As my title states - if would have been a great movie for ages 13 and below. That's fine- kids need movies that inspire them to be greater than what they are, that they have the chance to be the heroes of their fantasies.
However, this movie fails in a few major areas. The first is the casting of Thomas Horn as Jimmy. His acting is horribly over the top and he plays that clichéd role of the overly optimistic kid who just ends up being annoying to everyone, including the audience. I almost turned it off because I got tired of his overly squeaky voice.
The Space Camp competition was rushed and unnecessary - they didn't even give us an over view of what the events were going to be. Then we had the obligatory "evil" team (led by the evil blond haired rich white kid, too...not sure if that's a cliché or racist yet) that served no purpose in the end.
The music pandered too much to what the director felt was kid friendly. It could have gone without the pop music and just had a better written score to give it a more epic feel.
On top of that - for a movie that presses the importance of being precise and not cutting corners along with trying to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists, it takes as much liberty with the laws of physics as Armageddon did. (And that's saying something).
It would have been a great concept, but the movie talked down to its audience way too much. They should have taken a longer look at the original Space Camp movie and gone that route than this Disney's pandering and perception of what the intelligence of children actually is.
