"Blue Harvest"

How do i...
How dih...
Howawaaa...
Flummoxed. I've been rendered speechless by a cartoon. BLUE HARVEST, the animated spoof of STAR WARS, starring the cast of FAMILY GUY. Is it "good"? I hate to even try to think of a more appropriate adjective, any word i find will seem like hyperbole. To call this a spoof is wrong, too. Mel brooks made a spoof. This one's different, and could only have been made by one of those youngsters (creator seth macfarlane, you've been outed) who stared at STAR WARS wide-eyed, the kind of fan who might recognize the obscure title as the fake one lucas used during filming of JEDI, to mislead those who might have bothered the cast and crew.
This film is a gift of love, the details of which will fly over the heads of most. It's a tribute, every bit as much as spoof. A spoofbute. Is it funny? Most certainly. But there has to be so much more, for it to have blindsided me so. I've seen episodes and clips of FAMILY GUY. Though i was never inspired to watch it regularly, i knew full well that it's had moments of comedic brilliance that rival any comedy ever made. I knew this. Yet still, flummoxed i am.
The tribute half of this film is in the visuals. The quality of the animation is so jarringly perfect, that there are moments when you start to think they're splicing in footage from the actual film. Then you goose yourself, realizing it's still animation. Nor is this a twenty-minute treatment, it's an hour-long special.
The shining star is mr. herbert the octogenarian pedophile, as obi-wan. His "special" relationship with luke may bring a tear to your eye. Peter is lovely as han, chris is spot-on as luke, cleveland is hilarious as artoo, and stewie is righteous as vader. No one is miscast (especially not redd foxx). Macfarlane also outs himself as a devotee of AIRPLANE!, with not one, but two nods. Rush limbaugh lampoons himself. The griswolds show up. Is there a sequel spoofbute of EMPIRE? And are they working right now on one for JEDI, the only one that actually cried for a spoof? Yes indeedy yes.