Sweet, kid movies are an interesting study in complexity. As a cultural directive, things can be alarming, messages muddled.  As an educational tool, Fly Me To The Moon is a fun exercise in teaching tidbits of the famous space jaunt. Yes, they remember to say ‘one small step…one giant step….’ Exposition on the launch, flight, module separations, landing on and takeoff from the moon, and re-entry were on a par with Tom Hanks’ Apollo series—as, of course, a condensed version. These scenes linger on those moments, watched and experienced again through the eyes of the kid flies. Astonishingly, feelings of wonder, history in the making, are truly and convincingly conveyed. Space gravitas in a silly little animation. Pretty heady stuff.

Not limited to children, attention spans for this intellectual material must be sparked with coolio stuff. Animation is an ideal vehicle to disguise informational exchange. Throw in 3D and you have a movie worth forking over the big bucks. They did a good job for one of this nascent Art form’s early entries. Some of the ‘sets’ and ‘locations’ are downright fun and believable. Our main cast are bugs, though the humans are there, and even have subtle interactions with the bugs.

We have juvenile bugs, flies, specifically as the main heroes, though we do see other bug members of their communities. The protagonist kid gang has the usual mix, an overeating but lovable mental midget, an adventurous budding hero, and a skinny nerd-mental-giant, incredibly enough all the closest of friends. They are not as stereotypical as their elders, however. The Moms would make Barbie jealous. They are preoccupied with dishes, babies, and being fearful. They faint a lot. The men grunt “Women!” and do manly things. Grandpa McFly (not kidding) is an old adventurer who has a ‘past’. Another message to the kiddy viewer—kid flies don’t have Daddy flies. Grandpa is there for his grandson, though, hence the adventurous offspring.

• The Russian babe from Grandpa’s past comes to the States to tell Grandpa what game is afoot. She delivers the kick to save the guys’ butts. Russian? Oh yeah. Sad, little Russian KGB flies (circa 1969) swagger and holler in their Moscow headquarters, dispatching bad guys with big bellies or facial scars to the States to sabotage the reentry.

Remembering that Fly Me To The Moon is set in 1969 barely ameliorates the cultural mess this script manages to stir up. The space flight and moon landing are premium stuff though.