Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt. An Air Force pilot rescues smart chimps from lab experiments at a strategic-weapons research center, but then has to figure out what to do with them.

This film will break your heart, if you have a love for animals. You are introduced to the chimps (they're given CHARACTER development, if you can dig it), then you are shown what happens TO the chimps in this research center, and then you are shown what happens because of this treatment. Once you are emotionally invested in the premise, the tension of the surrounding atmosphere begins to build until the climactic crescendo.

This is actually not as bad as I remembered, but not as good as I hoped, watching from a more mature perspective. The performances are typical of the time, perhaps a tad better, but this work is horribly dated, as is practically everything from that era. I wouldn't say it rates a remaking, as it's fine as it is, but someone will in order to carry a "fresh" message that what goes on in these laboratories is wrong. Eventually, we'll see posters and ad blurbs for Project NeXt or something like that.

All in all, it's good for a rainy Sunday, but don't set your hopes real high, and ... in spite of the levity , heartwarming moments, and the kid-friendly ratings, this is NOT for younger (or tender) children, who could be traumatized for years by the treatment these chimps receive.

It rates a 6.8/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Matthew Broderick's big smiling face booms out on the DVD cover, there's also Helen Hunt looking strangely alluring, while a small silhouette shows a man and chimp holding hands in the glow of something bright. Lovely, just lovely. Yet this is something of a bum steer considering the film is very rarely funny or sexy!

Project X comes from the stable of films involving animals that are made to illicit a prescribed response from the human being. More so if you happen to be an animal lover as well. It all looks very dated while the message and thematics at work are frayed around the edges. In fact better treatments of "animal testing" films have been made both before and after Project X. But this in no way means Jonathan Kaplan's movie isn't any good, because it is. The cast are engaging, there's no demonising of the military humans and it hits all the right emotional beats of its subject matter. It just needs to be said that any expectation of a thought provoking and believable picture will only lead to disappointment.

Get the tissues ready and pray for a punch the air ending, while enjoy those awesome chimps as well. 7/10