. As they prepare for takeoff, Ham is reminded of his vow to Kilowatt and must decide whether to return home or take a giant step for chimp-kind and live up to his grandfather's legacy.

From two of "Saturday Night Live's" hottest young performers, to an Emmy(R) Award nominated alumna of the renowned Groundlings comedy troupe, to a singer trained in opera, each of the cast members brought his or her distinct gifts to the project.

Kristin Chenoweth, a bona fide Broadway star with two Tony Awards(R) to prove it, provides the voice of the brave alien Kilowatt and Kenan Thompson, another "SNL" cast member, plays the ringmaster of the circus where Ham III performs as a human, er, chimp cannonball.

Here is what the cast had to say about the film:

Andy Samberg: What I liked most about the script was probably the space part. And the chimp part. I would say of my many totem spirits, chimp is definitely one of them, so I'm pretty much interested in any project that involves chimps, whether that means actually working with real chimps in the forest or pretending to be one with my voice. I also am a big fan of space. And if you put the two together, I mean, that's like, two full fans' worth of person.

Kenan Thompson: It's true. For some reason, I love to see animals controlling spacecrafts and going to different places. It's kind of like pigs in space. You gotta love it. And it's about monkeys. I always love stuff about monkeys.

Andy Samberg: And I just love comedy and there's plenty of comedy in the film, as there almost always is with an animated movie. It's not exactly like what I do normally. It's a little more for everybody. But they were great about incorporating my ideas and allowing my sense of humor to sort of influence the character, which was important to me. I think it translates well.

Cheryl Hines: Well, I got involved in Space Chimps through Barry Sonnenfeld. He sent me the script, and I read it and I thought it was a cute story. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the movie's about. The title alone kind of says it. I mean, my first reaction was, am I one of the chimps? Because if it's titled Space Chimps, you at least want to be one of the chimps that goes into space. And did you like how I worked in rocket science with Space Chimps? Thank you.

Kristin Chenoweth: Like Cheryl, I had done RV with Barry Sonnenfeld. And he called me and said, "I have something that I want you to read, no pressure. Please don't feel pressure. I'm just really thinking of you for it." I read it and I then read it twice. I liked it. And so I called Barry and said "I want to do it."

And this is what they had to say about their characters:

Andy Samberg: I'm Ham III, the grandson of Ham, the original Space Chimp. This Ham's a little down-and-out, although he doesn't think of it that way. He's working at the circus, getting shot out of a cannon. And when the Space Agency loses one of its very expensive satellites, they need to send someone after it through a wormhole. Since it's too dangerous to send humans, they recruit Ham because he's a big name in the chimp world of space travel.

Cheryl Hines: Ham has an extraordinary story because his grandfather was an astronaut, a chimp-naut--I just made that up--and I don't think he really appreciated it until he walked a mile in those space shoes.

Andy Samberg: Ham falls in love. They free a bunch of aliens. There's dancing and joy and romance. Some other crazy stuff. Pure high-octane chimp adventure.

Cheryl Hines: My character, Lieutenant Luna, is second in command on this mission. She's very proud that she gets to go. Then Luna and Ham see sparks, as you often do when you're stuck in a spaceship or on a new planet with someone.

The military aspects of Luna's personality were a challenge for me. She's very straightforward and by the book. I'm usually never like that. And just some of the words that I had to say: all the "space words," as I liked to call them. That was a challenge. "Parsecs" and "wormholes," I still have nightmares about those.

Patrick Warburton: Titan is the alpha male chimp. Commander Titan has been an astronaut for many, many years. And then here comes this chimp, Ham, who's nothing but trouble, a circus freak. He doesn't have much respect for Ham in the beginning, but they eventually become a team and they get a lot accomplished together. Titan's a pretty much no-nonsense kind of guy. In real life, I get bossed around a lot. I have four kids and four dogs and a wife. That's nine and I'm pretty much at the bottom of the food chain. But gosh darn it, Titan is the commander of the ship. Actually, he's always pretty much losing control. He thinks he's in control, but he's not. Just like a daddy.

Kristin Chenoweth: I play Kilowatt, a creature from space. I really didn't do a lot of research because of the space aspect of it and the alien aspect of it. She's this precious little thing that has a big head, a huge head. I picture her as maybe green and she does have light around her. She's got a great heart.