Rating: Not Rated
Starring:
H. Jon Benjamin as Carl as Yoda (voice)
Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin as Princess Leia (voice)
John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian (voice)
D.C. Douglas as Imperial Guard #3 (voice)
Seth Green as Chris Griffin as Luke Skywalker (voice)
Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown as R2-D2 / Herbert as Obi-Wan Kenobi (voice)
Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin as Han Solo / Stewie Griffin as Darth Vader / Brian Griffin as Chewbacca / Glenn Quagmire as C-3PO (voice)
Danny Smith as Ernie the Giant Chicken as Boba Fett (voice)
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson as Imperial Probe Droid (voice)
James Woods
Special Features:
– Audio Commentary by Executive Producers Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann and David A. Goodman, Writer Kirker Butler, Director Dominic Polcino and Actor Seth Green
– “Family Guy” Fact-Ups
– The Dark Side of Poster Art Featurette
– Sneak Peek of “Family Guy – Episode VI: We Have a Bad Feeling About This Table Read” …and more!
Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound
Spanish and French Subtitles
Running Time: 54 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“Holy ship! The ‘Family Guy’ empire strikes back with another hilarious parody of your favorite sci-fi saga! May the laughs be with you as (Chris) Skywalker joins forces with (Peter) Solo and Princess (Lois) Leia to battle (Stewie) Vader and his Imperial minions. A host of new characters come along for the wild ride, including Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian, Chris’ boss Carl as Yoda, and the Giant Chicken as the nefarious Boba Fett. It’s an outrageous, out-of-this-world experience you’ll “saber” for light-years to come!”
“Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something Dark Side” is not rated.
Mini-Review:
I’m a “Star Wars” geek and a big animation fan, so I should have been the target audience for “Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something Dark Side”. But, unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy it.
This “Star Wars” parody suffers from the same problems as its predecessor. First of all, too much of it is simply a copy of “The Empire Strikes Back.” A lot of the action is the same, a lot of the story is the same, and they even use the original John Williams music. There’s simply not enough parody here. It’s simply a “Family Guy” version of TESB. The other problem is that it’s just not that funny. The movie was nearly an hour long and I only chuckled a few times. It could have been a lot better. Things start feeling particularly desperate when they start dropping f-bombs and other profanities that you know wouldn’t have aired on Fox. If they need to do that to get laughs, you know they’re in trouble.
So what parts did make me laugh? I thought it was funny when Darth Stewie took a baseball bat to Leonard Nimoy’s mailbox from a passing Star Destroyer. I also laughed when, after crash-landing on Dagobah, R2-D2 said, “I’m fine but the midget inside me got a concussion.” His head then pops open and Kenny Baker pukes over the side of the X-Wing. Crude, but funny. A few jokes about the AT-AT’s and Cloud Cars were also amusing.
Frankly, I’m baffled why Lucasfilm keeps bending over backwards to help “Family Guy” with these “Star Wars” parodies. I mean, I’ve seen “Star Wars Family Guy” toys in Wal-Mart for crying out loud. No “Star Wars” parody has ever had this level of cooperation from Uncle George. I just wish the final product was better. I think if you want to see a really good “Star Wars” parody, you should check out the Robot Chicken ones, the TROOPS fan film, or “Spaceballs.”
You’ll find a decent selection of bonus features on the DVD. There’s an audio commentary with MacFarlane, Seth Green, and the producers. There’s also a featurette on the making of the poster. But the most notable bonus feature is a table reading of the next Family Guy Star Wars parody, “Family Guy – Episode VI: We Have a Bad Feeling About This”. Hopefully it is better.
