My nephew who is ten stayed for the weekend and after looking on Netflix for what felt like an hour, he picked Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood to watch. This is a Netflix original animated movie and it is another smash for the streaming platform. It is such a shame that this is not getting the attention it deserves as it truly is a wonderful film.
How to Download Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Check out also other Netflix original animated movies – Klaus (2019), The Willoughbys (2020), Over the Moon (2020), Back to the Outback (2021), and The Sea Beast (2022).
The Movie Review
The movie is written and directed by the very talented Richard Linklater. I would later learn that he based the movie on his own interest in the Apollo 11 moon landing from when he was a kid which I think was pretty cool. Unlike most other animated movies, this is not really a comedy, I would probably put it more in the dramedy category.
I got a real kick out of the story that the movie was telling. Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood takes place in the summer of 1969; America is deep in the space race and desperate to get to the moon first. It is actually a pretty solid retelling of the historical events that led up to the iconic Apollo 11 mission.
However, as well as looking at Apollo 11 from a real historical point of view, we also have a coming-of-age story about a young kid called, Stanley. Stanley like most kids of this era was super excited about this and we get to see the events of Apollo 11 from his point of view as well.
Stanly has a wild imagination and that is where the “magic” of the movie comes from. You see, America made the lunar lander too small so they come to Stanley and ask him to go on a secret mission to the moon as he can fit inside it. It is such fun stuff and the total kind of thing I could have seen myself imagining when I was a kid. It is such a charming movie that it was impossible not to get all caught up in what was going on.
One of the things that are most interesting about this movie is the way that it looks. It has a very unique style to it where it looks like a live-action movie that has had each frame drawn over to make it look animated. It is a style that I think is very cool, but I also think it is a style that some people may have a hard time liking as it is so different from what we are used to.
The 1969 setting of the movie is awesome! I like how authentic it is to the era with the way people are dressed, the way houses look, and even the music. A solid voice cast that features Jack Black playing an adult Stanly and Milo Coy as young Stanley really do a great job at bringing this fun adventure to life.
Both my nephew and I enjoyed Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood. It is a fun story about a truly remarkable historic event and a boy with a vivid and fun imagination. It is the kind of movie that makes you think back to all the fun things you did as a kid and that was something I thought was very cool.
