Throwback Thursday: "The Ice Pirates"

Prepare to time warp back to the '80s, where everything is gilded - from robots to spaceships to eyeliner.

The Ice Pirates is a comic, sci-fi film that would be called "space western" only it plays out more like an '80s Renaissance fair. Picture what would happen if The Bangles had Shakespeare's baby. The music is untouched by a wood or stringed instrument, but straight out of the '80s synthesizer lab. Amid shoulder pads and huge eyeglasses, however, at least there's no break dancing.

I admit, this is one of those films I loved in childhood and then jumped at when I saw it available for rent. Oftentimes, the result of trying to recapture youth means finding out that Silly Putty is kinda lame and that Fun Dip is really just colored sugar.

However, Pirates - despite a heightened level of cheese matched only by Nine Deaths of the Ninja - was pretty fun to experience again.

With some notable actors such as Angelica Houston and Ron Perlman, the acting isn't bad, and - if you think about it - must have taken a heightened degree of discipline to keep from giggling through every scene. But unlike campy space movies that tried and failed to be serious (Space Mutiny comes to mind), Pirates doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's a lot of its charm.

The robots - that is, low-wage actors in molded plastic - get a little exhausting, as they break down so often they must be running Vista. In pretty much every battle, just take what you know about physics and throw it out the window and you might just enjoy it.

The message - assuming there is meant to be one - is uplifting, since the water shortages of Pirates' galaxy are in complete juxtaposition to our own abundance, and the things we largely take for granted.

While rife with sexual innuendo, it's all in fun and pretty harmless, so Pirates could really be an enjoyable movie for the family - good for some laughs and never so cheesy as to be dull or tired. So, despite a pretty low IMDb rating of 5.1 and the fact that I might simply be clinging to the threads of my youth, I'd say Pirates is worth a watch.