I grew up with this film and I do genuinely enjoy it, but I've become a bit more critical over the years.
The film's general parody lens is sci-fi, with a focus on Star Wars, but that contributes to its tone feeling a little shaky. Brooks does pretty well when he grounds a parody to a specific artist's vision, and that's what makes me think this film would have been stronger if it was purely Star Wars. Some of the external media being referenced makes some of the jokes feel like shallower broad reference humor rather than jokes in service of a parodic tribute to one famous artistic vision, and Brooks again brings out a lot of meta humor about the film itself, which is done well but also could be distracting. There are some jokes as well that feel detached from anything and don't seem to work, down to the title Empire-esque antagonists being called Spaceballs, which corresponds to no characters in the source material and doesn't come across as particularly clever or sci-fi. There's a lot at the heart of Star Wars' appeal that it feels like this film doesn't quite understand or respect.
However, there's a lot to love. Many of the characters are pretty keen visual and archetypal parodies of the Star Wars cast, and even have enough originality to stand on their own as a separate cast that could slot pretty well into the real films. Pizza the Hut is a particularly brilliant parody translation, and the costumes for Dot Matrix, a female C-3PO equivalent and Barf the mawg (man-dog hybrid) are great. The characters are often performed with commitment and great comedic instincts. The overall atmosphere and score is pretty spot-on. The plot of the film differs enough from the real ones enough to serve as a decent, goofier companion piece, which I enjoy. In some ways, the parody not being super direct or keen all the time allows it to step into its own identity as a fun adventure in its own right. The film also has many elements later seen in the prequels and Disney-era Star Wars media released after it, retroactively making it a better parody through sheer prescience.
Of the Brooks genre parodies anchored to a specific creator's work, I think this one does the least justice to the spirit of its source. It's still an enjoyable funny movie, though, and it makes a pretty good name for itself.
Film A charming but uncertain parody.
I grew up with this film and I do genuinely enjoy it, but I've become a bit more critical over the years.
The film's general parody lens is sci-fi, with a focus on Star Wars, but that contributes to its tone feeling a little shaky. Brooks does pretty well when he grounds a parody to a specific artist's vision, and that's what makes me think this film would have been stronger if it was purely Star Wars. Some of the external media being referenced makes some of the jokes feel like shallower broad reference humor rather than jokes in service of a parodic tribute to one famous artistic vision, and Brooks again brings out a lot of meta humor about the film itself, which is done well but also could be distracting. There are some jokes as well that feel detached from anything and don't seem to work, down to the title Empire-esque antagonists being called Spaceballs, which corresponds to no characters in the source material and doesn't come across as particularly clever or sci-fi. There's a lot at the heart of Star Wars' appeal that it feels like this film doesn't quite understand or respect.
However, there's a lot to love. Many of the characters are pretty keen visual and archetypal parodies of the Star Wars cast, and even have enough originality to stand on their own as a separate cast that could slot pretty well into the real films. Pizza the Hut is a particularly brilliant parody translation, and the costumes for Dot Matrix, a female C-3PO equivalent and Barf the mawg (man-dog hybrid) are great. The characters are often performed with commitment and great comedic instincts. The overall atmosphere and score is pretty spot-on. The plot of the film differs enough from the real ones enough to serve as a decent, goofier companion piece, which I enjoy. In some ways, the parody not being super direct or keen all the time allows it to step into its own identity as a fun adventure in its own right. The film also has many elements later seen in the prequels and Disney-era Star Wars media released after it, retroactively making it a better parody through sheer prescience.
Of the Brooks genre parodies anchored to a specific creator's work, I think this one does the least justice to the spirit of its source. It's still an enjoyable funny movie, though, and it makes a pretty good name for itself.