Parents Television Council Reviews

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The animated 3-D film Fly Me to the Moon focuses on Ned, a young fly who is enthralled by his Grandpa’s tales of adventure. Ned convinces his pals, the brainy I.Q. and the overweight Scooter, to join him on the ultimate adventure – stowing away on the historic Apollo 11 flight and landing on the moon! As word of the trio’s heroic exploit spreads throughout the insect community, Communist flies in the Soviet Union vow to stop them. Will the Soviet spy fly Yegor’s sabotage succeed? And will Ned, I.Q., and Scooter make it back to Earth safely?

As an adventure movie, Fly Me to the Moon contains some scenes of slapstick and action. With the main characters being flies, several scenes feature humans “swatting” them, brushing them aside, spraying them with chemicals, trapping them in a glass, almost stepping on them, and the like. The flies are never seriously injured by this (one fly who is grabbed “plays dead,” then later flies away). There are also several suspenseful scenes, in which the viewer wonders whether the flies will be trapped on the moon capsule. Among the fly characters themselves, there is some slapstick (a Soviet general fly slaps his assistant several times), and Scooter frequently falls down, gets stuck or crashes into things. Two battles occur when the American flies try to stop their Soviet counterparts from sabotaging the moon flight. Grandpa and his friends take on the Soviet spy Yegor, who swings lit matches like torches, and later threatens Grandpa with a knife. Grandpa and Yegor engage in a martial arts fistfight, and Grandpa is almost sucked into a fan. He also bashes Yegor over the head with a lollipop. Several baby flies also attack the Soviet flies, pushing them into a cup of coffee for humorous effect. None of the “violence” is brutal or bloody.

There is little negative behavior in the movie. The overweight Scooter belches several times, and when trapped in the space capsule frees himself by passing gas. When recounting an adventure with Amelia Earhart, Grandpa recalls how he flew up her nose. Earhart is shown sneezing directly into the camera, spraying mucus at the viewer (in 3-D). Also, inspired by his Grandpa’s tales, Ned and his pals sneak away on the Apollo flight without telling their mothers. Ned’s mother panics, but later takes pride in her son’s exploits.

Language is another area of limited concern. When mentioning the Earhart incident, Grandpa says she sneezed “serious boogers.” Several characters exclaim to the Soviet flies that they will “kick your butt.” Ned’s mother uses the comedic epithet, “Oh, my Lord of the Flies!” The Soviet general fly is named Poopchev, and while harassing his assistant exclaims, “idiot!” multiple times.

Grandpa also uses several mildly ribald or sexist one-liners, such as one about a past girlfriend (“Could she put away the vodka! She drank so much –-“), and another about the difference between male and female flies (“three were on a beer can, and two were on the phone”). Two other flies contemplate their dinner, one saying, “What kind of crap is in this?” and the other replying, “It’s a dung ball. There’s nothing in it but crap!”

There is no overt sexual content in Fly Me to the Moon. Grandpa kisses a past girlfriend once, and jokingly asks Ned, “Know any hotties wanna go honey-dipping?”  The side of a van displays the sign “DCUP-TV,” but this would likely not be noticed by children.

The 3-D effects in Fly Me to the Moon are excellent, and the film itself is both immensely entertaining and genuinely educational. The three pals’ exploits provide comedy and adventure, while providing a painless introduction to a significant event in American history. The actual Apollo 11 moon flight and landing are recreated in accurate detail. At the end of the movie, astronaut Buzz Aldrin makes an on-screen live-action appearance and talks directly to the viewer about the historic flight. Fly Me to the Moon provides both thrills and laughs, while giving young viewers a chance to experience the Apollo moon landing from a “fly’s-eye” view.

Because of its high quality and educational emphasis, the Parents Television Council is proud to award Fly Me to the Moon with the PTC Seal of Approval^TM. The PTC recommends this movie for viewers over age eight. 

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