'Space Chimps': The bad movie streak continues
Believe it or not, it's another week, another critical dud for Fox. As I noted last Friday upon the release of the execrable "Meet Dave," 20th Century Fox has a knack for making bad movies. How bad? Putting aside last spring's "Horton Hears a Who," Fox has released 16 movies since last summer's "The Simpsons Movie" that haven't managed to even score a mediocre 50 at Rotten Tomatoes, the Web's leading aggregator of movie reviews.
The release of "Space Chimps" today stretches that streak to 17. The kid-friendly animated monkey movie landed with a thud, scoring a 35 at Rotten Tomatoes, putting it in the same dregs with "Speed Racer" (36) and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (34). The movie did get a big valentine from the New York Times, but most other critics were merciless. USA Today's Claudia Puig called the film "truly dreadful," saying it was reminiscent of "bad Saturday morning cartoon fare." Entertainment Weekly gave it a D. (Our review wasn't much better.)
Nearly all the critics noted how cheap and cruddy the animation looked, especially compared to the recently released "Wall-E." In fact, the animation appeared so cheesy that the LA Weekly's Robert Wilonsky joked that the movie "looks like they ran out of the $292.96 budget halfway through."
The critics' other favorite number was 81, which is how many minutes the film lasts. My wife is trying to get our 10-year-old to see the movie this weekend, though he seems worried that the film, which is G-rated, might play too young for him. If we go and it turns out to be a masterpiece, I'll be happy to cross swords with all those wrong-headed critics. As for the Fox streak, it will last until at least next weekend, when "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" hits the theaters. I like that title: I want to believe that it's a good movie, but based on the Fox track record, only seeing will be believing.
Photo from "Space Chimps" by Kerry Hayes / 20th Century Fox
Movies are not the work of a single person. Many people are involved. And not one of them at any time in the months (years) it took to make this disaster noticed that this movie was a bad (bad) idea from the moment of conception ???
Posted by: Dave T | July 18, 2008 at 05:29 PM
How does this article qualify as news? Mr. Goldstein comments on a movie he hasn't even seen while regurgitating the reviews of others. The only things I learned from this article that I could not have learned from going to "Rotten Tomatoes" is that Mr. Goldstein is apparently married, he has a 10 year old son, and he may or may not go to see "Space Chimps."
Posted by: Matt V. | July 20, 2008 at 07:09 AM
Based on my recent and extensive television viewings, Fox is not alone is the release of crapagia. I actually considered reading a book.
Posted by: Zoltan the Magnificient | July 21, 2008 at 05:51 AM
I agree with Matt V. How is this news?
Posted by: Matt L. | July 23, 2008 at 11:15 AM
This is the most idiotic and pointless blog that offers no insight, interesting opinion or useful information. This is why the LA Times is tanking. You want a rotten tomato? LA Times.
They shut down their book review because no one even reads their culture coverage.
The idiot who wrote this blog didn't even the movie he's trashing.
Whatever - I'll shut up. Here, go see how it's done well:
http://movies.nytimes.com/pages/movies/index.html
Posted by: Gregg Oster | July 24, 2008 at 05:24 PM