Family Guy: Blue Harvest

  • Review Date: May 31, 2009
  • Rated: NR
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Release Year: 2007
  • Running Time: 50 minutes

Common Sense Media says

Ribald but often hilarious satire of fantasy favorite.
  • Review Date: May 31, 2009
  • Rated: NR
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Release Year: 2007
  • Running Time: 50 minutes

Age(i)

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Quality(i)

 
(i)
Watch
Write a review
See all 36 user reviews

What parents need to know

Positive messages

Main characters on Family Guy are the spectacularly dysfunctional Griffins, a clan of suburban Rhode Islanders, of whom the family dog Brian has the most good sense and manners. Here, as the Griffins and their neighbors take the key roles in a joke retelling of Star Wars (Brian gets to be Chewbacca), some of their unsavory traits are muted or left out. But others are retained, and so we get the whole family (except Brian) laughing at the notion of literacy, and the neighbors Quagmire and Cleveland having promiscuous sex and smoking marijuana. And Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to be a child molester. 

Violence

"Cartoon violence" in the purest form, with spaceship explosions, shootings of characters (mostly bloodless), and a light-saber decapitation gag.

Sex

Verbal innuendo includes heavy hints that aged Obi-Wan Kenobi is a chronic child molester with an unwholesome fascination for Luke Skywalker. A light saber springing into action is metaphorical for an erection. The opening prologue of words crawling across the screen starts to digress about brother-sister incest, ultimately recommending a certain Angelina Jolie movie to the viewer for its extensive nudity and lesbian sex scenes. Declaration that C3PO has had sex with a dox-matrix printer. R2D2 says his droid sister is a "lez-bot." Male sportscasters speculate about the erotic skills of a pretty spectator. An Imperial Stormtrooper talks repeatedly about "boning" his girlfriend.

Language

God's name in vain, "holy crap," "hell," "bitch," "penis" and, in a DVD extra, George Lucas uses the BS-word. Stewie/Darth Vader does a series of borderline-swear-word excrement puns ("I Sithed in my pants").

Consumerism

Natural tie-ins to Star Wars, as well as Family Guy merchandise. References to Doctor Who, Airplane, and other, more adult-oriented movies, including the R-rated Lethal Weapon and HUGE plugs for the explicit cable-TV biopic Gia and the Cartoon Network comedy series Robot Chicken.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

Social drinking, smoking in the cantina. The robots R2D2 and C3P0 smoke what seems to be a bag of marijuana, and C3P0 complains about "freaking out."

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this cartoon satire of a fantasy favorite has some very adult-oriented humor (tending to be much more verbal than visual), with references to lesbianism, pedophilia, and drug use. The spoof of an opening LucasFilm prologue includes a hearty recommendation of a lesser-known Angelina Jolie movie for its graphic sex content. A few borderline swear words are uttered. Violence, at about the level of that in the live-action Star Wars (except it's all-cartoon) includes spaceship and planet explosions, blaster-shootings, and a few light-saber decapitations. Newcomers to the Family Guy universe might not "get" a lot of insider references and characters.

Parents say

See 8 parent reviews
AGE
15
QUALITY
 
Review this title!

Kids say

See 28 kid reviews
AGE
13
QUALITY
 
Review this title!

What's the story?

FAMILY GUY: BLUE HARVEST is an episode of the nothing-off-limits Fox Network cartoon comedy Family Guy, and takes a full hour instead of the usual half-hour to retell the story of the 1977 blockbuster hit Star Wars movie. A sudden power outage ends a session of slack-jawed TV viewing in the household of rotund, loudmouthed Rhode Islander Peter Griffin, but the family guy rises to the occasion by telling his brood a tale of "fathers and sons" -- the storyline of the first Star Wars feature released. In this version the Griffins, their friends, neighbors, Adam West, and recurring gag characters from the cartoon take on the roles of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and a disquietingly dirty-old-man-like Obi Wan-Kenobi.

Is it any good?

QUALITY
 

Fans (and even non-fans) may be a bit surprised by this extended Very-Special-Episode of the animated sitcom that sometimes seems so full of pop-culture references and mini-parodies that the plotlines barely hold together. One well expects that series creator Seth MacFarlane and the vocal cast have so much fun with the Force and deliver big laughs at light-speed; too bad they end the thing on a rather somewhat sour note, with young Chris Griffin/Luke Skywalker calling his storyteller father "a big jerk" and leaving (this is an inside-inside joke about Peter/Seth MacFarlane belittling a cable TV satire Robot Chicken, done by Chris' voiceover actor Seth Green).

That aside, what's unexpected are some sequences that don't have gags at all, but are just dead-on recreations of classic LucasFilm moments as the gag script follows the original storyline faithfully. Revelation: the Family Guy guys actually love and respect George Lucas' history-making debut of the Luke Skyalker saga, and this spoof is as much a tribute as it is puns and non-sequitur references to Sanford and Son and Deal or No Deal. Among the DVD extras is a sit-down dialogue between Seth MacFarlane and George Lucas, who says his staff got a kick out of Blue Harvest.

Families can talk about...

  • Families can talk about the humor on display here. Sometimes Family Guy exhibits a pretty mean spirit when it spoofs popular culture, but the tone here is generally affectionate, maybe even...respectful. Ask kids about satires like Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein or Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog; can you sense the gagster's genuine fondness for the original material? With a bit of a video search, you can put together a home mini-festival of Jedi parodies -- many created brilliantly outside the Hollywood system by low-budget amateurs, some of which gained the approval of George Lucas himself (Hardware Wars, TROOPS, George Lucas in Love, etc.)

Movie details

Theatrical release date:September 9, 2007
DVD release date:January 28, 2008
Cast:Adam West, Alex Borstein, Patrick Warburton, Seth Green, Seth MacFarlane
Director:Dominic Polcino
Studio:Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Genre:Comedy
Run time:50 minutes
MPAA rating:NR

This review of Family Guy: Blue Harvest was written by

Charles Cassady Jr.

About our rating system

  • ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
  • OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age.

Find out more

Quality

Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

Find out more

Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging, great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging, good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging, okay learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

Find out more

About our buy links

When you use our links to make a purchase, Common Sense Media earns a small affiliate fee from Amazon or iTunes. As a nonprofit organization, these funds help us continue providing independent, ad-free services for educators, families, and kids while the price you pay remains the same. Thank you for your support.
Read more

See more about how we rate and review.

Great handpicked alternatives

For kids who love science fiction

Star Wars Movies
Comedy TV for Teens
See all recommended movie lists

Browse more movies

Top advice and articles

What parents and kids say

See all user reviews

Share your thoughts with other parents and kids Write a user review

A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines

Adult Written byteenreviews(17yrs) October 29, 2011
AGE
13
QUALITY
 

IT'S NOT GAY!!! In fact they make fun of gays (also bad) but funny

I thought, since it spoofed, it would suck, but it was hilarious characters sometimes drink the language is occasionally graphic "F--k you, you son of a b---h" or "holy s--t" but VERY FRIG-IN FUNNY!!! But iffy for 13+ My Rating: PG-13 for some strong language
What other families should know
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
Was this review useful?
Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old February 12, 2011
AGE
11
QUALITY
 

Funny, but...

Very funny, but don't show it to the wrong kids.
What other families should know
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Was this review useful?
Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 15 years old Written byFamily guy lover March 19, 2011
AGE
10
QUALITY
 

A little bad for kids but good for teens and adoults

Love it a little bad language and other things but it's awesome!!!!!!!!!!
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
Was this review useful?
Flag as inappropriate 

See all user reviewsWrite a user review

Poll

Did our review help you make an informed decision about this product?

Poll

What are the different ways that you access Common Sense Media ratings and information? (Check all that apply)

Essential Apps Guide