Movie Review – “Spaceballs”

Mel Brooks did a sci-fi spoof a couple of decades ago.
How did he do?

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Mel Brooks as President Skroob and Yogurt

Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet

Bill Pullman as Lone Starr

Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa

John Candy as Barf

George Wyner as Colonel Sandurz

Joan Rivers as the voice of Dot Matrix

Dick van Patten as King Roland

Written by Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan and Ronny
Graham

Directed by Mel Brooks

Complete information is available from the
IMDB
.

Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca.
Note that those links are to the unreleased 2 disk
special edition
due on May 3. There is a cheaper single disk edition
available now
from Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca.

Past movie reviews can be found here.

Premise

A roguish hero and his beastly companion must rescue a
princess and
her golden robot companion from the forces of evil,
who happen to wear
large, dark helmets.

High Point

John Hurt’s cameo.

Low Point

The emergency exit door.

The Scores

How original can a satire get, especially
when there are so
many satires of the same source material? Well,
though it’s not the
first or last, it’s probably the best, due in part to
the fact that
some moments are funny without depending on satirical
elements. I
give it 3 out of 6.

The effects were bad, possibly on purpose. I
give it 3 out
of 6.

The story had a fairly smooth inclusion of
satires ranging
from Star Wars to Star Trek to The Wizard of Oz. It’s
also genuinely
funny in several places. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting is even worse than the effects. I
give it 2 out
of 6.

The emotional response is pretty good. It’s
funny today,
though not nearly as funny as it seemed when I was
young and more
immature. It does tend to get tired and drag a bit
toward the end, as
satires can do. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production was fairly good when it came
to sets, music,
and costuming. Things like cinematography and editing
would have been
better though. (Vespa’s original nose should have
been in the
original shot, the editing should have been tighter
near the end,
etc.) I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it’s an amusing spoof that’s worth
seeing, if not
worth hunting down. I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Spaceballs receives 25 out of 42.

7 replies on “Movie Review – “Spaceballs””

  1. One line
    I saw this a looong time ago and pretty much all I can remember is: “He shot my hair!”

      • Re: One line

        For me, it’s “combing” the desert. I’m too easy.

        And, racist as it is, the black guys “picking” the desert. And their lovely line: “Man, we ain’t found sh!t!”

        Of course, Mel Brooks is known for that sort of thing. See Blazing Saddles.

    • I see your schwartz is almost as big as mine …

      I saw this a looong time ago and pretty much all I can remember is: “He shot my hair!”

      And the whole phallic Dark Helment costume.

      They’ve gone to LUDICROUS speed!

      They’ve gone PLAID!

      This movie has its moments. I understand Brooks is doing a sequel. :)

      -Joe

  2. Great Movie
    If you’re a Star Wars fan and you like twisted humor, this movie is for you. Mega-Maid, the transporter, and the ever-classic "I found it in a cracker-jack box"

    Yeah.

  3. Mega Maid!
    “She’s gone from suck to blow!” This movie is probably like I’ve recently discovered the Transformers Movie to be…great when I was 12, but horrible at 30. I’d rather live with the memory of it being the funniest movie ever than to watch it now and think it was retarded. The memory of it is far better than the reality now.

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