Parodies of movies are always hit or miss, especially with “Movie” in the title. But sometimes, it all just falls into place, as it’s the case with the The Family Guy Trilogy – Laugh It Up, Fuzzball, including animated features Blue Harvest, Something, Something, Something, Darkside, and It’s A Trap!.
It’s very difficult to discuss the installments individually, as they share the same kind of humor and don’t stray too far from the main concept of being spoofs of the original trilogy. Even the introductory scenes when the family sits together to watch TV and the lights go out as an excuse for telling the stories is the same, as are the final discussions about why Family Guy is so much better than Robot Chicken (which is quite funny, considering that Seth Green who does the show is in this series as well).
So I’ll just say a few things about them to give an impression of what they’re all about and if one can watch them being a die hard fan or not. As the stories are close to the individual movies, check out the reviews for Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Family Guy: Blue Harvest
(USA 2007, directors: Dominic Polcino, James Purdum, Peter Shin)
This is a great first start, especially taking into account that almost nothing is left out storytelling-wise, which is quite impressive with the roughly 50 minutes telling everything George Lucas did in 2 hours. There’s even some time for longer conversations between employees of the Empire and Alliance. While these don’t always offer the same laugh-out-loud funny moments, memorable set-pieces do, especially in the final assault on the Death Star. Even with some nasty humor and cursing, this re-imagination is much more truthful to the original movie than the unnecessary new elements in George Lucas’ special edition version tried.
Score: 9/10
Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Darkside
(USA 2010, directors: Peter Shin, James Purdum)
First getting the negative aspects out of the way, the voices of Yoda and the Emperor are disappointingly unimaginative. This is quite strange, considering how true to the original movies the series is. Fortunately, the humor is still left intact with even better spot-on funny moments. What Han says to Leia when he’s frozen into carbonite is priceless. Just as in the original trilogy, the sequel tops the first one in every single way, with one funny scene after another, without changing the movie’s set-pieces too much.
Score: 10/10
Family Guy: It’s A Trap!
(USA 2011, directors: Peter Shin, James Purdum)
Just like the conclusion to George Lucas’ trilogy, this one can be received as a tired re-run of the first movie. The intro even says that there weren’t any good ideas. Of course that’s not true, as this is a fun nostalgic run, but a slightly less successful one with some of the jokes’ timing off. However, it doesn’t mean that it’s not an enjoyable spoof. It has a few surprising elements, especially with the ending offering a very sick twist. All in all, it’s probably the weakest part, but still great fun to watch.
Score: 8.5/10
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