Family Guy “It’s A Trap!”

Directed by Peter Shin

Written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman

FOX

May 22, 2011

Voice Cast

• Peter Griffin (Han Solo) / Brian Griffin (Chewbacca) / Stewie Griffin (Darth Vader) / Glenn Quagmire (C-3PO) / Carter Pewterschmidt (Emperor Palpatine) / Roger (Moff Jerjerrod) / Tim the Bear (Wicket)-Seth MacFarlane
• Lois Griffin (Princess Leia)-Alex Borstein
• Chris Griffin (Luke Skywalker)-Seth Green
• The Sarlacc-Mila Kunis
• Cleveland Brown (R2-D2) / Herbert (Obi-Wan Kenobi) / Rallo Tubbs (Nien Nunb)-Mike Henry
• Joe Swanson (Jabba the Hutt)-Patrick Warburton
• Mort Goldman (Lando Calrissian)-Johnny Brennan
• Carl (Yoda)-H. Jon Benjamin
• Ernie the Giant Chicken (Boba Fett)-Danny Smith
• Klaus Heissler (Admiral Ackbar)-Dee Bradley Baker

Guest Voices

• The Rancor-Rush Limbaugh
• Judge Smails (footage from Caddyshack)-Ted Knight
• Hot Blonde-Anne Hathaway
• John Williams-Bruce McGill
• Mary Hart-Mary Hart
• Conway Twitty as Himself (archive footage)
• Captain Jean-Luc Picard-Patrick Stewart
• Lieutenant Worf-Michael Dorn

This is the third and final film in the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy. If you believe what they put in the crawl and what occurs in the opening moments of the third black out in the Griffin home, they kind of didn’t wanna do it. I know for a fact that this film was done by MacFarlane in part so that he could do the comedy western A Million Ways to Die in The West. And truthfully it kind of shows. There are moments when some of the jokes feel a little forced and they are just trying to get through the film.

Part of that could also be due to a change in writers and directors from the first two. The tone of this film is different. And the jokes do not come at as a steady of a pace. Visually it is closer to the movie than its predecessors. For instance in the opening shot when Darth Vader’s shuttle is approaching the second Death Star it is a score by two TIE Fighters that peel off identically to how they did in the ROTJ. And this goes through the entire film. But unlike the previous films that mimic but were not 100% accurate the jokes do not hit as hard when they go into left field.

Another issue is they bring in characters from the other two Seth MacFarlane shows at the time-The Cleveland Show and American Dad. Not that it is a bad thing but they feel a strong need to highlight it when they do it. It would have been much better if they had simply had them show up.

They do a good job though of highlighting some of the other aspects of ROTJ such as the Ewoks being extremely primitive yet having a very good grasp of hairstyling by being able to accomplish the intricate braiding of Princess Leia’s hair. Also they are apparently tailors. Ever wonder where they got that dress from? At the time of the original movie there was no implication of anyone else landing on Endor beyond the Empire and the Rebels and it is unlikely either would have a nice dress.

They also highlight a regular fan complaint I have heard anyway of the film being too cute with the addition of the Ewoks. Han Solo (Peter) flips out at the bunker about all the cutsie stuff in the movie and starts making the Imperial Officers dig their own graves. Yikes! Personally I think that complaint is a little over blown by people who want Star Wars to be something that it is not. Star Wars is a family science-fiction universe and some people do not like that for some reason. There are plenty of other places to find dark and/or violent science fiction.

Having said all that this is still a fun and entertaining film. It gets a lot more right than it does wrong. The voice acting and the animation are all great and the script, though the weakest of the three, is good enough to keep you watching and wanting to revisit.

Family Guy “It’s A Trap!” is a good entry and a good conclusion to the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy. You will laugh and you will agree with some of the points they make. I say watch it!