Space Chimps

Dad, which was your favorite part of Space Chimps?” the four-year-old asked the day after a media sneak peek. “Dunno, Harry. Probably the part where Kilowatt lets the giant monster swallow her.” Kilowatt is an alien with a giant, glowing head perched atop a teensy-tiny body; blows high-pitched raspberries when excited; is voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, who thinks she’s still on Broadway; and is a very funny character — probably should have been the star, rather than Andy Samberg, Patrick Warburton, and Cheryl Hines as monkeys shot into a wormhole to see if there’s life on the other side of the galaxy, yawn. The wee one wasn’t impressed. “But, Dad, that scene was just a rip-off from Star Wars.” Pardon? “When Kilowatt says, ‘If you swallow me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine,’ that’s what Obi-wan says to Darth Vader before he cuts him in half.” We agreed that the payoff following the big gulp was a giggle, but then it hit him: “Dad, the whole movie is a rip-off.” Ah, they can’t even sneak one past the pre-K crowd, which already saw this flick when it was called Space Wiggles. The animation, incidentally, is half-ass, like they ran out of the $292.96 budget halfway through. Rip-off indeed.