“I guess I was what you’d call a fabulist, which is just a nicer way of saying persistent liar.”

Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood initially presents an absurd premise—a young lad growing up in the 1960s in Houston is roped into a top-secret NASA mission when the nation’s best and brightest accidentally design the lunar landing module a bit too small—and eventually follows through on it with no small amount of affection, but it’s less a space-themed animated adventure film than it is an extended, nostalgia-soaked reminiscence on director Richard Linklater’s adolescence in the largest city in Texas. Jack Black narrates this warm-and-fuzzy scrapbook jumble of perceptions, which range from touching boyhood antics and a commentary on the decade’s technological developments, to flashbulb memories of pop culture events and the unique relationship between siblings. Linklater is so successful at enchanting these quotidian rhythms of homelife and culture that the boy’s fantasy almost feels unnecessary, even as it is the only thing propelling the story forward.