Spaceballs (1987)

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

20 Aug 2007 11:55 PM

My older sisters went to see "Spaceballs" when it first came out, and I remember them telling my mom bits and snatches from it. I was excited to watch it last night - and was so disappointed. The potential was amazing - the delivery, not so much.

"Spaceballs" is a spoof on "Star Wars." Mel Brooks directed the film and also starred as President Skroob. The Spaceballs are running out of air on their planet, and they have come up with an evil plan to travel to the nearby planet of Druidia and steal all the air, transporting it back to their own planet. They'll have enough air to last for ten thousand years. Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) has been put in charge of this mission, and everyone fears him.

Meanwhile, on the planet Druidia, Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is getting married. Her alliance with Prince Valium will bring peace and harmony to her people, but she's not in love with him and he keeps falling asleep. With her android at her side, the Princess runs off and steals her father's spacecraft, but when Dark Helmet captures her in his tractor beam, she's helpless. She calls her father, who in turn places a call to Lone Starr.

Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his faithful mog (half man, half dog) companion Barf (John Candy) need to come up with a million dollars, immediately. They owe it to Pizza the Hut, and they only have four days to come up with it. The king promises them the money if they'll save the princess, and so they come to her aide.

There were many cute gags in this film, such as the wise old sage Yoghurt (also played by Brooks) and the scene where they meet him - an obvious play on "The Wizard of Oz." I did find myself laughing out loud on several occasions.

However, I've never heard so many crude references to the male anatomy in my life, especially in a PG film. I double-checked the rating just to make sure - I for one would have given it a PG-13 for those references alone.

If you like silly and campy and don't mind a nearly endless string of anatomy comments, you'll probably enjoy this film. I liked it to a certain extent but felt that the script relied far too heavily on sexual innuendo and could have so much more with real comedy in a cleaner script.

Related Blogs:

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

George of the Jungle

Happily N'ever After

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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