I have seen clips of this movie on meme sites, and this piqued my curiousity for Spaceballs. However, it was (obviously) a Star Wars parody and I don’t know enough about the franchise. Would I get all the references, I wondered. I decided to take the plunge when Prime Video showed it in my recommendation list.

The planet Spaceballs is rapidly losing breathable air and decide to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) for a ransom that can be paid in the form of fresh air from Planet Druidia. This mission is led by Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) aboard Spaceball One. King Roland recruits Lone Star (Bill Pullman) to rescue the princess for a prize of one million space credits. This is the amount that Lone Star owes the crime boss Pizza the Hutt.

While escaping Dark Helment, the gang of Lone Star, Princess Vespa, her robot aide Dot Matrix and the half man, half dog Barf (John Candy) crash land on a deserted planet. Rescued by Dink-Dinks, Lone Star is trained by Yogurt (Mel Brooks) in a metaphysical force called Schwartz. Lone Star & Vespa develop feelings for each other, but Vespa is insistent that she only marry a prince. Lone Star has a medallion with strange text – something his parents have given him. (You can guess what the text says, but it isn’t revealed until the end). The princess gets captured and taken aboard Spaceball One where the ransom is finalized. Can Lone Star rescue her in time as well as stop the atmosphere of Planet Druidia from being sucked into the giant tanks of the spaceship?

I think I got the character references; Lone Star = Hans Solo, Princess Vespa = Princess Leia, Yogurt = Yoda, Dark Helmet = Darth Vader & so on. However, I didn’t understand the storyline this movie was parodying. The Force being named The Schwartz, seems to be either an inside reference or just a random thing. Some of the jokes got repetitive like Barf’s tail hitting Lone Star every time he moves. The references towards the end of the movie about Transformers or the Alien seem hastily added when everything until that point was Star Wars related.

The movie was released in the 80s & the effects seem dated. I don’t think I am being unjust & harsh when I say that the scenes in space seem quite amateurish, but given that the original Star Wars movies came a decade earlier, a little more budget towards the special effects would have made a difference.

It was refreshing to see the movie not take itself too seriously, like talking about movie merchandising being the cash cow for the producers. However, I think they might have taken it too far by including too many elements being parodied.

I knew Rick Moranis from the Honey I shrunk the Kids series and he was great as Dark Helmet. In fact, the best parts of the movie which got the laughs from me were the scenes in the spaceship. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bill Pullman play Lone Star. I half expected him to rouse the morale of his compatriots in the final fight with a “We will not vanish into the night” speech.

Overall, the movie had some bright patches, but would have been better if the storyline was more coherent. Even for a parody, the levels of absurdity to which the movie stooped was off-putting (a shield that opened/closed outside Planet Druidia or the schwartz light sabers being held in a suggestive way and a few others). I would hold off watching this movie. I hear a sequel is in the works – I think it might work out better.