‘Fly Me To The Moon’ falls flat

If 3-D is to become the wave of the future in Hollywood, it will not be because of "Fly Me To The Moon."

The technology may be updated, but the story of flies hitching a ride to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission needs a booster rocket, or something.

In "Fly Me," a trio of boy flies, bored with their life at a Florida garbage dump, sneaks onto the launching pad and into the capsule, hitching a free ride into outer space.

There is the the fat one (David Gore), the smart one (Philip Daniel Bolden) and the adventurous one (Trevor Gagnon) who is spurred to act by the tall tales told by his kooky grandfather (Christopher Lloyd).

The story is inoffensively wholesome, and there may be enough goofy antics to engage young, indiscriminate viewers, but the level of creativity in the animation is serviceable at best.

No doubt the filmmakers were working with a comparatively limited budget, but after enjoying the incredible artistry of a movie like "WALL-E," it's hard not to be disappointed by a movie with this many technical disadvantages.

The story is simple - the bugs try to stay alive on board the spacecraft while down below grandpa battles an attempt by Soviet flies/spies to disrupt the mission.

It must have pained writers that they couldn't have called one of the flies Buzz, since one of the astronauts already had that name. Darn that Aldrin.

Curiously, Aldrin makes a live-action appearance at the end of the movie to add a disclaimer: There were no flies aboard the actual mission.

I'm not sure what purpose this unnecessary demystification serves, other than to disappoint the movie's preteen audience, thereby stomping THEIR buzz. *

Produced by Gina Gallo, Charlotte Huggins, Mimi Maynard and Caroline Van Iseghem, directed by Ben Stassen, written by Domonic Paris, music by Ramin Djawadi, distributed by Summit Entertainment.