the premise is simple , if not bizarre .
a mad scientist ( trace beaulieu as dr .
clayton forrester ) launches an average - joe ( michael j. nelson as mike nelson ) into space where he forces his subject to watch the most horrendous movies ever made .
why ?
it 's torturous
, it 's maniacal , and it 's just plain fun .
based on the cult - favorite cable television series , mystery science theater 3000 : the movie is n't torturous , but as for being maniacal and just plain fun ,
it foots
the bill quite nicely .
mike nelson , on a dog - bone shaped spacecraft , spends his days as any young man would dream - indulging in sarcasm and horseplay , and seeing quite a few movies .
the catch is , these movies are n't the movies he chooses , but retched examples of film - making chosen specifically by dr .
forrester in an attempt to break mike 's will to live .
dr .
forrester is convinced that one too many b- movies is all it will take to ruin a man , but with a couple of wise - cracking puppet buddies ( tom servo , voiced by kevin murphy , and crow t. robot , voiced by beaulieu ) , the torture becomes somewhat of a honorary party for all that is wrong in the world of cheezy cinema .
the purpose behind mst3k is to exploit some of the worst films known ( even if by very few of us ) to man .
we watch as the silhouettes of mike , tom , and crow sit in a darkened theater poking fun
at the movie going on before them .
in this case , it 's the 1954 sci - fi film this island earth .
we basically watch as our three leads watch , only we get the pleasure of eavesdropping on their hilarious commentary .
the plots behind the movies ripped apart are really quite irrelevant , but for the sake of those who might want to know , i 'll explain this one .
this island earth is the tale of two scientists , a man and a woman , who wind up aboard a spaceship whose crew intends to destroy the earth .
together the two fight to survive as well as save their home planet .
to make mst3k work , the film - within - the - film naturally has to be as horrible as possible , and although the tv - series introduced us to several worse films than this island earth , it 's a bad enough flick to bring about some hysterical cruelty .
mst3k , which does n't actually contain the complete this island earth , is a short 73 minutes , but this is a step very wisely taken . as funny as some of their observations are , it can only go so long .
occasional breaks from this island earth also help the film tremendously .
although it takes a second to get back into the right mode after this premise has been left for a moment , it 's better than overkilling the whole concept post haste .
mst3k lovers will likely hail the film greatly , but if you do n't know what you 're in for , it could be a jarring disappointment .
although i thought the sharp wit of this film was worth three stars , it is a movie to be seen on home video , late at night when your brain is not functioning to full capacity anyway , and with a large , saracastic crowd - new year 's at midnight for example , which is when i saw it .
warning : although mst3k has more to its end credits than most
( the three leads use the credits to poke some more fun ) , they are actually more annoying than most .
the name slandering and asinine one - liners were extremely unfunny , and after laughing for about 70 minutes straight , it put a heavy damper on the overall experience .
most people will likely stay to see what the smart - alec 's have to say , but for me , it almost ruined an otherwise good film .
Output: P