To say 1996’s Space Jam was a moment is an understatement. It was the first time we got to see an extended view of a lighter Michael Jordan. It gave us one of the 90s best soundtracks. And finally, the first look at the then-unreleased jewel, the Space Jam Jordan 11.
Almost 25 years later, Lebron James steps into Jordan’s spot to give us a second iteration of the animated-live action collaboration with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang.
Space Jam: A New Legacy (SJANL) stars James as a somewhat fictionalized version of himself who, along with his son, gets trapped in a digital space known as the ServerVerse by a rouge algorithm. To escape, he must team up with the Looney Tunes and defeat the algorithm and its team of souped-up NBA and WNBA talents in a game of basketball.
The original film wasn’t a masterpiece, but it still pleased people of all ages. Can James and Co. do the same for a new generation?
The highlights for Space Jam: A New Legacy fall into two distinct areas – what works for the kids and what works for the adults who pay for them to see the movie. Fortunately, it delivers for both groups.
The Looney Tunes sharing the screen and court with James and some of basketball’s most popular players are the obvious draw for kids. The Looney Tunes and their hijinks can still put on a good show, with the only real change being their digital makeovers. James fits right in as he shows a real knack for voice acting as a toon and the ability to poke fun at himself in human form.
Another surefire pleaser for the kids is the animation because SJANL is visually stunning on both sides of the proverbial court. The hand-drawn animation is clear and vibrant and the CGI when the film moves into the ServerVerse will undoubtedly get oohs and aahs from the young ones. The ServerVerse is where SJANL really flexes its visual muscles with an aesthetic resembling a more fleshed out Tron’s Grid and the on-the-court activities of both the Toon and Goon Squads.
For the adults, Don Cheadle is SJANL’s go-to guy. His villainous but fun turn as Al G. Rhythm is reminiscent of his Black Monday and House of Lies characters and provides a good bit of SJANL’s highlights, specifically the barbs about James’s career in real life.
SJANL also plays up to adults by incorporating what feels like the entire catalog of WarnerMedia conglomerate properties into the film. It’s a good mix of past and present characters from other Warner films and shows with a few surprises thrown in for the sake of showing how high the stakes are for the game. The more pop culture savvy you are, the more faces you’ll spot.
However, SJANL’s 3-1 lead is threatened when it stops allowing James to play to his strengths. The script is mostly well-written with jokes and gags that play well off James’s previously mentioned talents, but it makes a costly turnover via a father-son subplot that coarsely attempts to give the film some heart.
Sadly, this development puts James in the awkward position of acting out heavily emotional scenes when that’s not who he is as an actor. It’s the cinematic equivalent of pigeonholing him into being a spot-up shooter after he’s clearly shown everything else he does well. It’s also unnecessary because SJANL is the kind of film that doesn’t need to pull your heartstrings to give you the most bang for your bucks and time.
That flaw still doesn’t completely sink the film because the writers put more than enough into it to keep the film fun. However, SJANL has several momentum-killing scenes that rob it of the consistency needed to be great.
SJANL is truly a new legacy for the franchise. It’s still ultimately about an intergalactic basketball matchup, but the visual upgrades, a more charismatic lead in James, and more robust supporting pieces in the form of Cheadle’s villain along with the injection of other WarnerMedia properties give SJANL enough to be judged separately from its predecessor. It has more of a Ready Player One/Wreck-It-Ralph feel than anything resembling the OG Space Jam.
While it does have the undeniable flaw of trying to do too much by forcing a heart it doesn’t need and exposing the shortcomings of its star, you could do worse than investing 2 hours into SJANL for the sake of the kid(s) in your life or possibly for yourself.
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