Mom and Dad Save the World
Mom and Dad Save the World
PG | 24 July 1992 (USA)
Mom and Dad Save the World Trailers

Emperor Spengo sees Marge Nelson and using a giant magnet, kidnaps her and her husband Dick, hoping to make Marge his before blowing up the Earth. The Emperor and other inhabitants of his planet are somewhat less than bright, and Dick begins reliving episodes of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in order to rescue Marge, save the Earth, and restore the rightful emperor to the throne.

Reviews
Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Matt matt It's sad how defensive positive reviews of this movie are. It as though the reviewers fear upsetting that Great Todd Spengo of the film world, the Cult of Star Wars.This is one of the last and best products of the pre-CGI dictatorship that fantasy and sci-fi now labor under. The art direction is imaginative and very accomplished, presenting a steampunk by way of Oz physicality denied those raised on green screen.The cast is perfect. Jon Lovitz absolutely becomes the essence of every overcompensating "small man" who ever got an ounce of authority. His smallest gesture or expression project his total inadequacy. I laugh at his every scene.I've loved Teri Garr since I first saw her on an episode of the Andy Griffith show, and this is a fine capper to a showbiz career which she seems to have retreated from.Everyone else throws themselves into their roles with a joyful abandon. I'll bet the set was a fun place to be.The story pops along at a brisk pace, never once looking back over it's shoulder, or digressing into something "meaningful". Every time I watch this I'm once again surprised to realize, as Mom and Dad wheel back into their driveway, that their kids haven't been seen since the beginning of the movie. Any director of this today would have layered some crap "coming of age" parallel plot line and stretched the flick to two-plus hours.Is this film silly, escapist? Is the science pure bunk? Is Spengo and it's society improbable and ridiculous? You darn betcha! But so is Star Wars.Stick that in your planet destroying death ray and smoke it.PS. I've got a feeling there's a raunchier version of this that hit the cutting room floor.
thrueyessoma Mom and Dad Save the World is delightfully silly and totally ridiculous. Jon Lovitz is the perfect antagonist and this is one of my favorite roles of his. The make up, visuals and props are all incredibly inventive and cute. Tons of hilarious moments and memorable lines. The story can drag along in points and does not have the greatest script but it's wit and originality makes up for any shortcomings. I watched this as a child once and for years to come I still thought of it time and time again, replaying certain scenes in my head, it was completely memorable. Definitely a great movie to watch with the kids with plenty of good parts to amuse even the most disinterested of adults. I can still hear Jon Lovitz crying "Marge.... Marge..." I giggle to myself just thinking about it.
safetinspector There are some bad parts in this movie, but those are merely because it overreached a couple times. But if you like absurd comedy of the Airplane, Hot Shots, and Police Academy type, you should give this one a try. Although there are the odd non-sequiter based humor, unlike those other movies I used as a comparison, most of them seem to occur in service to the story line and are done in character. The sets props are clearly from the Dr Suess school of architecture and design, and are very enjoyable. Mom and Dad Save the World is one of those movies with lines that stick with you and make you chuckle days later."Oh, Earth-Dick!""Open my pants." "He DOES know father!" "Muttonchops? Wrong! Shoot yourself in the head!" "The Earthman has a light grenade for a head!" "That's my planet, that's my wife, and that's...just some guy I met!"Man, I loooove this movie.
Brandt Sponseller Tod Spengo (Jon Lovitz) has overthrown the government of his small, strange planet, renamed it "Spengo", and is now intent on destroying the Earth so that he can lay claim to the most powerful planet in the universe. A monkey is thrown in the works when he looks through the scope of his death ray to aim it and spots a hausfrau-looking Marge Nelson (Terri Garr). He decides that he must have her as his Queen, so postpones the destruction of the Earth for a day, until he Marge can get to Spengo.I wasn't aware of this film until recently, and that's a shame, because this is right up my alley. The name of the game here is absurdism and surrealism, with a hokey/campy comic bent. Think of a merger between Monty Python, Mel Brooks and Dr. Seuss, and you'll be in the ballpark.For me, the first sign that this film was definitely on the right track was how Tod absconds Marge--he basically uses a huge magnet, apparently with high-precision aiming capabilities, and pulls Marge along with her husband Dick (Jeffrey Jones) through space in their station wagon. Dick frets that they're running low on gas and he hasn't even checked the oil, while Marge snaps holiday photos.I loved the set, costume and creature designs. The Spengo sets tended to be very Seussian, and the costumes and creatures aimed for and achieved maximum ridiculousness. The fact that Spengoans are mostly idiots, by their own accounting, made available some hilarious plot devices, and provided believability within the context of the film. Eric Idle even has a cameo as the former King of Spengo. He delivers some very funny dialogue that I'd guess was primarily improvised, as it bore a strong resemblance to typical Python dialogue. The rest of the cast was excellent, too. It probably helps that I'm a fan of all three of the principles--Jones, Garr and Lovitz.On another level, Mom and Dad Save the World is a very enjoyable sci-fi/fantasy/adventure film--director Greg Beeman and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon almost subtly spoof the conventions of that genre, and there is also a theme about breaking out of shells to live more authentically.But of course this isn't just an existentialist treatise, it's a wonderfully funny film that anyone with a taste for the bizarre should check out. It's also fine for children to watch. Let's see this released in the U.S. on DVD!