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Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side Blu-ray Disc Review

By brenden ⋅ January 20, 2010 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

FAMILY GUY: SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE (2009, Blu-ray released December 22, 2009 - MSRP $29.99)

I’ve come to a painful conclusion: I’m not the target audience for most nerd-bait. I thought I was. I thought I was the picture of a perfect geek - tech head, Star Wars fan, vast collection of toys, comics and movies…uh, Star Wars fan. But if that’s the case, if I’m really stuck in my youth, continuing to worship vestiges of my childhood, why is it then that I didn’t really enjoy Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side?

This 55-minute direct-to-video offering by Seth MacFarlane and team certainly seems, on its surface to be exactly the sort of thing that I’d eat up. I love Star Wars. I love animated stuff. And I love crude humour. But for some reason, the Family Guy just doesn’t do it for me. The humour, when not plain-vanilla uninspired, riffs on moments from the film it’s lampooning, The Empire Strikes Back while perpetually referencing other beloved nerd-properties like Star Trek, Back to the Future and Teen Wolf. There are a few good gags but for the most part, everything falls flat on its face for me. I should love the pop culture shout outs but, after several years of exposure to the Family Guy they are, for the most part an expected part of the formula. Most importantly, being a Star Wars fan I should really enjoy this somewhat accurate re-telling of the second (or fifth, if that’s how your probe-droid hovers) chapter of George Lucas‘ epic saga. Yet, I just find it kind of annoying. It does make me long to see Star Wars on Blu-ray, however. So, I guess the film has had some effect on me.

I’ve got to say, as much as I’m put off by the humour and the storytelling, I really enjoyed the look of Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side. The animation might not be the most technically proficient, featuring lumpy, unattractive character design but this thing, on the whole manages to look slick! From the beautifully rendered CGI vehicles and Star Wars-accurate backgrounds to the fun action moments, the style of the film is where the real entertainment value lies.

And the Blu-ray disc takes advantage of that fact - this disc looks all right! I mean, there are some technical problems that pop up every now and then (colour banding, aliasing and macroblocking) but overall, this is a pretty good presentation. The look of this film is undoubtedly the highlight.

There are a bunch of special features on the disc that should please any Family Guy fan. The commentary track, with MacFarlane, writer/actor Mark Hentemann, exec producer David A. Goodman, writer Kirker Butler, director Dominic Polcino, and actor Seth Green is a pretty fun listen. These guys sound like they have a lot of fun with the show and deliver a chat that is, at times, more entertaining than the film itself! It’s also worth checking out the fact-track on the disc. There’s so much info here that I actually find it overwhelming in large doses. It’s pretty interesting stuff that might prove easier to consume without the constant sound-effect accompanying the pop-up. The set is rounded out by a series of animatic storyboards with director commentary, a 49-minute table read of the original script (revealing scenes cut from the final animated product!), a sneak-peek at the next Family Guy/Star Wars mash-up and an revealing 9-minute look at the creation of the poster art for the film.

Tags: Family Guy, Fox, George Lucas, Seth MacFarlane, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back