‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Review

The original Space Jam is an odd film. What served as a glorified commercial for Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes became a cult classic as many kids who grew up with the film now have nostalgic ties towards it. It’s not considered to be a great movie, but the adults who grew up with it have kept it in the pop culture eye almost 30 years later. Now we have a sequel starring Lebron James. Space Jam: A New Legacy is about the same quality as the original, but it’s hard to tell who this movie is for. 

Premise

James is constantly striving for greatness and wants his kids to do the same. He and his son disagree on what that means, putting the two odds. In the midst of all this, Lebron and his son find themselves transported to the Warner Bros. universe by the algorithm, named Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle). To get his son back, Lebron has to defeat Rhythm in a basketball game. This leads to Lebron exploring the Warner Bros universe, recruiting Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang. 

Review

One thing that this new film has in common with the original is the fact that it’s basically a giant commercial. This time, it’s for Warner Bros itself, as Lebron travels through many popular Warner Bros. properties old and new. If you don’t have HBO Max yet, Space Jam: A New Legacy is certainly trying to convince you to sign up. 

The problem is the references don’t serve many purposes besides being there. The film is basically saying “hey, do you like Game of Thrones? Well, here’s a dragon. Do you like DC movies? Well, here’s Wonder Woman” and there’s a lot of this throughout the movie. They don’t do anything smart or clever with these references, besides just having them there for audiences to look at and maybe get a slight chuckle out of it. 

What’s weird is many of these references are targeted at the adults who grew up with Space Jam. Kids who watch this probably won’t understand what Mad Max: Fury Road or Casablanca is. The adults may enjoy these references, but they won’t be the ones who become nostalgic for this sequel. However, kids will certainly love this movie. It’s bright, colorful, visually creative, and has plenty of funny moments with the Looney Tunes. 

When the basketball game begins, the crowd is filled with references from other Warner Bros. films. You can see Batman, Robin, Jim Carrey from The Mask, Iron Giant, and many others. There are some odd ones like Pennywise from It and the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. The characters don’t do anything but cheer along to the game, but it’s a little fun just searching through the crowd to see who you can find. 

The movie itself is completely harmless entertainment. It starts off rough, however. Lebron isn’t the best actor and it’s very noticeable in the beginning. He tries to deliver a pep talk to his kid and it’s not convincing. However, I never got the feeling that Lebron is disinterested in being in this movie. His delivery is mostly off, but it’s delivered in a way where it seems like he’s trying. His kid, unfortunately, isn’t much better either. 

Once Lebron enters the Warnerverse, it becomes much more entertaining. The sequence where Lebron is animated is enjoyable and it’s nice to see some hand-drawn animation before we enter the CGI basketball game. It gives an updated look to the Looney Tunes animation. Once the Tunes are turned into CGI, they look pretty good. There is a lot of CGI, to the point where it can be visually distracting as the film throws so many visuals at you in rapid fashion. 

I did enjoy Cheadle as the villain. He’s chewing the scenery, but it makes it a lot more entertaining. The intensity he brings to the basketball game genuinely made me more invested in it, even though I could predict what was going to happen. The basketball game itself has plenty of fun moments. The opposing team this time is quite different than the Monstars, but unfortunately aren’t as fun.

When the Looney Tunes are given their moments to shine, that’s when the movie is at its best. When it decides to focus on Lebron and his relationship with his kid, that’s when the movie becomes way less entertaining. The humor itself misses a lot and creates plenty of cringe moments. There are many times where I rolled my eyes at the jokes or just the blatant corporate advertising. 

Final Verdict

Space Jam: A New Legacy is entertaining, but I can’t call it a good movie. It’s so unashamed about its blatant advertising that it can be hard to swallow in certain moments. The humor and acting also fall flat for the most part. I did get some chuckles at various references, cameos, and Looney Tunes moments. The actual basketball game is a highlight, even though the rules for it make absolutely no sense. Kids will definitely love this, but I don’t know if this new version will reach the same cult-classic status as the first. 

Final score: 2.5/5