REEL CRITIC:

Mindless but mildly amusing, “Meet the Spartans” is everything you expect it to be and less.

The central plot parodies last year’s “300” — the epic story of a small band of Spartans who withstand the onslaught of the mighty Persian army in ancient Greece. But these new Spartans hip hop, break dance and glide their way through insane battle preparations never seen before.

Along the way the screenwriters poke fun at many recent movies and several pop culture icons. “Spiderman,” and “The Transformers” are on the chopping block. Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and even Kobe Bryant get skewered. YouTube, cellphones and modern life are ridiculed.

The jokes come fast and furious. Not all of them work but none of them last long enough to matter much in the movie’s 84-minute running time. Viewers attending my screening appeared to be mostly young teenage males around age 12 to 13. Watching a film that’s silly and dumber than dumb, they laughed a lot more than I did. So maybe the producers managed to satisfy their real target audience.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.