| Comedy | MPAA:PG |
Mel Brooks has made lots of movies, and his most successful are parodies of other movies. One of his early films, High Anxiety, was a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock films (namely Vertigo and The Birds), Blazing Saddles was a western spoof, Young Frankenstein an obvious spoof of old horror flicks, Space Balls primarily spoofed Star Wars, but he found a few other Sci-fi flicks to throw in, and lastly: Robin Hood, Men in Tights (go ahead and guess what this is spoofing).
I should really group this movie and Costner's Robin hood film together, mainly because they share identical plots. Both start with Robin in a Muslim prison, awaiting some dread punishment, only to escape with the help of a Moor, in prison for another reason. In this film, the Moor stays in the Middle East, and tells Robin to find his son (who's in England), and team up with him. The family castle is gone when he gets home (or in the process of being hauled off, as in this film) The only person left is a blind servant, who tells Robin what happened. Maid Marian is there, helping the poor, and living with her hefty Maid servant. The Sheriff of Nottingham is wreaking havoc in both films, and in both films he lusts after Marian. Robin meets up with, and bests Little John, and thus becomes leader of the Forest Outlaws. They build their little tree city, and end up fighting The sheriff, who hires outside help to defeat Robin. Robin beats the sheriff in both films, and has his marriage ceremony to Marian interrupted by the return of the King in both films as well.
So, what's the difference? One film is accidentally funny, and the other one is funny on purpose. This one is also a musical, complete with song and dance numbers. Robin is played by Cary Elwes, who gives the reason for his greatness when he tells King Richard (Richard Lewis), that unlike others, "I can speak with an English Accent!" Marian, played by Amy Yasbeck (the greedy reporter in The Mask, and Helen's sister on Wings) is looking for the man with the key to her heart, or at least the key to her chastity belt. The Sheriff's witch is actually just a cook (Tracey Ullman) who has the hots for him. Father Tuck becomes Rabbi Tuckman (Mel Brooks), who's trying to make circumcision the next cutting edge fashion (sorry, bad pun). Everything in the first film that could be spoofed - is. The movie really is quite silly, so if you aren't into silly films, you might not like this one. But as far as comedies go, this one isn't half bad. And in this film, you don't have to hear that awful Brian Adams song.