Hating on the 1996 film “Space Jam,” with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, has been quite the popular trend on the internet in the last five years or so. And it’s one of those annoying things where every new person who brings it up acts as if they’re the first person to say they don’t like it, as if they have this hot, new take. Well, it’s time to combat that negativity a bit because “Space Jam” is an excellent film that still holds up in 2021.
But then we’re going to flip a switch and go from combating the negativity to feeding it. Not by turning on “Space Jam” itself. But by unleashing on the absolute dumpster fire that is “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” an early candidate for worst movie of 2021.
But first, “Space Jam.”
I think the most common thing I’ve heard is that “Space Jam” is a movie built solely on childhood nostalgia and that it gets worse when you watch it as an adult. In other words, it doesn’t hold up. I understand that principle. Childhood nostalgia is a very common thing that in many cases has boosted popular movies that I personally think are overrated. Combine that with holiday nostalgia and there are so many terrible movies that are praised as masterpieces.
First off, I don’t think it’s totally fair to completely write off the importance of nostalgia. As kids we all have standards that aren’t as strict when it comes to which movies we enjoy. And I think it’s totally valid to have certain attachments to films that meant a lot to us, even if we grow up and learn more about what actually makes good movies. We can go back and differentiate between the movies that actually were good vs. the ones that were only good because we were seven years old and weren’t as overly critical. But I still think it’s totally fine to say we like a movie that meant a lot to us as a child, even if we acknowledge later that it isn’t perfect.
That said, in the midst of this giant wave of people on the internet claiming “Space Jam” doesn’t hold up, I’ve watched it several times. A few times with the specific question in my mind of “Does this REALLY hold up as a good movie or do I just like it because it was perfect for me as a kid?” And my answer every time comes out as, YES. It DOES hold up as a good movie. Even in 2021. I watched it and the sequel back-to-back on HBO Max on Friday afternoon. And I loved every minute of my experience watching. I almost watched it again just to get the bad taste of its sequel out of my mouth.
I obviously can’t speak for everyone on the internet or every 90s child like myself who grew up loving “Space Jam,” but for me it was the perfect storm of everything that I loved as a kid. Like most people, I grew up watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. And although Looney Tunes dates back way before I was a kid, their cultural impact has been so great across many generations that they also meant a lot to me when I was young. One of my other passions was basketball. I played Super Nintendo games like NBA Jam and NBA Showdown all the time, so I knew all the teams well. And I watched my Utah Jazz at every moment I could. I loved getting the paper delivered every day so that I could check the scores and look at the stats of the previous night’s games.
I don’t know when exactly it was that I watched “Space Jam” for the first time. It would’ve come out when I was seven years old, right at the peak of the Utah Jazz’s greatness. Our team faced Michael Jordan in the finals two years in a row in the late 90s, shortly after the release of “Space Jam.” I don’t remember seeing “Space Jam” in theaters, but I do know that I watched it and loved it as a kid because it combined those two passions of mine. Cartoons and 90s basketball. I knew all the players and teams that were featured in the movie. So that was fun for me. And I loved all of the Looney Tunes. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and squad playing basketball with Michael Jordan? You can’t get a more perfect combination of two things for young Adam. Michael Jordan himself may have been my mortal enemy, but he was still part of the era of basketball that I love so much.
But that’s me as a kid. My opinion of it as an adult? Well, for one it has one of the greatest soundtracks for any sports movie. From the intro to Michael Jordan playing basketball as a kid to the Looney Tunes taking the court, every song elevates the sports sequences in the movie. The title track “Space Jam” by Quad City DJ’s is one of the most motivational songs ever when it comes to getting yourself pumped up for something. And I don’t even like rap, but that song is perfection. Add that to the likes of “Fly Like an Eagle,” “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Basketball Jones” are also perfect. In addition to the soundtrack, I think it’s a clever idea to Bugs and crew recruit Michael Jordan to help them beat the Monstars after said little aliens became very large and scary after the Looney Tunes challenged them to a game of basketball.
And as a 90s basketball fan, there’s a lot of references from Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Mugsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Shawn Bradley that make me laugh. Things that non-basketball fans watching “Space Jam” might not understand. And I don’t know when I first caught it, but Shawn Bradley at one point in the movie says that maybe he should go back and serve another mission for his Church. As a BYU fan, that also makes me laugh. So I like the element of the movie that Michael Jordan is motivated to help his fellow NBA friends get their powers back, while the Looney Tunes are motivated by not wanting to become slaves to these aliens. Solid motivation from both sides, followed by some entertainingly silly basketball scenes that fit perfectly into the zany catalogue of the Looney Tunes.
I think the most clever part of “Space Jam” is that it provides an alternate narrative as to why Michael Jordan un-retired and came back to the NBA after he retired to play baseball. The Looney Tunes sparked the desire in him to play basketball again. In fact, to this day I will, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, blame the Looney Tunes for why my Jazz never won a title. If they hadn’t convinced Michael Jordan to play basketball again, maybe he would’ve stayed retired and then the Jazz would’ve played Alonzo Mourning’s Heat in 1996-97 and Reggie Miller’s Pacers in 1997-98. Two tough teams, but we were better than both of them.
So yeah, that perfect crossover of two things I love, being a great tribute to both, makes “Space Jam” a special movie for me. One I have seen and watched many times.
But now it’s time to analyze this sequel.
If I’m being perfectly transparent, I’ve never been opposed to the idea of a “Space Jam” sequel. It’s something that they’ve tried to do ever since the first movie got released. But they could never get Michael Jordan back to do another one. And the cards never fell in place with any other idea they tried. So it’s a sequel that sat on the shelf for two decades. Until LeBron James came into the picture and was obviously interested in participating.
I will say, if there’s any athlete to come in and take the place of Michael Jordan in a “Space Jam” sequel, LeBron makes the most sense. Jordan was the best player of his era and LeBron is the best player of his. I mean, don’t get me started on the Jordan vs. LeBron debate. It’s a stupid one. But nevertheless, you can’t do a “Space Jam” sequel today with anyone else. Not only is LeBron the best player today, but he also has a passion for film. He’s been in several movies already, as himself and as a voice actor. I imagine that will continue after he’s retired. I think that’s part of the reason why he’s now playing for the Lakers. Not just for basketball reasons, but it makes it easy for the Hollywood of it all.
But how do you construct a plot around a LeBron in “Space Jam” sequel that makes sense and is just as clever as the first movie? Given that this movie has been rumored for a long time, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. I don’t know if I have the perfect answer, but just like Michael Jordan being convinced to come back to the NBA because of the Looney Tunes, you could do something along the lines of the Looney Tunes convincing LeBron to go back and play in Cleveland after he ditched that franchise for the Heat for four years. Or set it in between his first and second year for the Lakers, the first being a disaster and the second winning him a title. There’s options here to make the plot clever.
But of the many things this sequel does wrong, that plot is one of them. There is no creativity in the movie in regards to it being a meta event for LeBron’s actual basketball career. Instead it revolves around LeBron’s fictional son being more into video games than basketball and LeBron being the world’s worst dad in wanting his son to do what LeBron wants him to do rather than being happy about what his son wants to do. Not only did this feel like an extremely safe route to go, but it was highly predictable in how it was going to play out and LeBron did not do a great job of selling himself as this grumpy Dad. I’m not going to claim that LeBron is a bad actor that should stick to sports because I have seen him do well in other things. But he was really bad. In fact, the kid who plays his son, who is not LeBron’s real son or even remotely based on LeBron’s son Bronny, is much better than LeBron in this movie.
On top of that clunky narrative, the actual villain of this movie is played by Don Cheadle. He plays a computer A.I. thing like an advanced Siri that lives in the computer world. His name is Al G. Rhythm. And I wish I made that up. And this Al G. Rhythm gets offended and starts a vendetta against LeBron because, after Warner Bros. invited LeBron into their studio to suggest that LeBron be a part of every Warner Bros. franchise, an idea that Al G. Rhythm came up with, LeBron says that’s the worst idea ever and leaves. So this Al G. Rhythm kidnaps LeBron’s son, then tells LeBron that if he wants his son back, he’s going to have to go into the Warner Bros. world and challenge him to a game of basketball.
And that’s our plot. Not this meta-creation that does a perfect job of combining Looney Tunes and basketball, mixed in with Jordan’s life. A forced father/son narrative based on nothing and executed horrifically combined with the strangest, goofiest plot that even feels a bit much for something related to the Looney Tunes.
And as many have already said in other reviews around the internet, it’s Warner Bros. being a little too full of themselves. Some of called this a feature-length advertisement for HBO Max. An assessment I most certainly don’t disagree. Not only do we get this montage in the studio pitch that I described with LeBron in many of the big Warner franchises, but when LeBron is out recruiting his team, he winds up on a mission with Bugs Bunny to gather up the Looney Tunes, who are scattered throughout the Warner Bros. universe in things like the Batman world, Austin Powers, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Wonder Woman.
Why are they scattered like this?
I can’t remember. But it’s only for the sake of Warner Bros. throwing their whole kitchen sink at this movie. How many of their characters from everything they own can they cram onto the screen?
But this isn’t all. When the basketball game is finally played in the movie’s second half, most of the crowd consists of every Warner Bros. character you can think of watching this game. And throughout the game, we constantly pan over to different characters that Warner Bros. features on the screen. Or rather, shots that look like people cosplaying as these characters.
Now you might be wondering what the difference is between something like this vs. the likes of “Ready Player One” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” two movies that I really enjoyed that also implemented a ton of property that the respective studios owned. And the difference is that both “Ready Player One” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet” made good use of these characters and places they visited. They made them critical elements of their plot. Like in “Ready Player One,” you can choose whatever Avatar you want to represent you when you’re in the digital world and many of the characters chosen represented the personalities of the people who chose them. And there’s messages that the movie used with all of this. In “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” nothing involving any of these Warner Bros. properties had any effect on the plot of the movie itself. It was just a shameless highlight reel of Warner Bros. properties that they felt like throwing on the screen for no good reason.
Granted, LeBron’s initial plan when he knew he had to play a basketball game against Al G. Rhythm’s Goon Squad team was to recruit the likes of Superman, King Kong, and the Iron Giant to play on his team. If we had something like that, where all of these Warner Bros. characters were playing a basketball game with LeBron, that could’ve been zany and fun. But that didn’t happen. They were all just there to… watch.
So if the eventual game plan for the movie was for LeBron to play a basketball game with the Looney Tunes, why not just cut to the chase and make this a crossover with LeBron James and the Looney Tunes? You know, like the first movie did? Only include characters that end up as relevant to the plot of the movie you’re making. That part of the movie just became a bit much. I kept asking to myself, why? What is happening? What is the purpose of all of this? And there was none. It was just a big, giant mess of a thing that was too distracting from the plot at hand. A plot that, as I mentioned, was not cleverly put together in the first place. So it appeared that they put more effort into throwing everything they owned at this movie than they did simply making a sequel that does justice to the first movie. And that was frustrating.
And then after all of this nonsense and wasted movie was playing out, the basketball game itself with LeBron and the Looney Tunes wasn’t even the least bit entertaining. Granted, the actual basketball sequences in the first movie were simply silly and fun. Not anything dramatic and intense like a serious sports drama. But it was still very entertaining watching the Looney Tunes play at least a somewhat normal game of basketball with Jordan. And seeing the energy they put into the second half to beat the Monstars when they thought they were drinking “Michael’s Secret Stuff” provided a good lesson that they had it in themselves to do well the whole time. The LeBron basketball game, which is a game that had no cohesive rules, was boring. It was a cut and paste thing from the original, done to the extreme with the exaggerated gameplay that LeBron’s son in the movie invented. So there wasn’t any sort of payoff to anything that happened that felt rewarding.
I don’t know what I expected from this movie. I didn’t think it was going to be a great movie, nor did I believe that they could catch lightning in a bottle a second time. But at the least, I expected more than what I got. Even knowing that the CGI Looney Tunes were going to be us ugly as you can get after seeing the movie’s trailers. I don’t know why LeBron was animated in the Looney Tunes world when Michael Jordan wasn’t. And I don’t know why they even attempted to do live-action CGI creations of the Looney Tunes when they were in the live action world. But if that was the movie’s only problem, I could’ve lived with that. But whatever it was that I was expecting from this movie, it wound up as a whole lot worse. And I spent each frame of the movie and each continued scene being absolutely flabbergasted at this giant, mess of a film that I was experiencing.
And to me this isn’t just a throwaway bad movie that I will forget about in a week’s time. This is a movie where I have become increasingly angry at. I was going on a walk after I watched and I could just feel the anger burning and festering inside of me. This is a franchise and a property that I cared deeply about that they took and smeared into the mud, creating what I think is the absolute worst possible sequel that they could come up with. And I don’t think anyone at Warner Bros’ even really cared. And that makes me furious.
A grade for both of these movies? Well, we have a childhood favorite of mine that is still one of my favorites as an adult and a new sequel that borderline offensive. So this shouldn’t be a surprise to you:
Space Jam: 10/10
Space Jam: A New Legacy: 3/10
P.S. – Maybe you thought I was going for a 1/10. But as bad and offensive as this movie is, it’s not as bad as “The Emoji Movie,” which is a movie I gave a 1/10 to. I don’t like giving 1/10s. And I rarely go below 5/10. So yeah, it’s not a 1/10, but a 3/10 is still really bad in my book.
No comments:
Post a Comment