Wonderful character development!

A Masterpiece!

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I don't know how many times I have watched this movie. It is just incredible! I know every line. It has a unique place in comic movie history and demonstrates the genius of Mel Brooks. It lifts the lowest of spirits. Wonderful, funny, beautifully scripted and timeless extravaganza. Watch it and enjoy.

I had always been curious to see this spoof movie, having seen many images from it, I wanted to see what other movies it takes the mick of, besides Star Wars, and it made sense to watch it on its 30th anniversary, directed by Mel Brooks (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein). Basically planet Spaceball has squandered all of its fresh air, leader President Skroob (Mel Brooks) schemes to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), daughter of King Roland (Dick Van Patten) of the neighbouring planet Druidia, to force him to give him the code to allow them to steal all their air. Vespa meanwhile is abandoning her pre-arranged wedding to the narcoleptic Prince Valium (Jim J. Bullock), fleeing the planet in her Mercedes spaceship with her droid of honour, Dot Matrix (Lorene Yarnell Jansson, voiced by Joan Rivers). The villainous Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) was sent by Skroob to kidnap her, he travels in the impossibly huge ship Spaceball One, helmed by Colonel Sandurz (George Wyner). Mercenary Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his mog (half-human, half-dog) Barf (John Candy) are contracted by Roland, with the offer of a lucrative reward, to retrieve Vespa before she is captured, Lone Starr has a major debt with the gangster Pizza the Hutt (Dom DeLuise) and readily accepts. Travelling in their Winnebago space ship the Eagle 5, Lone Starr and Barf are able to reach Vespa before Spaceball One, they rescue both her and Dot, and escape, Spaceball One tries to follow, but Dark Helmet's foolish order to go to "ludicrous speed" causes them to overshoot to a large distance. Lone Starr is forced to crash-land the ship when it runs out of fuel, the escapees land on the nearby "desert moon of Vega", they pass out walking in the blazing sun, they are found by a group of diminutive red-clad aliens called the Dinks, and are taken to a cave occupied by the old and wise Yogurt (Mel Brooks). Lone Star is introduced by Yogurt to the "The Schwartz", a metaphysical power similar to the Force, Yogurt also introduces the audience to the film's merchandising campaign, Starr and Vespa begin flirting, but she insists she can only marry a prince. Helmet and Sandurz break the fourth wall and use a VHS of the movie Spaceballs to locate Princess Vespa, they then travel to the moon, capture Vespa and Dot, and return with them to the planet Spaceball. The captors threaten to reverse Vespa's nose job, forcing Roland to give over the code to the shield protecting Druidia, Helmet and Sandurz take Spaceball One to Druidia, while Lone Starr and Barf rescue Vespa and Dot from the prison complex on Spaceball. On Druida, the ship Spaceball One transforms into Mega Maid, a giant robotic maid with a vacuum cleaner, the vacuum is switched on and sucks the air out of the planet, but Starr uses the Schwartz to reverse the vacuum, blowing the air back. The air is successfully returned to Druida, Lone Starr and the allies enter Mega Maid in an attempt to destroy it, Starr and Helmet fight with lightsaber-like "Schwartz rings", Starr manages to defeat Helmet, and cause him to unintentionally the ship's self-destruct button. Lone Starr and his friends manage to escape, while Skroob, Helmet, and Sandurz cannot reverse the self-destruct, and do not reach any escape pods in time, they are trapped as the ship explodes, the head and arm of the Mega Maid subsequently lands on the nearby planet, much to the concern of the Ape-like population. The debt to Pizza the Hutt is nullified when it is reported that the gangster has died, Vespa and Roland are returned home, Starr only takes enough money to cover expenses. After lunch in a diner, where John Hurt has an Alien burst out of his chest, Starr discovers from Yogurt that he is in fact a prince, thus eligible to marry Vespa, he reaches Druida in time to halt her wedding to Prince Valium, he announces his lineage, he and Vespa are married. Also starring Michael Winslow as Radar Technician, Ronny Graham as Minister, Jim Jackman as Major Asshole, Sandy Helberg as Dr. Schlotkin, Stephen Tobolowsky as Captain of the Guard, Jack Riley as TV Newsman, Tony Cox as Dink, Phil Hartman as a Dink voice, Tress MacNeille as a Dink voice and Michael York as an Ape. Moranis, Candy and Winslow just about do what they do best, but the scripting of this is rather lazy, it may have the right amount of recognisable mocks of Star Wars, as well as Alien, Flash Gordon, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, and Jaws, but they are limp visuals and verbal jokes, there is no wit, I only tittered in moments, a disappointing science-fiction spoof comedy. Adequate!

"So princess Vespa you thought you could out-wit the imperious forces of planet Spaceball. Well you were wrong... You are now our prisoner and you will be held hostage until such time - until all of the air is transferred from your planet - To Ours.... SHE'S NOT IN THERE! / Radar repaired sir, were picking up the out-line of a - Winnebago." Similar in status to Ghostbusters, Mel Brook's "Spaceballs" is one of the great action-comedies of the 80's, but yet it contains even more laughs and proves to be more comically outlandish then Ghostbusters could ever hope to be. Spaceballs is also categorized as a spoof, which in it's case is obviously mocking Star Wars, but it hardly ends there as it also contains references to Star Trek, Aliens and Planet of the Apes and with Mel Brooks overseeing everything, this film covers all that material brilliantly, ultimately resulting in one of the funniest and most quotable movies ever made.Starring Bill Pullman (in his one and only good role), the late-great John Candy, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten and Mel Brooks (in a dual-role), as well as a generous amount of assistance and expertise from Industrial Light and Magic, who created the movies numerous special effects. As a comedy few movies, if any, are more effectively put together and as a spoof Spaceballs is simply unrivaled with it's boundless "gag-a-minute" levels of humor, rock-solid production values and George Lucas-approved special effects. Once all of it's ingredients are put together Spaceballs gels unbelievably well on all levels and through the wizardry of Mel Brooks the movie effectively transports it's audiences into the zaniest far corner's of the universe, in the form of a hilarious, one-of-a-kind space Odyssey. One that's as ripe in it's extravagance, as it is endless in it's charm.If one were to speak of it's plot, I think the closest comparison would have to be Star Wars: Episode IV "A New Hope", as several key plot points in both films are virtually identical. A swaggering group of space-travelers risk it all (and for one-million Space Bucks) to rescue the princess and then in the face over-whelming odds, they must rise against and destroy the imperial forces of a vast evil empire and bring their reign of intergalactic tyranny to an end. Does any of that sound familiar? Sure, that happens in Star Wars: A New Hope and a decade later in Spaceballs. Except it's not The Force were dealing with here - it's the Schwartz, it's not Darth Vader - it's Dark Helmet, it's not Yoda - it's Yogurt, it's not Jabba The Hut - it's Pizza The Hut and with "Ludicrous Speed" Spaceballs goes not one, but two steps above and beyond Star Wars when Spaceball-1 burns a vast swath of plaid, several light-years long, across the galaxy. "What the hell was that! / Spaceball-1. / They've gone to plaid." The finale of this comedy classic is pretty much perfect in all ways, ending in explosively exhilarating fashion as Captain Lonestar and Barf seal the fate of the villainous Spaceballs. During which a sort of cosmic ballet unfolds, which happens to be set to the beat of a particularly catchy pop number (with great vocals!) in form of the "Spaceballs Theme". This riotously rockin' song effectively increases the films space-based lunacy and mayhem, which eventually blossoms into a scene of full-on panic, as Mega-Maid goes from Suck to Blow and then to Self-Destruct! The climatic shot of this sequence is a thing of beauty, which at the same time is not entirely unlike when Lando Calrissian fly's the Millennium Falcon from the bowels of Death Star just before it explodes. This consequently sets the stage for a hilarious Planet of the Apes interlude, one in which it's ape inhabitants are ever so pithy and waspy.Not surprisingly of all the movies I've ever seen Spaceballs still reigns, nearly 30 years after it's release, as thee most ridiculous movie ever, visually, verbally and musically - it scores off-the-charts in all those aspects. The films soundtrack is a marvelously effective combination of tastelessness vs. tradition, in which you'll often hear it pulsing to the hip tunes of Bon Jovi and other fine merchants 80's Hair Metal sleaze. Then there's the more traditional orchestral aspect of it, which was contributed by Jon Morris (Mel Brooks' favorite composer), complete with laser beam FX. But most importantly is the films utterly inspired cast, especially in the case of Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet, it's a thing of sheer perfection, even the chronically underwhelming Bill Pullman delivers fantastically as Captain Lonestar in this riotous, one-off, comedy classic.Released in the summer of 1987 a good four years after Return of the Jedi was in the theaters, on that note I can't help but think about what kind of business Spaceballs would have done had it been released three or four years earlier. By 1987 Stars Wars-mania had cooled down significantly and much better movies like "Jaws: The Revenge" (grin) or "Garbage-Pail Kids The Movie" ("A Topps Bubblegum Production") were making their assault on the box office, while triumphantly winning over throngs of exhilarated audiences all over the world. But back to all things Spaceballs and it's majestic glory, yes my love for this movie runs deep and I'll cap things off with it's unofficial tag-line, which is: May the Schwartz be with you... always.

for a parody of Star Wars(at least I think it's supposed to be a parody)this movie is lacking in the comedic elements.i found it boring and slower than molasses flowing uphill in January.i only chuckled once during the whole movie,and that was close to the end.it has a rating of 7.1/10 on this site,which I think is way too generous.there was nothing wrong with the acting.it's just the script.virtually all of the gags fall flat.the Schwartz is definitely not with this film..apparently there is a sequel in the works.maybe that one will be funnier than this one was.i did manage to make it through to the end though.and it's not an awful film.but it isn't very good either.for me,Spaceballs is a 4.5/10.