Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000
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| This article was copied (instead of imported) from the now-deleted Awful Movies wiki. |
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 The cover doesn't lie. It is very cheesy indeed!
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Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000 is a 1999 direct-to-video film that was based upon Chuck E. Cheese CEC TV. It was released on October 5, 1999 in CEC restaurants and Target stores. The plot is that a boy named Charlie Rockit needs $50,000 to fix his aunt and uncle's tractor engine, so Chuck E. and friends go to the Galaxy 5000 to win the money in a race.
Plot
Charlie Rockit's aunt and uncle is in danger of losing their farm because they need $50,000 to replace their tractor. To raise the money, Chuck E. Cheese, Jasper T. Jowls, Mr. Munch and Helen Henny decide to race in the Galaxy 5000 on the planet Orion (to which they travel via Pasqually's Awesome Adventure Machine).
They face many challenges, including a racing vehicle that is practically junk, cheating competitors, and a girl named Astrid whom Chuck falls for but who's only interested in the prize money. Everything seems to go from bad to worse for Chuck, but just when he is at his lowest point, he meets a hermit named Harry who gets him to believe in himself and helps him train for the race.
During the race, Chuck overcomes the cheaters' maneuvers, getting stuck in a forest, and his own self-doubts to reach the finish line. After winning the prize, Chuck and his friends head home.
Why It's Cheesy (Pun Intended)
- Much like the Chuck E. Cheese showtapes (also known as CEC TV from 1991 to 2012), the movie's sole purpose of existing is to promote the arcade it's based on. This makes it more of an advertisement than a movie.
- Wonky camera work. In some scenes, the camera constantly shakes, making the viewer feel dizzy.
- This movie reuses the animatronic walkarounds for Chuck E., Helen, Munch and Jasper from the 1996-1999 showtapes featuring the Awesome Adventure Machine, which makes them unintentionally look very creepy. Notably, their eyes' reflection was removed. Their mouths also don't move a lot, which is also creepy.
- Due to the characters sharing the same remote signals between them, making the wrong character's eyes or mouth move is a common mistake made throughout the film.
- The weight of the heads also limit their mobility in most scenes, with Chuck E.'s voice actor Duncan Brannan comparing the articulated heads to wearing a bomb
- Poorly written jokes, such as "Maybe you could say that today's race separated the mice from the men."
- Awkward scenes, such as when Munch and Jasper randomly decide to start singing “Do Re Mi” from The Sound of Music and when Helen goes on a rant on how humans mistreat chickens (which is ironic if you think about it, since in 2015 Chuck E. Cheese began adding chicken food in their menu).
- Charlie's acting is very wooden and stiff.
- There are several instances of discrepancy:
- Jasper suggests that the gang all get jobs to help Charlie get money, but they already have jobs. They sing in a band at a pizza arcade joint!
- The X-Pilots are apparently still allowed to compete in the race, even though they got disqualified the previous year for cheating.
- It is unknown how Chuck E. suddenly knows about Vega 3 and Jasper knows about Dead Man's Canyon, even though they never competed in the Galaxy 5000 before.
- There are some downright disturbing scenes.
- In one scene, Jasper suggests that the gang get jobs at the Chicken Palace, despite the fact that Helen is a chicken. That’s like telling a human to go work at a restaurant that serves human meat as food!
- The X-Pilots hit on Helen, which is basically bestiality.
- The X-Pilots and Dr. Zoom plan to extract bodily fluid from Helen to produce Zoom Gas, which is very creepy and could be a metaphor for rape!
- Chuck E's relationship with Astrid is creepy, due to Chuck E. being a giant mouse and Astrid being a human, which, again, is bestiality. Later, Astrid is revealed to be incredibly self-absorbed and only cares about the prize money rather than him.
- The songs are very corny, feel very out-of-place and serve as filler throughout the movie.
- Pasqually just leaves the restaurant to compete in the race with the rest of the gang. Assuming that he’s the only chef at Chuck E. Cheese, that means there would be no one else to cook more pizza for the customers. He also practically disappears after the gang goes to Orion.
- The CGI used for the Galaxy 5000 race on the planet Orion is very cheesy (no pun intended) and unrealistic, even for 1999 and direct-to-video standards, as it looks more like a PS1 or a late 90s or early 2000s Flash or Shockwave game.
- The X-Pilots are little more than Russian/Austrian stereotypes.
- After the gang gets to Orion, the plot about Charlie's aunt and uncle needing money is forgotten about until the end of the movie.
- Poorly written love triangle amongst Chuck E, Helen, and Astrid, with Helen having a crush on Chuck E, Chuck E. falling for Astrid, then acting like a jerk to Helen.
- Chuck E. is supposed to be the hero, but is incredibly unlikable in some scenes, such as when he writes Helen off as “one of the guys” just so he can get closer to Astrid, and when Helen runs away crying, he has the nerve to wonder what’s “ruffling her feathers”.
- Uncertain target audience. The movie has certain themes that appeal to older viewers, like love triangles and the Zoom Gas metaphor. However, practically no one over the age of 7 hangs out at Chuck E. Cheese, which makes this movie too childish for older viewers, yet too mature for younger viewers.
- Photosensitive epilepsy risk: The scene where Jasper gets electrocuted by the exposed wires in the racing vehicle contains a lot of flashing lights that could possibly give sensitive viewers seizures, similar to the Pokémon episode "Electric Soldier Porygon". This is ironic considering that FUNimation likely would've known the risks, seeing as how prior to this movie, they were largely only focused on importing anime instead of making original projects.
- The racing scenes are incredibly boring and drag on forever.
- The effects of Zoom Gas are eerily similar to drugs.
- Terrible direction skill.
- All of the characters outside of the main cast (Chuck E., Helen, Jasper, Munch, and Pasqually) are very bland and only exist as plot devices.
- Helen's character feels flanderized in the movie and toned down compared to the Chuck E. Cheese showtapes; she has gone from a free-spirited cheerleader/athletic jock who broke all the stereotypes of said clique, cared for her bandmates and explored other interests beyond just cheerleading and being famous into a hypocritical punching bag who starts hanging out with the X-Pilots after they win the race, despite the fact that she is clearly disturbed when they try to hit on her and also calls them "bullies" and "jerks".
- However, this is not as bad as her post-August 2007 characterization in the showtapes, which (upon the introduction of her second Avenger design, which has her wearing a pink flower shirt) flanderized her into a stereotypical girly girl and an overgrown teeny bopper who focuses on trends and "girly" creative pursuits instead of cheerleading, more so in the Rockstar era (2012-present), even though she still wears her cheerleader uniform in the 2007-2012 showtapes.
- Helen's character feels flanderized in the movie and toned down compared to the Chuck E. Cheese showtapes; she has gone from a free-spirited cheerleader/athletic jock who broke all the stereotypes of said clique, cared for her bandmates and explored other interests beyond just cheerleading and being famous into a hypocritical punching bag who starts hanging out with the X-Pilots after they win the race, despite the fact that she is clearly disturbed when they try to hit on her and also calls them "bullies" and "jerks".
- This movie was an indication that the CEC showtapes were beginning to decline in quality, due to a combination of CEC Entertainment shifting the videos' target demographic from families/all ages to young children and preschoolers in an attempt to compete with shows like Barney & Friends and Sesame Street (if not other preschool-friendly media) and eliminating Chuck E.'s friends from the stages in 1997, along with their show format that notoriously had the characters make comments over music videos instead of actually singing. The decline only worsened in 2012, when Chuck E.'s longtime voice actor Duncan Brannan was replaced by BFS frontman Jaret Reddick and several other characters (notably Jasper) were flanderized and other questionable decisions (such as getting rid of the animatronics and replacing them with a dance floor) were made.
- Harry the Hermit and Pasqually share the same accent, mustache, and almost the same appearance, and are played by the same actor, showing just how lazy the production values were. Chuck E. even lampshades this.
- Mr. Munch does nothing worth in the movie as he only is there for some of the "comedy" as well as just being there for the ride thus serving as a filler character. You can just remove him and pretty much nothing would change.
Qualities That Aren't Cheesy
- Even though the costumes are creepy, they're still well-made.
- The ending isn't too bad.
- Good voice acting for Chuck E, Helen, Munch and Jasper, especially Duncan Brannan and Jeremy Blaido (the only actors to reprise their roles from the Chuck E. Cheese shows of the time).
- A few funny moments here and there.
- Pasqually and Jasper are probably the only tolerable characters.
- Even though the songs are out of place, there are some very good songs such as "Snowball's Chance In Texas", "Zoom Gas" and "I Know I Can".
Trivia
- The restaurant scenes were filmed at the Irving, Texas location next to the DFW Airport, which was the flagship restaurant at the time.
Reception
Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000 received extremely negative reviews from Chuck E. Cheese fans and from movie critics in general, with many criticizing the plot, production values and characters. Funimation, the studio that produced this movie, has since regretted making this.
On its IMDB page, it sports a rating of 5.0/10.
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