When creating a film intended for the whole family to enjoy, it becomes a delicate balancing act to keep every segment entertained without straying too far in one or more directions. Sometimes the old ideas still work best, even if you have to jazz them up to sell them. In 2002, a film looked to the year 2087 to tell a story of blasters, droids, nightclubs, and the continuing Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Ex-smuggler, Pluto Nash, has recently come into great fortune by buying a failing club from his buddy and turning it around into the hippest spot on the moon. Seven years on, a Kingpin by the name of Rex Crater wants the club, and he’s willing to use hired goons to get what he wants. With an ageing robotic bodyguard and an aspiring singer/waitress, looking to make just enough money for her ticket off the Moon. Pluto must keep one step ahead to get to the bottom of Crater’s plans.

Some attention was put into trying to create a plausible, but accessible world of the future. Little America feels like a location that you can tell the designers and writers had fun coming up with fun sight gags, even if some of them aged poorly, c’est la vie. In a sense, Little America seems like the perfect backdrop for this type of adventure, and you could see further sequels in this almost retro-futuristic landscape. Like many sci-fi films made around the turn of the millennium, Pluto Nash also features some fun special effects. Not only in its world-building, but in its gags. That being said, Pluto Nash isn’t a sci-fi spectacle; in its heart lies a pulp adventure of yesteryear, too, one that is thrilling, funny, and goes in places you wouldn’t expect.

Pluto Nash’s character just happens to be a great vehicle for Murphy’s comedy. Being a character with a chequered past, a quick tongue and handy in a fight, which sums up a lot of Eddie Murphy’s more successful roles in cinema if you think about it. Rosario Dawson plays a singer, Dina Lake, who is in over her head and looking for a ticket back home. Even Jackie Brown herself, Pam Grier, shows up for a few scenes as Pluto’s outlaw mother. And no, that isn’t Brent Spiner, it is Randy Quad playing the antiquated android bodyguard Bruno, although I can see why you might be confused. A couple of cute cameos also present themselves, from Alec Baldwin, Luis Guzmán (as Pluto’s Biggest fan), and John Cleese (the automatic robot-chauffeur). It is nice that the latter could pay off his role from the abandoned Beverly Hills Cop 3 concept. So the cast is all here and does well to populate the world of Little America.

Pluto Nash is a cute adventure, one that is fun for all the family, and has an unearned reputation. Murphy’s charm is ever-present in this fun retro-futuristic caper that genuinely had plot developments I did not see coming. If you want a ticket for adventure, and a trip to the moon is out of the question, this film is a great substitute.

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