According to other reviews I've read (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com and www.dvdactive.com) consider this film the first in the decline of films by Mel Brooks...since he chose to parody one film instead of a genre (or in the case of Young Frankenstein, all the clones of the Frankenstein legend). Honestly I LOVE Mel Brooks films...well the early ones (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein) but I must admit the later ones are just bad...I own Spaceballs and I do think it's funny, BUT not as funny as the ones I previously mentioned (even though it is MUCH better than his later films, such as his parodies of Robin Hood and Dracula)
Spaceballs is mostly a parody of the Star Wars films (Brooks even had special permission from George Lucas to make this film) but they do throw in bits of Star Trek and Alien (probably others but I didn't pick those references up)...The basic plot is the evil planet of Spaceballs has used up its supply of fresh air, so President Skroob (Brooks) enlists his minions to steal all the air from the planet Druidia. Meanwhile the princess of Druidia, Princess Vespa (Zuniga) and her loyal robot Dot Matrix (Rivers) decide to run away from a loveless marriage (actually she runs during her wedding ceremony) and is chased by Dark Helmet (Moranis) who was sent to kidnap the princess. Her father, King Roland (Van Patten) sends Lone Starr (Pullman) and his sidekick Barf (Candy) to rescue the princess. They agree to the rescue mission but want a large amount of money for the job (they owe money to the dreaded Pizza the Hut). Adding to the confusion is Yogurt (also Brooks): the wise keeper of the Schwartz, and the crew of Spaceballs 1: most notably Col. Sandurz (Wyner) the slightly intelligent commander of the ship and the Radar Technician (Michael Winslow) and his impersonations of the sounds on the ship.
All the characters (if you can keep track of them) are comic clones of the Star Wars characters: Lone Star is Luke Skywalker and Han Solo mashed together, Barf ("I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!") is the replacement for Chewbacca the wookie, Dark Helmet is Darth Vader, Vespa is obviously Leia, Yogurt is Yoda, and Dot Matrix is C3PO.
Some of the jokes are funny and dead on such the merchandise for Spaceballs (ironically when George Lucas agreed to let this film parody Star Wars he didn't want them to sell anything...so the merchandise only appears in the film, and they are Transformers items with Spaceballs logos pasted on them, lol). There are alot of visual gags, the best is Pizza the Hut: the bad guy who is made of pizza, the cheese and toppings melt/slide down his body but he is still a bad dude, but the scene with Dark Helmets dolls is a close second. But most of the jokes involved characters with "funny" names (Prince Valium...who looks half-asleep) or old, over-used jokes. Don't get me wrong, you will laugh but this isn't the cutting edge comedy just this side of inappropriate that you expect from Mel Brooks...sigh...
Dude it's quotable: the plot isn't the greatest, but the sight gags and little one-liners will (hopefully) satisfy you...and if not, the quotes can be pretty funny taken out of context!
Rent it once: if you like Star Wars and can take a joke then enjoy...Mel Brooks, John Candy, and Rick Moranis in a film, whoa...you need to see it (just once so you can say you've seen it!) This film is more fun to talk about than actually watch
Spaceballs is mostly a parody of the Star Wars films (Brooks even had special permission from George Lucas to make this film) but they do throw in bits of Star Trek and Alien (probably others but I didn't pick those references up)...The basic plot is the evil planet of Spaceballs has used up its supply of fresh air, so President Skroob (Brooks) enlists his minions to steal all the air from the planet Druidia. Meanwhile the princess of Druidia, Princess Vespa (Zuniga) and her loyal robot Dot Matrix (Rivers) decide to run away from a loveless marriage (actually she runs during her wedding ceremony) and is chased by Dark Helmet (Moranis) who was sent to kidnap the princess. Her father, King Roland (Van Patten) sends Lone Starr (Pullman) and his sidekick Barf (Candy) to rescue the princess. They agree to the rescue mission but want a large amount of money for the job (they owe money to the dreaded Pizza the Hut). Adding to the confusion is Yogurt (also Brooks): the wise keeper of the Schwartz, and the crew of Spaceballs 1: most notably Col. Sandurz (Wyner) the slightly intelligent commander of the ship and the Radar Technician (Michael Winslow) and his impersonations of the sounds on the ship.
All the characters (if you can keep track of them) are comic clones of the Star Wars characters: Lone Star is Luke Skywalker and Han Solo mashed together, Barf ("I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!") is the replacement for Chewbacca the wookie, Dark Helmet is Darth Vader, Vespa is obviously Leia, Yogurt is Yoda, and Dot Matrix is C3PO.
Some of the jokes are funny and dead on such the merchandise for Spaceballs (ironically when George Lucas agreed to let this film parody Star Wars he didn't want them to sell anything...so the merchandise only appears in the film, and they are Transformers items with Spaceballs logos pasted on them, lol). There are alot of visual gags, the best is Pizza the Hut: the bad guy who is made of pizza, the cheese and toppings melt/slide down his body but he is still a bad dude, but the scene with Dark Helmets dolls is a close second. But most of the jokes involved characters with "funny" names (Prince Valium...who looks half-asleep) or old, over-used jokes. Don't get me wrong, you will laugh but this isn't the cutting edge comedy just this side of inappropriate that you expect from Mel Brooks...sigh...
Dude it's quotable: the plot isn't the greatest, but the sight gags and little one-liners will (hopefully) satisfy you...and if not, the quotes can be pretty funny taken out of context!
Rent it once: if you like Star Wars and can take a joke then enjoy...Mel Brooks, John Candy, and Rick Moranis in a film, whoa...you need to see it (just once so you can say you've seen it!) This film is more fun to talk about than actually watch
Rating: PG
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet
Bill Pullman as Lone Starr
John Candy as Barf
Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa
Mel Brooks as President Skroob/Yogurt
George Wyner as Colonel Sandurz
Joan Rivers as Dot Matrix (the voice)
Dick Van Patten as King Roland
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