Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
Michael Jordan’s acting career never quite took off after starring opposite Bugs Bunny, but he was a charismatic, self-aware good sport in 1996’s live-action/animation fantasy hybrid “Space Jam.” The movie itself was a high-concept hit that had and has its passionate fans and naysayers alike, and to its credit, imaginatively conceived and a lot of good fun for a product of pop-cultural cross-pollination. The ‘90s nostalgia is still strong with that one, which is why—that wasn’t all, folks!—a re-branding called “Space Jam: A New Legacy” exists. No matter the cynical knee-jerk takes on a favorite IP being recycled, it’s important to always wait and see the end result, hoping creative vision will trump goosing profit for Warner Bros. Alas, nothing is a slam dunk this time, but at least it makes you want to rewatch the original brand.
As the first movie was a star vehicle for Michael Jordan playing the best version of himself, another once-in-a-generation basketball talent steps into those Air Jordans. LeBron James plays LeBron James, a professional L.A. dribbler hailing from Akron who listened to his mother and threw away the Game Boy to concentrate on basketball. Flashing forward to the present, LeBron is a family man with a wife (Sonequa Martin-Green) and three children. He badgers his younger son Dom (Cedric Joe) to fine-tune his basketball potential, even though Dom would rather design video games than go to basketball camp. Lessons are eventually learned when LeBron is invited to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank and brings Dom along. After the meeting with executives (a wasted Sarah Silverman and Steven Yeun) goes south, father and son are digitized into a computer vortex called the “Server-verse” from the machinations of a rogue A.I. named Al G. Rhythm (get it?), played by a smilingly evil Don Cheadle. Does this happen at a lot of studio meetings? Once LeBron crosses paths with Bugs Bunny, they round up the rest of the Looney Tunes gang (all of them stuck in another Warner Bros. property, like Lola Bunny proving herself to an Amazon fighter to Wonder Woman), and then, at some point, a basketball game must happen or LeBron and Dom are stuck forever, while LeBron’s toon friends will be deleted.
Director Malcolm D. Lee (2018’s “Night School”) and, evidently, a whole committee of credited screenwriters (Juel Taylor & Tony Rettenmaier & Keenan Coogler & Terence Nance and Jesse Gordon and Celeste Ballard) seem to be so beholden to a ‘90s kid’s reverence that they can’t come up with anything new but some nice-looking animation and a lot of shameless self-promotion for Warner Bros. It doesn’t take long to notice that “Space Jam: A New Legacy” reminds one of the worst qualities in “Ready Player One,” another Warner Bros. film that might have an Easter Egg if you look in the background. This barely functions as a movie, just content.
Seeing a Looney Tunes character inserted into a clip from “Mad Max: Fury Road” is a delight for a second, but by the time we get to “The Matrix,” Austin Powers,” and then “Casablanca,” we realize there’s no real joke here to go with the recognition and editing trickery. Once it comes time for The Big Game, it’s easy to lose sight of the action and feel any of the stakes when nearly every iconic character from the Warner Bros. vault gets to stand, cheer, and mug on the sidelines like a sensory overload. Watching cute King Kong sit, minding his own business while spectating the game is one thing, but it’s distracting to the nth degree when cosplayers as The Penguin, The Mask, and Mr. Freeze are seen intermingling with Agent Smith, Pennywise the Clown, Baby Jane Hudson, and Alex and his murderous droogs from “A Clockwork Orange” like an out-of-control Comic Con. None of them do anything but shout and clap, and how bizarre to include one of the sex-obsessed nuns from Ken Russell's controversial "The Devils" from 1971? Kids will love it.
Ever since his surprisingly funny turn in “Trainwreck,” Lebron James showed promise on-screen with unexpected comedic chops. Playing a version of himself, James looks happy to be here, but he’s like a fish out of water when it comes to trying to sell key emotional beats that come off stilted. The fact that James and his kid have to be turned against each other, just to play an interminable basketball game with cartoons and monstrously transformed cartoon versions of other basketball stars, in order to learn that it’s important to own your passion (“Be you!”) is trite and handled in such saccharine fashion. When James must get platitudinous and shed crocodile tears, his best efforts at showing range are almost cringe-inducing to watch.
The original “Space Jam” was tighter, loonier, featured Bill Murray, and made “I Believe I Can Fly” the greatest anthem before we became disillusioned by R. Kelly and his urinary perversions. It was harmless, too. “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is certainly lively, speedy in pace, and brightly colored. It comes and goes as fast as a Happy Meal, but like that shiny toy that gets packed in with the edible part, it wants to sell or remind you of other properties. When Bugs and his pals are on screen, they don’t even get to say very funny things, unless you’ve always wanted to hear Tweety’s owner Granny say, “Haters gonna hate!” or experience Porky Pig perform a rap battle. The one clever highlight, though, is the setup and payoff of a “gimme” cameo, and to steer clear of spoilers, let’s just say it is not Michael Jordan. Too goofy in spirit to be offensively bad, this is just lazy, empty corporate filmmaking that attempts and fails to be hip for a new generation. If you came to slam and want to jam, maybe just stick with the first “Space Jam.”
Grade: C
Warner Bros. Pictures is releasing “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (115 min.) in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021.
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