The Moon rocks! ("The Moon"? ... not so much)

I normally do not take requests on this blog, but I submit this review at the behest of the number one Space Program fan (and defender) that I know--George Bradford-- who claims the documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon" to be "the ultimate foreign film, because it was filmed on the moon!" I even had the pleasure of walking through downtown Houston's own Tranquility Park on my way to the theater -- a fitting tribute to the 1969 event.

Well, the subject matter may be foreign to us Earthlings, but the movie's downfall is that it spends too much time with its feet firmly planted on terra firma. For much of the first hour, the movie remains tediously Earth-bound: both in subject matter and in its too-traditional execution, not helped by a truly lame soundtrack (a stupid Byrds song was the best they could come up with??). I'm not saying every documentary has to follow the Ken Burns template, but a little originality in presentation is de rigueur in this post-Michael Moore era, or I might as well stay home and watch the Discovery Channel (or Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet <<"My favorite animal's the meerkat." -- from what movie??>>).

Compare this with another recent release, Peter Berg's uncomfortable bit of post-9/11 escapism, "The Kingdom," where the opening credit sequence depicts the entire history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- from 1933 to 9/11 -- in a two-minute animation! Incredible (and the best thing in the movie).

True, the movie is educational and informative about a watershed moment in human history (even for us old-timers ... who remember "The Right Stuff"-- I kid, I remember back in 1969), but the narrative and interviews just never reach the heights this monumental achievement deserves. By the time the first astronauts land on the moon, you are hoping for more insight than learning which astronaut was the first to take a whiz on the lunar landscape.

-- SPOILER ALERT!! --

- It was Buzz Aldrin!!

I cannot blame the interview subjects for the less than inspiring narration; in fact, some are able to break-through the unimaginative, studio-bound interviews to reveal glimpses of their personality, which only makes you wish for a looser format (and better interviewer) to free them from the talking-head treatment they all received in equal measure. I have no complaints about spending an hour and a half listening to anecdotes from this league of extraordinary gentlemen, illustrated by NASA's own film of the missions; I simply wish this documentary did a better job capturing the mystery and awesomeness of space travel -- like a Ron Howard movie, for example (he had a hand in producing, alas not directing, this film).