Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022) on Netflix
PG-1320221h 37mAdventureAnimationDrama
In 1969, ten-year-old Stanley lives with his parents and five siblings near Houston, where his father works for NASA. Officials pick him for a secret Moon mission he cannot mention to anyone.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.2/1013,693 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Stanley is a ten-year-old growing up in the expanding suburbs of El Lago, Texas, in the 1960s, one of six children whose family watches the new color television and gets by on modest means. His father holds an office job at NASA, and the space program gives the household hope even as the Cold War, the Vietnam War and crowding weigh on the country. Stanley follows the Mercury and Apollo missions and trades guesses with classmates about life on other worlds. In 1969, NASA officials pull him out of the school playground with news that he has been chosen for a secret trip to the Moon: the capsule was built too small, so only a child can ride in it. He can tell no one, not even his family, and spends the summer training under the cover of camp.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences initially denied Apollo 10½ eligibility for its Animated Feature category because of the film's stylized animation, but an appeal backed by fellow directors and animators reversed the decision.
- Parts of Apollo 10½ were filmed in front of the largest green screen in Texas, and everything the characters did not interact with or touch was animated in post-production, using a technique similar to the rotoscoping Richard Linklater used on Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006).
- Richard Linklater had planned to make Apollo 10½ in live action, but went with an animation style influenced by Saturday morning cartoons instead, because animation suited the film's playful nature.
- Home movies shot in Houston, Texas, in the 1960s were used as research for Apollo 10½, and some of that period footage was included in the finished film.
