Dancin’ Lizards Humor and parody were the prevailing themes in Sunday night’s Super Bowl commercials.

WINK-WINK, nudge-nudge. Many commercials that appeared during Super Bowl XLII took a satiric tack, spoofing movies, television shows, video clips, celebrity misbehavior and more. A typical though entertaining cast of characters — animals, babies, pop stars — all made their appearances, lending a lighthearted spirit to the annual festivities. For the most part, it worked. The tone was a welcome contrast to the angry, off putting tenor of too many spots in last ear’s Super Bowl, which were filled with crude and cartoonish violence. Although some sponsors decided to play it straight — with decidedly mixed results — the pervasive atmosphere was one of good-natured humor, of a type that seemed to elevate the night’s proceedings. To be sure, not every satiric spot satisfied. Some misfires were more Mad magazine than Molière. Others made the present-day “Saturday Night Live” seem like the earlier, funny “Saturday Night Live.”

One spot-on satire Sunday came from the Audi division of Volkswagen of America, which drolly spoofed “The Godfather,” complete with a cast member, Alex Rocco, from the original. The spot, by Venables Bell & Partners, replaced the horse’s head in the mogul’s bed with — gasp! — a grille severed from the front end of a Brand X luxury sports car. Anheuser-Busch parodied another 1970s film, “Rocky,” with a Clydesdale as Sylvester Stallone and a Dalmatian in the Burgess Meredith role. The spot, among the best of the night, was created by DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group. DDB also produced a hilarious commercial for Bud Light that poked fun at celebrity hucksters — including those who endorse beer for Anheuser-Busch. The spot presented the comedian Will Ferrell filming a fake commercial as a ’70s basketball playercoach named Jackie Moon.

What makes Moon moon over Bud Light? “A magical blend of barley, hops and delicious alcohol,” he proclaimed, discomfiting the director of the mock spot (“That’s not the line”). There was a timely, if mild, commercial for Coca-Cola Classic by Wieden & Kennedy, which featured a familiar Republican, Bill Frist, and a prominent Democrat, James Carville, in a parody of the red-blue political divide — two days before Super Tuesday (a k a the Super Bowl of primaries). One of two spots for the CareerBuilder jobs Web site, also from Wieden & Kennedy, wickedly sent up wholesome Disney characters like Jiminy Cricket to assert that “wishing won’t get you a better job.” Career-Builder is owned by a consortium of media companies like Gannett. In a clever commercial for T-Mobile cellphones, by Publicis Worldwide, part of the Publicis Groupe, the former basketball star Charles Barkley lampooned the blingedout lifestyle: Living in a lavish basketballthemed mansion, he stays out late enough to daunt a younger active player, Dwyane Wade.

Another celebrity, Carmen Electra, spoofed the pitfalls of being popular in a commercial by TracyLocke, also part of Omnicom, for Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum, sold by Hershey. For Pepsi Stuff — a promotion sponsored by the Pepsi-Cola unit of PepsiCo and Amazon.com — a good-natured Justin Timberlake ribbed his “magnetic attraction” to music fans in his first Super Bowl appearance since the notorious “wardrobe malfunction” of 2004.

Andy Samberg, who was Mr. Timberlake’s co-star in a ribald “Saturday Night Live” satire of music videos, made a cameo appearance in the spot, which was entertaining despite an overly frantic pace. The Pepsi Stuff commercial was created by BBDO Worldwide, also part of Omnicom. (BBDO also produced a spot for Diet Pepsi Max that parodied the “Night at the Roxbury” skits from “S.N.L.”)

Hyundai Motor America had the gumption — or the audacity — to run not one but two commercials that satirized Super Bowl ads. One spot questioned the results of after-game surveys like the USA Today Ad Meter. The other spot toyed with the anticipation that most Super Bowl commercials end with “some crazy, big twist.” Both spots were from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, another Omnicom agency. What follows is an assessment of some other high and low points among the commercials shown nationally during the game on Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation. The spots were among 39 provided to a reporter before the game, out of the 53 scheduled to run.

PEPSICO A spot for SoBe Life Water sent up the popular YouTube video of Filipino prisoners dancing to “Thriller,” replacing the convicts with a delightful cadre of animated lizards inspired to boogie by Naomi Campbell. An excerpt from “Thriller” was played in the spot, raising a provocative question: Are American families ready to invite Michael Jackson — even if only his voice — back into the living room? Agency: the Arnell division of Omnicom.