Australian Penthouse

Family Guy presents: It’s a Trap!

Director: Peter Shin
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Patrick Warburton, Patrick Stewart
20^th Century Fox

WHEN the crew behind cult animated series Family Guy released part one of the series’ homage/piss-take of George Lucas’ original Star Wars film, Blue Harvest, in 2008, the creators tapped into something special. Star Wars films have long been ripe for the parody-pickings, and after the success of stop-motion skit-fest Robot Chicken’s satire of George Lucas’ space-faring epic in 2007, it was just a matter of time before the stench of Lucas’s prequels was conquered in fans’ minds, and thus the healing began. They say laughter is the best medicine, and Family Guy succeeded in associating enjoyment with the beloved space franchise.

Since 2007,  each year has offered up another chapter of comedic misadventures of Luke, Han, Chewy and Leia, each following the original trilogy’s plot and, to an extent, the acceptance and enjoyment of a new audience, also. Blue Harvest set the scene and tone of the animated look at classic Star Wars, while second installment, Something Something Something Darkside (the strongest offering of the series) took a darker (yet consistently hilarious) tone (a la The Empire Strikes Back sans humour), whereas final episode, It’s a Trap! (doubling for Return of the Jedi), rehashes the formula somewhat, clearly lacking the tight-knit cohesion of the previous two films, as it’s piecemeal editing shows; however, the material only goes so far and the movie does provide a few gut-busting surprises.

It’s a Trap! boasts some knee-slapping moments but, when compared with the two previous films, its skit elements resemble a series of random Return of the Jedi-inspired skits as opposed to the expected retelling. While self deprecation by the writers–filling the rolling text opening sequence with disclaimers about how they had run out of characters–may grab a giggle from the audience, fans have come to expect more.

Cameos abound from Family Guy and its spin offs, with Roger the alien from American Dad as an Imperial Officer, Klaus the German-accented fish, also from American Dad, in a hilarious turn as Admiral Akbar, and several characters from The Cleveland Show getting a look-in. Wheelchair-bound Joe is on the money as Jabba the Hutt, and as almost every fan predicted, Meg was perfect as the Sarlacc.

Considering the epic scale of the Peter vs. the Chicken fights, the duo naturally lend themselves to playing Han Solo and Boba Fett respectively, but the fact the two don’t even throw down is disappointing.

Family Guy presents: It’s a Trap! is available on Blu-ray and DVD from December 22

Review: Dave Kozicki

FAMILY GUY:  SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE

Director: Dominic Polcino
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Seth Green, Alex Borstein, H. Jon Benjamin, Mike Henry
Shock

Review:  Cameron Murray

Hailed for following the plot of Empire Strikes Back closely, the special 60-minute episode sees Peter Griffin (MacFarlane) as Han Solo; Lois (Borstein) as Princess Leia; Chris (Green) as Luke Skywalker; and terrible toddler Stewie (also voiced by MacFarlane) as Darth Vader.

Naturally, it’s crammed with pop-culture references—some funnier than others—and the attention to detail is impressive.  All in all, it hangs together far better than Blue Harvest and the characters are more well-rounded, although Yoda (Benjamin) is a bit flat.

The DVD extras include an audio commentary with all the key players, Family Guy Fact-Ups, an animatic version of the episode and, most interestingly, two table reads – one for Something Something Something Dark Side and a sneak peek at We Have a Bad Feeling About This, Family Guy’s forthcoming Return of the Jedi spoof. Bring it on!

Listen to our interview with Mike Henry, the voice of Cleveland/R2-D2 in Something Something Something Dark Side, at: www.australianpenthouse.com.au/8553/mike-henry-interview/

To celebrate the release of brand-new Family Guy Star Wars send-up Something Something Something Dark Side, Cameron Murray interviews voice actor Mike Henry, who plays Cleveland Brown (R2-D2) and Herbert The Pervert (Obi-Wan Kenobi)…

Continue reading “Mike Henry Interview” »