Today's review is a fun one. Mel Brooks is to me one of the most creative and funniest directors, writers, and actors of the last century. I thoroughly enjoy his work, and when he does a spoof of Star Wars, it doesn't get any better. So now for a review.
Plot time:
Dark Helmet's ship is closing in on Druidia, a healthy planet. He intends to suck up all the air from the planet to take back to the planet Spaceball. It just so happens this very day is the wedding of Princess Vespa. She, however, hates her groom and runs out of the wedding right before it begins. She takes with her her droid Dot Matrix, a C-3PO female counterpart.
We are introduced next to Lone Star, a sort of space cowboy who works for the notorious Pizza the Hut. Pizza informs him he owes a million space bucks. We also meet his Chewbacca, Barf. So now back to Dark Helmet, who captures Princess Vespa's space car. She informs her father, King Roland, who talks to Lone Star, who agrees to save the princess.
Before the car can be taken aboard Spaceball I, Helmet's ship, Lone Star saves her and Dot. The ship goes after Lone Star's Winnebeggo, but they go to lightspeed, which is too slow for Helmet who demands they go to ludicrous speed. Colonel Saunders, his first officer, temporarily refuses until Helmet calls him a chicken. Unforunately at ludicrous speed they pass Lone Star.
The Winnebeggo runs out of gas and crashes onto a desert planet. Dark Helmet decides the best way of finding the group is to watch Spaceballs. No, I'm serious. He pulls out the casette tape of the uncompleted movie and watches it, at least parts of it. He convineintly stops it right at the same moment in the movie, a hilarious moment, but he also finds out where the crew is at.
At night on the desert planet, Lone Star tells the princess about his medallion, saying he doesn't know what it means, but the two get closer to each other, that is before Dot's virgin alarm goes off. Yes, I'm dead serious. The next day, though, the sun is too warm and they all faint from exhaustion. A group of small creatures known as Dinks save them and take them to a temple.
Inside they meet Yogurt, the mystical carrier of the Schwartz Ring. While there, Yogurt begins to train Lone Star and reads his medallion. He says he will tell him what it means later. That night, though, Dark Helmet tricks the princess into falling into his trap and has her and Dot taken to Spaceball I. Lone Star goes after her and takes the Schwartz Ring.
Vespa is put in a military confinement sort of place on Spaceball, and Lone Star rescues her. While there, Lone Star learns the princess sings bass, can shoot like Rambo, and that she has surrendered the air lock key to Dark Helmet. The air lock surrounds Druidia and protects the air source from Spaceballs.
So now Spaceball I is ready to absorb all the air from Druidia, and with President Skroob, who we see a little of here and there throughout the movie, aboard, it turns into Mega Maid, a sort of Liberty with a vaccum cleaner. Lone Star manages to switch the vaccum over from suck to blow.
The Winnebeggo goes into Mega Maid's ear so they can destroy the ship, and ends up fighting Dark Helmet in a Schwartz Ring duel. Eventually Helmet hits the self-destruct button and the ship begins to count down. President Skroob, Saunders, and Dark Helmet are the only people left on the ship by the time the escape pods are gone. Mega Maid explodes and the three go off into space in the head of Mega Maid.
Vespa is returned to Druidia and the wedding is back on. Lone Star learns that Pizza the Hut is dead and that he doesn't need the money anymore. He stops at a diner where the funniest scene in the film, by some's standards, takes place. Kane from Alien, that is the first Alien, has a very similar experience where a different kind of alien bursts out of his chest, then begins to sing and dance. Lone Star and Barf almost immediately leave.
Yogurt appears while the two are traveling through space and tells Lone Star that he is a prince. He turns and goes back to Druidia to marry Vespa. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the head of Mega Maid lands on a planet similar to that from Planet of the Apes, making the famous scene where Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty's remains at the end of that movie a little different.
Now for grading:
Acting: 6 out of 10. Mostly good.
Entertainment: 10 out of 10. Even non Star Wars fans will laugh a lot.
Screenplay: 9 out of 10. Brilliantly written by Brooks, and friends.
Directing: 5 out of 10. Pretty standard.
Technical Credits: 6 out of 10. Believe it or not, the special effects look pretty fantastic, even for a spoof. Rest is standard.
Genre Fit: 10 out of 10. Always comedy.
MPAA Rating: 4 out of 10. Rated PG, but the language is right at a PG-13 level. They even drop the F-bomb once.
Stupid Scenes: 7 out of 10. A few gags don't work that well, but otherwise good.
Deeper Message: 5 out of 10. The same as the Star Wars movies, but this gets credit for being a spoof.
Beginning: 27 out of 30. Nice start.
Middle: 23 out of 30. Kind of sags a bit.
Ending: 28 out of 30. Gets right back on it.
Final Rating: 140/180 or 78%. Just short of an A-, but a B+ is acceptable on any day. Means I totally reccomend it.
Replies
Ok movie. I am glad that I have seen it. I think that it is pretty funny, but I dont like Star Wars that much,
One of the funiest comedies of star wars i have ever watched. Cheesathehut makes me laugh so hard. I hve not seen it in forever though. I'm probably going to have to go see it tonight on my television.