Spaceballs (1987)

I've heard of Spaceballs many times over the years but I always avoided it because I thought it'd be some dumb, demential movie. But when Sid suggested it to me when I asked for a movie to cheer me up, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and I'm glad I did because Spaceballs was more enjoyable than I would have ever thought. 

The planet of Spaceball is running out of air and the ruler, President Skroob (Mel Brooks), is planning on stealing the air from the atmosphere of the peaceful planet Druidia, only the planet is surrounded by a shield. Luck has it that Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), the daughter of the Kind of Druidia (Dick Van Patten), runs away right before getting married, and Skroob orders the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) to abduct the princess. But the princess calls her father for help and a mercenary, Lone Starr (Bill Pullman), and his trusty sidekick, the mog Barf (John Candy), come to the rescue.

What follows is a parody of Star Wars and other famous sci-fi films such as Alien, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek and it's nicely done. Though the plot is rather simple and clichéd, it still is a plot, not just a compilation of spoofs, and it's interesting and fun enough to keep you engaged and entertained throughout the whole film.

The characters are cardboard and have no sort of development, but they work just fine as parodies of their serious counterparts. Though most of them are interesting and they all have their moments, a few of them stand out --Lone Starr, half Han Solo half Luke Skywalker, Barf, short for Barfolomew, a half man half dog being (he's basically his own best friend. Not my line, he says it in the movie) and Dark Helmet, an obvious parody of Darth Vader-- and the credits go to the actors --Bill Pullman, John Candy and Rick Moranis-- for the way they brought them to life. Mel Brooks's Yogurt, a parody both of Yoda and George Lucas, isn't bad either.

MGM/UA Communications Co.

The humour isn't anything clever. I'm actually sure a 5-year-old kid could come up with something better but overall it works. There's a lot of silly slapstick that won't have you laughing out loud but will definitely make you laugh. What's to like about Spaceballs' comedy is that the characters/actors have different comedy styles and Brooks, who also directed this film, was able to mix them pretty well.