Mel Brooks is well-known in the movie industry as a great comedic filmmaker. He’s made many parodies like Young Frankenstein and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. But most of those movies quite stack up to one of his greatest movies ever. Spaceballs.

  Released in 1987, this movie plays on all the tropes of Star Wars. The damsel-in-distress princess that kicks butt later on, the slightly annoying robot sidekick, and the lovable furry companion. 

  This movie is about the planet Spaceball. They have depleted their planet of its air supply and now plan to steal all the fresh air from Planet Druidia, home of Princess Vespa. Vespa escapes an unwanted marriage and gets captured by the Spaceballs as ransom to give up the planet’s air. Fortunately, she is rescued by the loner Lone Starr and his friend Barf, a mog (half man half dog). The group goes on an epic journey to save Planet Druidia and stop the Spaceballs.

  With its playing on the incompetent villains of Star Wars and silly gags, this movie knows how to make people laugh. Characters constantly break the fourth wall, talk to the audience, and make meta jokes. With so many quotable lines, it’s no wonder this movie has so many fans.

  This movie isn’t just a parody of Star Wars though, It borrows elements of The Wizard of Oz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Alien, and Transformers.

  Even though this is a joke movie, the sets and effects are still great. Mel Brooks is known for going all out for every single one of his movies. This movie can look just as good and at times better than the original Star Wars movies.

  The villains are the highlight of the movie though. Rick Moranis, perhaps best known for Ghostbusters, is perfect as the buffoonish Dark Helmet. Mel Brooks is great as the idiotic President Skroob. Every scene with the bad guys is an absolute delight.

  When all is said and done, this movie is great. As a movie, I rate it a 6/10, but as a comedy, it’s a 10/10. Don’t believe me? Go watch it yourself.