You find yourself using the word “cute” to describe a lot of “Fly Me to the Moon.” The basic story of three young flies hitching a ride on the moon is cute. Most of the characters are pretty cute, each with big, soulful eyes and tiny hands and round heads. The general innocence of the film itself is pretty cute, as is the fact that it’s presented in 3-D. The thing is, cute can only get you so far. This is the third animated film of the summer to involve non-human characters in space (the first two being “WALL-E” and “Space Chimps”), and of those three, “Fly Me to the Moon” is definitely the least challenging and the least entertaining. It has its moments of fun, and I have no doubt young kids will get a kick out of it. But for most people, it’s really no better or worse than an extended episode of an early morning kids show. Some may even be bothered by its Cold War mentality, where Americans are fearless and heroic while Russians are vile and sinister.

The story proper takes place in 1969, just as Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins were about to make history on Apollo 11’s mission to the moon. In a swampy junkyard just outside of Cape Canaveral, three school-age flies decide to stow away on the mission and become the first flies in outer space. The leader, Nat (voiced by Trevor Gagnon), is the headstrong, adventurous one. The brains of the group is naturally named I.Q. (voiced by Philip Bolden), and you know he’s smart because he’s the only one wearing glasses. Scooter (voiced by David Gore) is the fat, timid one, and nothing other than food is on his mind. Already, you might have noticed that all three sound like virtual clones of our favorite chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore; it may not matter a great deal, but I have a feeling many of the adults in the audience will get the feeling they’ve seen these characters before.

After a discussion with his equally adventurous grandfather (voiced by Christopher Lloyd), Nat, I.Q., and Scooter sneak into Cape Canaveral on the morning of the launch. Once inside the rocket, they hide themselves inside each astronaut’s helmet. The constant media coverage allows everyone in Nat’s world to see him and his friends go into orbit, including Nat’s mother (voiced by Kelly Ripa), a worrisome woman who constantly faints. She doesn’t see eye to eye with her father, always filling his grandson’s head with fantastical stories of real life adventures. One of Grandpa’s most popular stories is of how he was with Amelia Earhart during her solo transatlantic flight; he actually had to fly up her nose to keep her from falling asleep. We actually see this happening as a flashback sequence, and it culminates with a lovely shot of Earhart sneezing Nat’s grandfather out her nose.

Our three friends, meanwhile, are having their own adventure on their way to the moon. Little do they realize that, back on Earth, a small group of Russian flies are devising a plan to steal credit for the space mission away from the Americans. The team leader, named Poopchev (voiced by Ed Begley, Jr.), sends a spy named Yegor (voiced by Tim Curry) to infiltrate Cape Canaveral’s control center and alter Apollo 11’s landing coordinates. Will the Russians succeed, or will America’s indomitable spirit conquer all that threatens democracy? If you actually have to think that one over, (a) you don’t know how the Apollo 11 mission ended, and (b) you don’t see very many kid’s movies. Not that it matters a great deal; the very idea of a kid’s movie reverting to Cold War prejudices is not at all appealing. The Russian characters in “Fly Me to the Moon” are ugly, vile, and stupid, perfect fodder for animated villains. Shouldn’t we have gone beyond this by now?

The only Russian character made to look pretty is Nadia (voiced by Nicollette Sheridan), who Nat’s grandfather met in France after Amelia Earhart’s flight. After years of being apart, Nadia defects from her country to help Grandpa save the Apollo mission, which in turn would save his grandson. Why the filmmakers felt the need to include this character or even this subplot, I have no idea. What rule states that all animated films need heroes and villains? Why do they all need that kind of conflict? It seemed that Nat, I.Q., and Scooter’s mission in space was already full of conflict, especially when the astronauts realized they had flies on board.

At a certain point in the movie, the real Buzz Aldrin appears to make what can only be described as a public service announcement. Yes, it was cute that he decided to play along. But really, was that necessary? Don’t we already know that the men and women of NASA are brave people that have opened doors? And what does any of that have to do with flies? The animation and 3-D effects of “Fly Me to the Moon” were decent enough. I distinctly remember two scenes: one featured Nat, I.Q., and Scooter doing a zero-gravity synchronized dance to the tune of “The Blue Danube”; the other was a recreation of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the lunar surface. Both were wonderful to look at--the latter was oddly beautiful, in a childish sort of way. But for everything the film achieved visually, the story needed a lot of work. It needed to be less cutesy and more entertaining. It needed fewer clichéd characters. It needed to be less preachy with its patriotism. You leave this movie knowing that if the filmmakers had tried a little harder, they would have had something that could appeal to everyone, not just to kids.

- Chris Pandolfi