Der Traum von Apollo XI

B"H Being an old-car nut, this movie appealed to me because of the '49 Pontiac Eight that is one of the "stars" of the movie. Ted Danson's acting was a little overdone, and some of the plot was thin. My kids hate the flick.

However, watching Washington and Andy drive through the 1969 West in the Pontiac was fun. Besides the '49 Pontiac, there was an Amphicar (driven by Mary Steenburgen) as well as some neat oldies from the '40s sitting outside the Bellamy's home which Washington kept as collector cars.

Ultimately it was fun to watch the Bellamy family together again, being saved from a police manhunt as they drove the Amphicar across a lake to Canada.

Two parts of the movie were ridiculous; one was Andy Bellamy in his own father's science class, and putting a "455" V8 into the old Chief would have required major body modifications as well as a new transmission, impossible to do in a single night.

Inspiring was watching both the astronauts and the Bellamys preparing for their voyages at the same time, the liftoff and that shift of the old Hydra-Matic Drive into DR was a lot of fun to watch.

I really liked that movie for the originality of the plot. From the beginning, on the one hand, you have Apollo XI taking off to the Moon in the boldest and riskiest adventure in all the history of humanity, and on the other hand, you have Katherine Bellamy, who can't even step out of her house because she is too afraid of the world out there. And between those two extremes, you have Washington Bellamy, his husband, who has a drive to explore and discover but hasn't made a single trip with his 11-year old son because Katherine doesn't even want her son to step into a car.

Now Washington is too inspired by the Apollo odyssey and decides it is time for his son to discover something more than what you can find in books. They will drive from their home in California to a natural crater in Idaho, in exactly the same time as Apollo XI gets from Earth to Moon.

The parallelism between the father-and-son trip and the space journey is maintained from the beginning to the end. Of course, the father and the son will strengthen their ties during the trip, the son will learn why his mother is so timorous and... maybe there's a happy ending over there!

If you're the kind of moviegoer who looks for goofs, loopholes, anachronisms & inconsistencies, then you may find yourself hating this film. But I'm going to share with you one realization that turned the whole thing around for me:

The plot of the film centers around a journey to reach the "Spires of the Moon National Park", but in real life, there is no such park.

This piece of trivia may not seem significant, but for me it was the key to my enjoyment of the whole film. Suddenly it dawned on me that, just like the fictitious National Park which has no basis in fact, other "goofs" were deliberately put there to give the film a surreal, tongue-in-cheek quality. In short, this is pure fantasy where anything goes.

And trust me, the last 20 minutes requires some heavy suspension of disbelief (the same way a '49 Pontiac Eight would require a whole new suspension if you put a 455 engine in there like they did)! The last 20 minutes featured things that were so absolutely wrong, it felt like a Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker movie ("Airplane!"), and I believe in its own subtle way, that was the intent of the filmmakers. So just bear in mind, things are supposed to get bizarre and dreamy.

Now on to the movie as a whole...

The story is refreshingly original. A wacky schoolteacher father (Ted Danson) decides to temporarily abscond with his sheltered son (Ryan Todd) in an impulsive effort to achieve "one perfect act", much to the chagrin of the agoraphobic mother (Mary Steenburgen, Dansons wife) who hasn't left the house in 7 years. What follows is a cute road movie full of interesting characters and a few preposterous action scenes (but now remember what I told you about suspension of disbelief) while past family mysteries slowly unravel themselves. Everything leads lead us to an outrageous conclusion that will either leave you sighing with delight or hurling apple pie at the TV screen.

This film is a one-of-a-kind. At first it felt like a sappy "E.T." type flick, but it soon morphs into something more along the lines of "Edward Scissorhands" only without the satire & quirkiness, then slips into something like the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV series, before bringing us to something reminiscent of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".

This is a very polished production with some memorable moments. The acting sometimes seems over the top, but that's the point (Danson & Steenburgen portraying polar extremes of lunacy). I didn't care for the musical soundtrack in the first half which seemed to upstage dialogue, but in the latter half the film featured well-placed nostalgic hits such as "Crimson & Clover", "Let's Get Together" (smile on your brother) and "Cheek to Cheek". The director Peter Medak, known for his prolific work on 70s-80s TV, did a nice job with some stylish visuals (watch for the car carrier under the stars and tell me how the heck he pulled that off!).

If you're prepared for a wild ride, especially if you are able to experience the movie as if it were a dream, you'll enjoy yourself. I must confess, cynical old curmudgeon that I am, I hated this movie through most of it. But I'm ready to watch it again through rose colored glasses and have fun the 2nd time around. Here's hoping you can skip the hatred part.

Pontiac Moon is such a perfect movie that it's easily one of my top 5 favourites. It's intelligent, fun and perfectly crafted and acted. Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Ryan Todd perform as if the roles were written for them and they carry the film with gusto and subtlety. It is such a joy to watch (and I've watched it several times) that I can't help but wonder why others can't "get it" but must pick at points that are simply irrelevant. Do you question whether Superman can actually fly or where is the exact location of the Shire? Pontiac Moon is a movie for heaven's sake and it's hugely enjoyable, moving and entertaining. It encourages you to step out of your box and go out into the world because life is meant to be an adventure of the mind and body. This is not for people who wish to live average and mediocre lives of quiet desperation. I'll watch it again and again.

Thank you, Ted Danson.

I loved the accuracy of the movie - the cars, the clothes...but at the end, when the men land on the Moon, it was July 20th, 1969 - but they show the moon as full - I remember looking at the moon that night, and have check the lunar phases calender - it was waxing crescent, and did not phase to full until July 29th. I really liked the acting, and think Ted really had fun playing this part. Lots of odd surprises and interesting characters. The photography was really well done too, beautiful shots of the amazing scenery. If you want to sit down with a bag of pop corn with the entire family, there is something there for everyone. Educational quotations, write from wrong, bad guys get whooped, and a small history lesson - it has it all.