Spaceballs

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

DVD Features

Video: 1.85:1, 1.33:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0

Additional Footage
Audio Commentary
Included Trivia Booklet
Theatrical Trailer

Theatrical release: 1987
DVD released on 4/25/2000 by MGM
Running time of 96 minutes

Starring: Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Dick Van Patten, Joan Rivers (voice), Daphne Zuniga, George Wyner

Director: Mel Brooks

Plot: Fearless – and clueless – space heroes Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man/half-dog sidekick Barf (John Candy) wage interstellar warfare to free Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) from the evil clutches of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). On the way to the rescue – in their Winnebago – they confront the huge, gooey Pizza The Hutt (voice of Dom De Luise), sassy robot Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers) and a wise little creature named Yogurt (MelBrooks), who teaches them the mystical power of “The Schwartz” in order to bring peace – and merchandising rights – to the entire galaxy!

Ludicrous Speed Now! This is definitely Mel Brooks ‘s last decent movie, and one of my favorites. The Star Wars series needed a good bashing and Mel is the perfect person to do it. Ever since this film came out way back in 1987 he hasn’t made anything decent since, if at all. I would say this ranks up there with some of his earlier work such as History of the World or Blazing Saddles (by far the best Mel Brooks film I have seen). Spaceballs is ‘special’ to me because it is the last thing that I did as a single man. I watched this movie the night before my wedding, and thought deep and hard about life’s journey. OK, I so didn’t.

I recently picked up this DVD version to relive some of the finer moments of this film. For some reason, DVDave and I always end up peppering our conversations with the lines from this movie. Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet is probably my favorite character, his helmet just cracks me up.”Oh its soooo big!”. The best scene is when he and Colonel Sanders (George Wyner) review the VHS copy of Spaceballs searching for Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and Lone Starr (Bill Pullman). Its a classic film moment with an homage to the “Who’s on First” routine from Abbott and Costello.

The quality of this DVD I would have to rate it as average. It feels like they just had to throw something together on the DVD format and this is it. The sound and picture quality are fine, but not outstanding, not that I was expecting anything spectacular from a movie such as this.

The menus and features are very barebones. The only other options are the theatrical trailer, and a behind the scenes featurette. Both are poor quality, seems like they were lifted right off the press kit video tapes. There is also a directors commentary by Mel Brooks, but from the parts that I listened to, he just rambles on and on about the actors in the scene and is constantly searching for things to say. The only positive thing about this disc is the option to watch it in widescreen or regular, so you just choose which side to play.

In rating this movie I myself would say its a buy (and obvisouly I did buy it), but then I thought,is this something my mother would watch? Probably not. I would at least wait for the special edition that is coming out later in 2002.