Teri Garr, Jeffrey Jones, Jon Lovitz and Eric Idle star in this 1992 sci-fi comedy. Lovitz (Big) plays obnoxious and cruel emperor, Tod Spengo who sets his sights on married woman, Marge Nelson (Garr) before he intends on destroying her planet, Earth. She and her husband, Dick (Jones) go away for their anniversary, but are taken to a far away galaxy instead where Tod awaits on a planet full of idiots. Dick fights to save Marge from marrying Tod and tries to save Earth from destruction. Idle (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) plays King, Raff. This isn't a bad film, it pokes fun at sci-fi flicks & serials, Garr, Jones & Lovitz are good in it and the late, Jerry Goldsmith's score is great as usual. I recommend this.

Tod (robustly played with deliciously hammy élan by Jon Lovitz), the idiotic emperor of the tiny planet of Spengo, plans to destroy the earth. It's up to chipper, frumpy housewife Marge (the always delightful Terri Garr) and her grumpy husband Dick (the excellent Jeffrey Jones) to stop Todd. Director Greg Beeman, working from a blithely inane and good-natured script by Chris Matheson and Ed Soloman, pitches the cheerfully dippy humor at an appropriately broad pitch and maintains an infectiously lighthearted tone throughout. The humor is essentially Monty Python meets Dr. Seuss, with several inspired moments of surreal silliness (the cute killer mushrooms and the gag about the deadly light grenade are especially sidesplitting). The cast have a field day with the divinely asinine material: Garr and Jones make for appealing leads (their bickering scenes in particular are hilarious), Lovitz is an absolute riot as the hopelessly stupid and arrogant Tod, Thalmus Rasulala contributes a winning turn as General Afir, Kathy Ireland looks positively delectable in her skimpy outfit as Semage, and there are nice bits by Eric Idle as the absentminded King Raff and Wallace Shawn as meek torturer Sibor. Tony Gardner supplies a bunch of funky creatures; the fish ladies and bulldog men are simply adorable. Kudos are also in order for Jerry Goldsmith's spirited zany score and Jacques Haitkin's crisp cinematography. A very funny and charming goof of a film.

This movie is outstanding in the context of its genre ("absurd parody", sub-genre science fiction). Analogous to the Leslie Neilsen "Naked Gun" movies (crime), Mel Brooks' movies (e.g., Blazing Saddles), or anything at all by Monty Pyton. The closest movie in topic and sensibility is probably Brooks' "Spaceballs" -- which was directed at "Star Wars", whereas "Mom & Dad" seemed aimed broadly at Flash Gordon, et al. While this movie is clearly not to everyone's taste, I found the parody in this little gem hilarious.And assuming you like the broad parody of the other movies mentioned, I expect you would too.

Star Wars, Gone With The Wind, and The God Father all fell by the wayside when Mom and Dad Save the World entered the world of entertainment. There is nothing that ever has been or that ever will be as good as this immensely powerful work of film-art. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll never want to watch any other movie after seeing such an amazing film.