Review: OK, so Space Chimps isn’t exactly a Pixar-esque masterpiece, but it should serve its purpose of entertaining the young tots.

Story: This isn’t rocket science, folks; it’s actually Chimp rocket science. As we all know, chimpanzees are secretly a lot smarter than their so-called higher primate cousins. At least they seemed to be in Space Chimps. When a $5 billion Space Agency probe disappears into an intergalactic wormhole, the agency turns to their on-hand, super-chimp astronauts who have been training and waiting for their day in space. This includes no-nonsense and fearless Lt. Luna (voice of Cheryl Hines) and uptight Commander Titan (voice of Patrick Warburton). The agency also thinks it needs an ace-in-the-hole to give the mission some publicity and recruits the grandson of the most famous space chimp of all, Ham – except Ham III (voice of Andy Samberg) is a free-spirited circus performer more interested in zero gravity hijinks than living up to his illustrious heritage. No matter, he’s shot into space with this two crewmates anyway and learns some valuable life lesson – all while saving the peaceful inhabitants of a bizarro planet from an evil scrooge.

Acting: “SNL” cast member Samberg presents a certain slacker attitude to his simian alter-ego, which fits the character just fine. One wonders what interested the “D**k in a Box” YouTuber in doing a kiddie flick – but then again, all little boys at one time or another wanted to be an astronaut. Guess even by playing a monkey, Samberg gets his wish. Hines doesn’t get to shine nearly as bright as she does on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” playing it straight as Luna, which is a shame, but Warburton makes up for it with his booming and bombastic Titan. Warburton truly has one of the most recognizable and best voices to come around in a while, and even though he and Samberg never met in the recording studio, their characters sparring onscreen is about the only more-adult and hilarious thing in the movie. Former Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth (recently Emmy nominated for her turn on the hit TV show “Pushing Daisies”) also lends her cutesy voice as one of the planet’s denizens – a bulbous-headed little alien who belts out high notes when she gets scared. Yeah, it’s kinda weird, but Chenoweth sells it.

Direction: Nothing really spectacular to report here on the overall look and feel of Space Chimps. It’s pretty much your run-of-the-mill CGI effort (and remember the days when the technology used to inspire “ahhs and ohhhs?”). It would be interesting to know, however, just which of the animators’ twisted minds came up with the alien planet the chimps find themselves on. It’s like Teletubbies on acid – actually somewhat disturbing at times. It might scare some of the smaller tots who might be expecting a “Dora the Explorer” moment but get a man, er, chimp-eating monster instead. Still, Space Chimps is mostly aimed at the younger audience with little content for their parents. Oh well, guess we’ve all been spoiled by the Wall-E’s of the animated world.

Bottom Line: Hollywood.com rated this film 2 stars.

Review: Seth Rogen and James Franco come off like a Laurel and Hardy on, well, pot in this frenetic wild ride which mixes violence, drugs and laughs with such abandon you gotta love the audacity of it all.

Story: In yet ANOTHER summer romp from the Judd Apatow factory line, Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a beefy rotund guy who delivers subpoenas for a living. He also dates a young jail-bait cutie, Angie (Amber Heard), when he’s not visiting his sweet stoner of a pot dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco) to score the latest and greatest weed. In this case that’s the title star, Pineapple Express, a marijuana combination so lethal and unique Dale is almost (we said ALMOST) reluctant to destroy it by inhaling. But when he sets out to deliver a subpoena to drug kingpin Ted Jones (Gary Cole), he is spotted by the man as he commits a bloody murder. Freaking out, Dale ditches the scene so fast he dumps some of the precious weed, leaving it behind like a trail of breadcrumbs dropped by Hansel, leading a trail to Saul. Reefer madness ensues as a full-blown freak out is set in motion, and Dale and Saul hit the pedal to the metal in order to evade Ted and his loony goons (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson). This leads to so many crazy-weird encounters and near-death experiences, it makes a Road Runner cartoon look like the work of Ingmar Bergman by comparison. Smashed heads, sliced and diced ears, banged up bodies galore – you want it, Pineapple Express has got it. As the film’s ad line implores, ‘put that in your pipe and smoke it!’

Acting: Rogen and Franco are the yin and yang of comedy here with wildly divergent styles that complement each other perfectly. Rogen plays Dale with such over-the-top hysteria and a high-pitched sense of desperation he’s fun to watch – until you just want him to calm down and take a breath. Franco steals the film lock, stock and barrel with his stoned-out weed maestro who clearly has ingested so much of the stuff himself that he qualifies for a place in the slacker hall of fame. With his parade of non-sequiturs and nonsensical ramblings, Franco turns gentle Saul into one of the year’s most endearing and hilarious creations. Although the movie belongs to these two, special mention should also go to Danny McBride, who takes it on the chin (and everywhere else) as Red, Saul’s unfaithful drug buddy and supplier. Cole is all evil menace, while Rosie Perez shows up as his cop-tease accomplice.

Direction: David Gordon Green, a director previously known only for small downer indie films like All The Real Girls and Snow Angels seems to be getting off on all the toys producer Apatow has given him to play with. Adeptly handling the car crashes, extreme violence and general anarchy on screen, Green keeps the action moving and the laughs coming. The film is handsomely shot and production values are strong, even though what’s on screen basically comes down to a how-can-you-top-this destruction derby. Working off a script from Superbad writers Rogen and his partner Evan Goldberg, Green manages to evoke the spirit of a mismatched buddy movie along the lines of a Midnight Run but ratchets up speed, tempo and noise levels to the needs of the average attention span for this type of flick. Take that, Harold and Kumar! Although not as supergood as Superbad, it’s all a lot of fun if you like your frivolity generously mixed with carnage. Huey Lewis also contributes a catchy title song that perfectly captures the whacked-out stoner spirit of the whole enterprise.

Bottom Line: Hollywood.com rated this film 3 stars.