Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood

Apollo 10 ½ is about the subjective intimacy of history, and how all events are just an equally-sized, vibrantly-coloured fragment in the kaleidoscope of our mind.

Apollo 10½ is a portrait of innocence untainted by any agenda other than the need to convey as honestly as possible what it felt like to be that particular boy at that particular moment in history. It’s a movie about how we conjure and commemorate our pasts.

Apollo 10 1/2 is a charming, visually striking blend of history and fantasy that captures the way children see and process historical events happening around them, and considers what they choose to remember — and how those choices affect them as adults, and the worlds they choose to build around them.

Apollo 10½ is more a modest memoir than a whiz-bang space epic. Its view of the past is doggedly rose-colored, with social and emotional rough edges smoothed away by the passage of time and the filmmaker’s genial temperament.

A film like Linklater's brings you inside the consciousness of a person whose perceptions of the world are simultaneously constrained and curious, and open to new experiences.

Loosely based on Linklater’s experiences growing up in the 1960s, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood is not so much a space adventure as a pleasant reminder of the essence of youth and the comfort of memory.

Unfortunately, it becomes clear that the film is all backdrop, a boomer nostalgia trip with little in the way of actual story.

Your enjoyment of this movie will probably depend largely on your age and how much you were expecting a space story. I'm several years younger than the protagonist, Stan, but I still remember enough about the time period to enjoy the references to late '60s America. And while I was expecting this to be more space-centric, I wasn't bothered by the fact that visiting the moon was merely the backdrop for a warm-hearted, nostalgic look at family and coming of age. The absurd premise -- that NASA gets a 10-year-old to fly to the moon *without* anyone (including his parents) knowing -- is laid out early, so you can decide right away whether you wanna go along for the ride. If you go along, you'll quickly realize that the space trip isn't the point. Stan's recollections about coming of age during a magical time in American history are delivered by the narrator with a cozy familiarity that belies the absurd premise. And I found myself smiling almost the entire time. I think the choice to animate over live-action only helped this film. The slightly surreal look supports the surreal story -- putting a perfectly normal kid in a preposterous situation but somehow making the situation feel normal. The acting feels very natural, and there's easy comedy that comes from lots of regular, real-life moments. In particular, Stan's mom's occasional, blunt outbursts made me giggle. Apollo 10½ just made me feel good, and if you were alive during the late '60s or even early '70s, you'll probably also feel good watching it.

Very good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really surprised at this one, managed to stay light while mixing in some deeper political stuff from the era, the animation style really worked for me.

Charming and nostalgic, but I can't help but feel like I didn't get anything out of it. Also, I get it, Linklater, summer of 1969 was the best time ever to be a kid - you can stop rubbing it in for 95% of the movie.

Heavily autobiographical without ever being particularly personal; felt more like watching a wikipedia summary of 1960's culture than some meaningful childhood story