Synopsis

From Rotten Tomatoes:

When LeBron James and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.'s digitized champions on the court: a powered-up roster of professional basketball stars as you've never seen them before. It's Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life, that will redefine LeBron's bond with his son and shine a light on the power of being yourself.

Review

The first Space Jam film was a big part of my childhood. I've seen it and innumerable amount of times and it was a movie that a lot of my friends loved as well. I liked its silliness and how original it was. Obviously it wasn't the first movie to mix live action and 2D animation (Who Framed Roger Rabbit was at the forefront of that) but seeing the beloved looney tunes mingle with NBA superstar Michael Jordan was always great to see. Michael Jordan had a kind of charm that worked well for the film and the soundtrack is amazing. So, you could understand my excitement when I found out that there would be another Space Jam film. I was less excited about the talent attached to it, like LeBron James (I am not really a sports fan), but I was more excited that I would be able to be in this world again. That's why I was so disappointed to find that Space Jam: A New Legacy is a less charming, less funny, and just plain worse carbon copy of the first Space Jam. 

Space Jam: A New Legacy is basically the 88-minute Space Jam with an extra 30 minutes attached to it. It hits almost the exact same beats that the first one does, especially in the final, overly long, basketball game. There's the set up (which could be cut out of the movie entirely and would not change a single thing). There's the traveling to Tune World. There's the gathering the team (which I will give props for being creative – they basically had to travel to different Warner Bros. movies to get the characters). There's no training montage, which I thought was very odd considering training is necessary. They basically skip from gathering the team RIGHT into the game. And then there's the game which honestly looked like a re animated version of the 1996 film’s sequence. It was the same, just longer (it was about 45 minutes). Even the villains are basically the same thing (monster versions of current NBA and WNBA players).

I will give this film credit. The father-son dynamic that is explored in this movie it's something that isn't in the first movie, so that sets it apart some. I just wish that the exploration of said dynamic was not so flawed. The essential gist of this story is that for LeBron to realize that he needs to let his son be himself, he must beat him in a game of basketball. I don't know about you, but something about that seems off. I understand what they were going for with that messaging, but I think the delivery distracted from it. There were also hints of satire surrounding over saturation of media and corporate cynicism, which would have been interesting had they not turned right back around in turn the film into a Warner Bros. lovefest. 

I think the best description of this movie is this: a two-hour long Warner Bros/HBO Max commercial. This movies purpose is very clearly only to show off all that Warner Brothers has to offer. And I hate to break it to you Warner Brothers, you've already done this, and you've done it better (Ready Player One). And Disney did this, better as well (Ralph Breaks the Internet). I love how Warner Brothers basically made themselves the villain in this film and at the same time try to make the audience marvel at all that they have. I think that represents a larger, overall problem with the film. It tries to be meta and self-aware, but it falls prey to everything it tries to make fun of. So then, the film comes across as stupid, which is unfortunate. Its script is really to blame.

Let's talk about the casting, because... I don't know. All of the voice actors were fine. I didn't think any of them were spectacular. I always love to see my good sis Zendaya succeed so, that was cool. But I really want to talk about the “King” himself, LeBron James. I did not like LeBron James in this movie and I will tell you why. LeBron lacked the charm that Michael Jordan had in the 1996 film. Michael Jordan did not seem like he had a big ego, as LeBron does in this film. I've never heard anybody called the king as much as he was in this movie. I just know that he asked him to do that. Also, his line readings were just terrible. He sounded kind of monotone throughout a large chunk of it. Oddly enough, he did the best when he wasn't on screen and it was just his voice. He sounded uninterested almost which took me out of the movie, unfortunately. And I didn’t love Don Cheadle in this movie, either. He is markedly better than LeBron here, but I’ve seen him do much better work. Also – quick side note – I am surprised that neither Michael Jordan nor Bill Murray showed up in this movie. I think that would have been a quite easy way to draw in more viewers and give the film some energy. 

One thing I will give this film is its visual effects. Even though it gets a little Aquaman-ish, meaning very excessive, I thought that the movie looked good. I liked the 3D versions of the Looney Tunes. And I liked the design of the Serververse (the digital landscape where majority of the film takes place) and the planets inside the Serververse. Also, the second half of the basketball game, when the Tunes finally embrace and use their Looney-ness, is the most enjoyable portion of the movie, by far. The film gains energy there and we finally see glimpses of what we loved from the first Space Jam. There was a nice hip-hop gag that I thought was successful. Outside of that, this film is a mess.

So, unfortunately, Warner Bros. shot a brick with this Space Jam remake (remake? Reboot? Sequel? I don’t know… And I think that’s a problem. I could not tell if in this universe the first Space Jam occurred. It was like they referenced it but never talked about the fact that they have done this before. I just thought that was odd). You know, I read before I saw this film that director Malcolm D. Lee was brought on to direct this 2 weeks before principal photography started and hadn't even seen the first Space Jam... I could tell. And also can I just point out how this film didn't list Bugs Bunny in the opening credits, but instead the person who voiced him? The first film listed him as Bugs Bunny... I think that is just an indication of what is to come for the next 2 hours. I would recommend you just watch the first Space Jam again. I will say, however, that I do understand how other might enjoy this film. It’s mindless entertainment, and sometimes that’s just what you need.