Mel Brooks will do anything for a laugh. Unfortunately, what he does in Spaceballs, a misguided parody of the Star Wars adventures, isn’t very funny.
Pic features Bill Pullman as Lone Starr and Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa, former a composite of Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, latter a Carrie Fisher clone. Pullman’s partner is John Candy as Barf, a half-man, half-dog creature who is his own best friend. Equipped with a constantly wagging tale and furry sneakers, Barf is one of the better comic creations here.
The plot about the ruthless race of Spaceballs out to steal the air supply from the planet Druidia is more cliched than the original. Brooks turns up in the dual role of President Skroob of Spaceballs and the all-knowing, all-powerful Yogurt.
Brooks’ direction is far too static to suggest the sweeping style of the Star Wars epics and pic more closely resembles Flash Gordon programmers. Aside from a few isolated laughs Spaceballs is strictly not kosher.
