Nobita's accidental space adventure starts the way all his best disasters do: he wants something impossible, Doraemon gives him the wrong gadget, and suddenly the stakes are real. What hits is how the movie never breaks character, it stays loose and funny while the kids are actually lost in space, chasing a UFO to rescue their friends from inside a video game they didn't mean to enter. This is Doraemon at its core: the magic isn't in the gadgets, it's in how a bunch of kids turn catastrophe into an adventure because panicking never occurred to them.

Suneo brags that his father gave him a ticket for a trip into space, then admits the group will have to wait a long time before they can actually go. Nobita and his friends ask Doraemon for help, but instead of a real trip he gives them a space simulation game to play together. An accident with another gadget leaves Suneo and Giant trapped inside the game, which is then picked up by someone from outer space. Nobita, Shizuka and Doraemon set off after the UFO carrying the game, and the chase turns into a genuine adventure among the stars. The film mixes adventure, comedy and fantasy, and it marks the 20th anniversary of the Doraemon movies.