Mom and Dad Save the World

Directed by Greg Beeman, Mom and Dad Save the World follows suburban couple Dick (Jeffrey Jones) and Marge (Teri Garr) as they’re abducted by a dimwitted alien ruler (Jon Lovitz’s Emperor Tod Spengo) and eventually forced to lead a rebellion. Filmmaker Beeman, working from Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced yet mostly uninvolving comedy that’s been, by and large, geared exclusively towards very small children, as the picture boasts an exceedingly juvenile sense of humor that grows less and less compelling (and more and more frustrating) as time progresses – with, at least, the appealing performances and often eye-catching set design going a long way towards sustain one’s dwindling interest. It’s clear, ultimately, that the movie’s appropriately (and appreciatively) short running time ensures that it remains relatively watchable from start to finish, and although the action-packed climax is hardly as exciting or engrossing as Beeman has obviously intended, Mom and Dad Save the World is an agreeable-enough time-waster that evaporates from one’s mind moments after it’s concluded.

** out of ****