Space Jam: A New Legacy review

SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY: 

NOT EXACTLY A SLAM DUNK, BUT IT HAS ENOUGH FUNNY AND CLEVER MOMENTS THAT MAKE THIS LOONEY BASKETBALL GAME WORTH WATCHING!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Taz, Lola, Bugs, LeBron James, Tweety, Sylvester, Speedy Gonzales, and Daffy in Space Jam: A New Legacy

 

            The Looney Tunes are back to play some more basketball in Space Jam: A New Legacy, the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 film where Michael Jordan teamed up with Bugs Bunny to battle evil aliens in an intergalactic basketball game. I loved the first Space Jam a lot as a little kid, and it was one of the first Looney Tunes-related things I ever saw, not counting the Looney Tunes cameos from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. 

            After Space Jam, I eventually watched reruns of the original Looney Tunes cartoons on Cartoon Network as well as some of the other Looney Tunes films such as Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters and Tweety’s High Flying Adventure on VHS, and even saw their second live-action/animation outing, Looney Tunes: Back in Action in theaters when it was released in 2003 so I may not have been around at the height of their popularity but there is no denying the impact these timeless characters had on my life. 

            Now, we have this direct follow-up to Space Jam which had been in talks since 1996 after the release of the first film. Space Jam 2 originally would have had Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes go up against a villain voiced by Mel Brooks in another basketball game, but the idea was scrapped, and other reworks included a spy-themed movie with Jackie Chan which eventually became Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and even one revolving around skateboarding with Tony Hawk. 

            It wasn’t until 2014 when production officially took off and LeBron James was announced as the new leader of the Tune Squad, but when the announcement came out that a new Space Jam was coming out I had extremely low expectations because while I enjoyed the first Space Jam as a kid, it does not hold up when you watch it as an adult other than being a time capsule movie of 1996, which is part of the charm. 

             However, when the trailer came out showing the LeBron and the Looney Tunes playing basketball with a bunch of characters from Warner Bros. properties watching it in a Ready Player One-like environment, I was suddenly intrigued by it. Now that it’s released in theaters and HBO Max, I can say that Space Jam: A New Legacy on the surface is…not a good movie, but it’s a lot of fun! 

            The film follows NBA superstar, LeBron James who wishes for both his sons, Darius and Dom to follow in his footsteps as professional basketball players, but young Dom aspires to become a video game programmer. However, when LeBron and Dom visit the Warner Bros. studio for a movie deal, both of them are suddenly zapped into the Warner Bros. databases by an evil A.I. known as Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle-Hotel Rwanda, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Flight) who has also taken his son and the only way to get him back is for LeBron to what else? Play a game of basketball. 

            So, LeBron befriends Bugs Bunny (voiced by Jeff Bergman-The Flintstones, Teen Titans Go!, Jellystone!) and the two of them round up all the members of the Tune Squad including Daffy Duck (voiced by Eric Bauza-El Tigre, DuckTales (2017), Batman VS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Lola Bunny (voiced by Zendaya-Shake It Up, Spider-Man: Homecoming/Far From Home, Smallfoot), Sylvester, Yosemite Sam (Both voiced by Bergman), Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd (Both voiced by Bauza), Tweety (voiced by Bob Bergen-Fraggle Rock, The Emperor’s New Groove, Star Wars: The Bad Batch), the Tasmanian Devil (voiced by Fred Tatasciore-Invader Zim, Ben 10, Star VS the Forces of Evil), Speedy Gonzales (voiced by Gabriel Iglesias-Magic Mike, Coco, Ferdinand), Granny (voiced by Candi Milo-Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Loonatics Unleashed), Gossamer, Wile E. Coyote, and Road Runner for another “Looney” game of basketball against Al-G and his “Goon Squad” in order to save LeBron’s son or be trapped in the virtual world forever. 

            Overall, Space Jam: A New Legacy like its predecessor is one giant advertisement disguised as a feature film, but unlike that cringe-worthy line from Wayne Knight in the first movie where he references Nikes, Hanes, Wheaties, Gatorade, and Big Mac in a single sentence, this film is a commercial for Warner Bros. and when it’s aware of that and has fun with it, the movie is actually very enjoyable to watch. 

            One of the most fun things about the first Space Jam was seeing all the different Looney Tunes characters in the background as the basketball game is going on, and this film continues the tradition by filling those stadium seats up with some of the most iconic Warner Bros. characters of all time whether animation, movies, or television. Even the movie itself isn’t all that great, seeing characters from DC, Hanna-Barbera, Game of Thrones, The Iron Giant, The Matrix, The Wizard of Oz, Mad Max: Fury Road, It, King Kong, The Mask, and even a Rick and Morty cameo (Personally, this movie could have used more Cartoon Network and Adult Swim cameos, but I’ll take what I can get!) together, I have no choice but to love that and I’m looking forward to when this comes out on home media so I can pause it and point out all the characters. 

            The jokes are hit-or-miss, but I found a good half of them to not only be extremely funny but also quite clever. This film banks on meta humor and callbacks to Warner Bros. properties such as a montage of LeBron and Bugs getting all the Tune Squad members by going into different Warner Bros. universes, one has Daffy in place of Superman stopping a train from hitting an orphanage, another features Granny in The Matrix, Elmer Fudd as Mini Me, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner chasing each other in Mad Max: Fury Road (Perfection!), and Lola training with the Amazons and going through the obstacle course from Wonder Woman 1984 to name a few, and a brilliant Michael Jordan joke that I dare not ruin here! 

            Other times the jokes are so strange and awkward that you just can’t help but laugh at, to me, this movie falls in the middle between so bad it’s good and a genuinely funny and clever comedy. 

            LeBron in this movie is about on par with Michael Jordan from the first film, nothing spectacular but he gets the job done fine. Don Cheadle as the villain is delightfully hamming it up and it looks like he’s having the time of his life whenever he’s onscreen, I guess Rhodey finally lost it. 

            While I still consider Looney Tunes: Back in Action to be the stronger Looney Tunes movie that isn’t a clip show overall, I had a lot of fun with Space Jam: A New Legacy whether intentional or not. Yeah, this review is all over the place, but so is the movie itself.