'Space Cadet' review: Failure to launch
a Roberts) sits for an interview at the Johnson Space Center in Houston amid top scientists and astronauts, she screams, “I’m so psyched!”. This isn’t too different from what one would expect to feel while watching Space Cadet, Prime Video’s new sci-fi comedy.
A happy-go-lucky Rex gets the urge to reclaim her dream of becoming an astronaut on a ‘crescent moon’ day and decides to ‘be herself’, while she somehow tries to wiggle her way into NASA. Halfway into the film, however, we realise that this is a high school party entertainer masquerading as a space drama. And, familiarity of the plot and the formulaic structure make way for a story that promises little entertainment.
The Simpsons family, just like in the famous sitcom, is as diagonally different from any common two-member family as it can get. Daughter Rex is an innovator by day and bartender and dreamer by night. The father is a “paranormal tour guide” (yes, I had to confirm it twice).
Ideally, Rex should have been relatable, but her unidimensional characterisation makes it hard to root for her, even though she exudes charm with the twinkling stars in her blonde hair and neon-coloured outfits. Although she expresses love for her father, we never see this get translated on screen. Rex just wants to have fun in this film that lacks any plot-related pleasures.
She throws words like ‘rad’ and ‘hard-core’ and laughs pretentiously when scientists mention their team as ‘AsCons’ (a term used for the team in training). The film tries to sell her as a cool character, but she tries just too hard.
Just like Rex’s dreams, Space Cadet too gets unrealistic from time to time. When a doctored application by Nadine Cai (Poppy Liu) goes through NASA, not even one experienced official from the Johnson Space Center checks the veracity of her application.
Even when a procedural background check happens, Dr Logan O’Leary (Tom Hopper) is convinced that Rex’s references stand true, although the names have no website to uphold their academic credentials. It’s like the scientists forgot about Google.
Space Cadet is full of supposed wise lines from Rex. Here’s an example: “The universe is made up of energy” and “people are made of stardust”. She might be fascinated by it all, but she fails to convince us miserably.
In the vast void of Space Cadet, however, we do find some glimmers of hope. Violet Vislawski (Kuhoo Verma) and Rex’s natural camaraderie as they hustle through the space program lights up the screen. It’s also heartwarming when Rex pacifies Violet through a panic attack, but then again, she also says, “It is all in your head”, almost immediately invalidating her experience.
Space Cadet aims for the stars, but fails to launch due to its unrelatable characters, shoddy VFX and bland storyline.
Space Cadet
Director: Liz W Garcia
Genre: Fantasy
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Language: English
Rating: 2/5
