Spaceballs is a Mel Brooks spoof of Star Wars and other space themed movies. Mel Brooks was popular in the 70s and 80s and based his movies on parody and slapstick kitsch, almost in a Vaudeville way, of a popular movie them. He did the Western with Blazing Saddles and the Frankenstein movie with Young Frankenstein. So here is the Star Wars version.
Good casting with Bill Pullman as "Lone Starr" who is mashup of Luke and Han. Daphne Zuniga is Princess Vespa (in her pre- Melrose Place role. Good 80s comics of Rick Moranis (Dark Helmet) and John Candy (Barf) give it some good levity.
It's a pretty faithful trip through a galaxy far, far away. So much so that not only did George Lucas give the rights to parody it all (as long as there was no licensing of characters), that becomes a running joke throughout. Best line: "It will also come out in Spaceballs 2 - the Search for More Cash"
Very much an 80s movie, the soundtrack was very evocative, with Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Jeffrey Osborne and the Pointer Sisters.
Movies you will recognize here: Star Wars (Episodes 4-6), Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as 80s favorites, Aliens , Back to the Future and Ghostbusters.
I picked the right time to see it - **** of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment