Spaceballs | | Cast : | Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis, John Candy | | Director : | Mel Brooks | | Studio : | Mgm/Ua Studios | | Format : | Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | June 24, 1987 | | DVD Released Date : | August 14, 2001 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | Space... a funny, predictable Frontier | Content
 | MEL BROOKS is a consistently funny guy. All of his movies have some great laughs scattered throughout. But some of his films, like YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and THE PRODUCERS, are truly excellent films. SPACEBALLS falls in the only sufficient category. there is plenty to laugh at as the STAR WARS Space Opera is parodied, but there is little genius in the story structure or pacing.
Although, too many this film is 'hilarious', I see it as accomplished as a SNL skit. Still, scattered throughout the pre-pubescent and ethnic humor are a couple creative moments. the DVD includes a nice commentary by creator BROOKS and a nice video transfer. And MAY THE SCHWARTZ BE WITH YOU. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | I'd put one up one of their funny lines as a title, but there are so many, I can't choose | Content
| Yes, you heard the title. This movie has so many funny lines, it's impossible to say them all! (Unless you've seen this movie 15 times, like I have.)
Basically, this movie is a spoof off of mostly Star Wars and Star Trek. If I were to compare the characters from Star Wars with the characters from Spaceballs, it would be something like this:
Lone Star = A mix of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker
Princess Vespa = Princess Leia
Barf = Uhh...R2D2? That's the closest thing I can think of, there is no dog...err...mog (half man, half dog) in Star Wars.
Dot = C3PO
Dark Helmet = Darth Vader
Yogurt = Yoda
Pizza the Hutt = Jabba the Hutt (Pizza's really gross looking, I sometimes fastforward the part that's he's in.)
Anyway, what this movie is about.
Princess Vespa comes from the planet Druidia, and she is forced to marry Prince Valium, being a princess, she can only marry a prince, and this guy is the last prince on the planet. He's a really boring, sleepy kind of prince, too. So, Princess Vespa drives away in her expensive space car thing, with her robot, Dot, to outer space, to run away from it all.
Little does she know she is being kidnapped by Dark Helmet and his minions. He plans to kidnap her, in order to destroy Druidia. Planet Spaceball is running out of oxygen, so Dark Helmet plans to kidnap Princess Vespa, and either give her a hidious nose job and save the air on Druidia, or leave her nose the way it is, and suck all the air from Druidia, and ship it to planet Spaceball.
Luckily, that's where heroes come in. King Roland, father of Vespa, has asked Lone Star and Barf, his sidekick, to find Princess Vespa, and then he will pay him 1,000,000 spacebucks. Which is what Lonestar and Barf need to pay off their debt to Pizza the Hutt, the gross looking guy. Who dies later. Yay.
So, in order not to spoil the rest of the movie, I'll just say that it is really, really funny, and there are funny lines being said every 20 seconds. You'll love it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 19, 2005 | | Summary | Spaceballs - something for everyone! | Content
| This movie is a favorite for pretty much everyone. For Sci-Fi fans, it takes a poke at all classic sci-fi movies with the Mel Brooks twist. While some of the language is not appropriate for little ones, teens and adults alike will love the humor and visuals; some subtle - some outright. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | When will then be now? Soon. How soon? | Content
| You know, it's odd: the years have been a bit kinder to this movie since I saw it last. I actually kinda enjoy its scads of cheap laughs (all of which Mel Brooks admits he's both ashamed of and proud of in the commentary track), "groaners", and just plain nonsensical rejoinders ("They've gone to plaid"??? WTF???). None the less, "Spaceballs" ain't quite as funny as the Brooks movies that came before it; I consider it the first to mark the decline of the legendary co-writer/actor/producer/director as a genius in the field of genre-satire comedy. I could hardly sit through his horrific Zucker-Abrahams-Zuckeresque efforts "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" and "Dracula: Dead And Loving It". And don't get me started on "Life Stinks"! Also, as far as sci-fi genre parodies go, "GalaxyQuest" is light-years ahead of "Spaceballs" when it comes to consistent and not-so-cheap laughs. In any case, I'm upgrading my rating of this bad-boy from three stars to... three-and-a-half stars (rounded up to four)!
A few of my fave "Spaceballs" scenes:
- Dark Helmet (a pre-"Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Kids" Rick Moranis) inquires about the relationship between the crew members of his flagship following a less-than-competent attack on Princess Vespa's escape vessel, and discovers that they all share the same last name... which I'll not disclose. You'll have to find out for yourself.
- The "When will then be now?" scene, featuring Dark Helmet and Col. Sandurz, doin' a strange take on Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First?" sketch. While not laugh-out-loud funny, I found it rather amusing in an odd way.
- Dark Helmet's lightsaber-schwartz duel against the hero Lone Star (Bill Pullman) had some good points, especially when 'Helmet reveals his relationship to Lone Star... which proves to be a less than significant one. One of the movie's bigger moments of dumb humor, but a good one none the less.
- Come to think of it, most of my favorite "Spaceballs" scenes involve Dark Helmet in one way or another, including the Dark-Helmet-playing-with-his-action-figures scene. In the commentary track, Brooks states that Moranis came up with his lines for the scene all on his own right before Sandurz interrupts him... and what lines they are!
- I also get a kick, though not much of a laugh, out of the Schwartz-master Yogurt (Mel Brooks, modeled after Yoda) showing off to Lone Star and his compatriots all of the "Spaceballs" merchandise: lunch boxes, t-shirts, what-have-you. Yogurt then comments that merchandising is "where the REAL money from the movie is made!" Having worked at a comics-cards-and-collectibles shop for a few years, I know all too well just how true that statement is. Brooks gets in a few good remarks about this scene in the commentary track.
Other notable Brooks commentary track bits include the man discussing his preference towards writing his movies over directing them, as well as his working relationship with gene Wilder. Also covered is how he discovered the movie's principal cast mates, and his desire for the movie to just be an hour-and-a-half-long flyby shot of the interminably long Spaceball-1 vessel. He also throws out a few bits of droll and dry humor here and there. Then there's the part I found most interesting: his viewing the rough cut of the film with George Lucas, whose ILM effects shop was doing most of the effects for the film. Brooks was bent on making sure none of the scenes in "Spaceballs" offended the guy in any way. When I heard this I said to myself, "Why?! Why should you give a cr@p if Lucas doesn't like certain things in the movie?! If you think it's funny and it works, just go with it, approval be d@mned!" Sheesh, grow a set of cosmological spheres, willya, Mel?! Then again, it IS Lucas' company doing the effects...
Other bonus bits included in the Collector's Edition DVD: the obligatory trailers & teasers, storyboard-to-film comparisons, and other tchochkes presented in three different menu formats: The Spaceball-1 bridge display, the dash of Lone Star's Eagle 5 Winnebago, and the dash of Princess Vespa's Mercedes. Each menu template includes various buttons, which activate several silly functions. Other buttons activate the Featurettes section, the Trailers section, the Fun & Games section, and others. The featurettes include "Spaceballs: The Documentary", a half-hour-long behind-the-scenes retrospective dealie featuring Mel Brooks and most of the surviving members of the principal cast (Rick "Dark Helmet" Moranis is the only notable no-show) talking about the making of the movie, and their fondest "Spaceballs" experiences. Especially scary was Joan Rivers talking about her part in the movie. And I don't mean she was saying scary things; I mean she LOOKED scary! I mean, seriously-- there oughtta be a law that holds cosmetic surgeons to a three-facelift limit per celebrity, ya know?
Anyhoo, SB:tD covers the usual stuff: the special effects, the actors just gushing over how "tremendous" and "skillful" Brooks and their cast mates' acting chops were (which eventually degenerates into an all-out Mel Brooks butt-kiss-fest), how the project was conceived and developed, costume design, et cetera. Also covered is Brooks' quasi-"Mommie Dearest" disdain for styrofoam cups and the near-disaster that occurred with the guy playing Pizza the Hut. Top it all off with a Mel Brooks love-in by the cast & crew, and you've got all the angles covered...
... well, not quite, perhaps, `cuz the second doc features Brooks and co-writer Thomas Meehan having a dialogue about how the idea for "Spaceballs" came up, what inspired them, and all sorts of other stuff you may or may not find interesting. I managed about ten minutes of this bit before I decided to check out the John Candy tribute doc. This show was pretty good, and didn't drag too much.
Also included was what I considered the most interesting special feature: the flubbed scenes! Usually a Special Collector's Edition DVD shows deleted scenes... but this is the first time I've ever seen an SCE platter with a screwed-up scenes section! And not only are these moments shown in all their ignominious glory, they're also given the telestrator treatment, which points out exactly where the flaws are! It kinda makes me wonder if Mel Brooks isn't planning some sorta "Spaceballs: The Special Edition" re-release in the future with all of the muffed moments digitally "corrected", and other moments "enhanced"! Hopefully these "corrections" and "enhancements" will also be satirical in nature, poking fun at the stuff Lucas did for the Special Edition Star Wars flicks! One can only hope...
Thrown in for fun is the "Spaceballs" Trivia game, twenty-five questions to test your knowledge of the movie. I managed to get 22 of `em right on the first try, myself. Pretty pathetic, huh?
Finally, there's the most convenient "extra" to take advantage of when you're in a hurry: the "View movie in Ludicrous Speed" button! Hit the button and watch the flick from start to finish in thirty seconds! Then you can move on to greater things... like playing with your dolls-- er, action figures again.
'Late |
| Rating | | | Date | July 09, 2005 | | Summary | My Favorite Mel Brooks Film | Content
| This was the first Mel Brooks movie I've ever seen, and it's still my favorite, even though I thought Young Frankenstein was a little bit better.
This film actually has a plot. Planet Spaceball is short on air so it sends out a giant spaceship to steal air from Planet Druidia. But like the character Yogurt implies in this movie, the main reason this film was made was merchandising. The picture's name is put on everything. I always wanted a Spaceballs Flamethrower.
This film is loaded with typical Mel Brooks type gags. If you've seen any of his films, you know what to expect. Never take them too seriously. They're fun.
By far, my favorite character in this movie is Lord Helment, a shorter, goofier version of Darth Vader. Watch for the part where Lord Helment gets caught playing with his dolls. I thought it was pretty funny. Also, enjoy the "Spaceballs: The Movie" scene. |
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