Space Jam: A New Legacy owes more to The Lego Movie than Looney Tunes, as Warner celebrates itself
By Jim Slotek
Rating: B-minus
One of the most self-aware moments in Warner’s Space Jam: A New Legacy comes when Daffy Duck is millennia-fied – ie., gets an “upgrade” from 2-D to 21st Century CGI.
“I feel so expensive!” he says of his new almost-Pixar look.
On the other hand, this sequel to the oddly durable 1996 kid-flick Space Jam, with LeBron James taking over the superstar starring role from Michael Jordan, is almost entirely composed of self-aware moments.
Its template is not the anachronistic mash-up of Air Jordan and Bugs Bunny (voiced these days by Jeff Bergman), but another Warner film, The Lego Movie, with its rapid-fire reference humour aimed at the parents in the crowd.
LeBron rallies the troops in a must-win game against an evil AI in Space Jam: A New Legacy
A corporate studio movie about itself, Space Jam: A New Legacy takes place mostly within the server of Warner 3000, a digital universe that holds every Warner corporate property, from Casablanca to the DC Universe to The Matrix to Rick and Morty. It’s a mash-up set-up that allows us to see a cartoon LeBron play Quidditch at Hogwart’s and Yosemite Sam as the “Sam” at the piano in Rick’s Café Americain, taking requests from Ingrid Bergman.
It’s cleverness in place of a story. But let’s face it. The original Space Jam didn’t have much of a story either. They were simpler times though, and Space Jam’s mission was clear – highlight one of the studio’s most durable franchises, Looney Tunes, on the back of the most famous basketball player on the planet.
This time around, the mission is also clear: show off the studio’s entire catalogue, either in context or as background (in the crowd watching the “big game,” you’ll see characters from Scooby Doo, The Flintstones and almost-forgotten ‘60s Hanna-Barbera series like The Herculoids, Pennywise from Stephen King’s It, King Kong. There are even nods to non-Warner properties, as when Bugs takes off with Marvin the Martian’s ship and begins talking like William Shatner as Captain Kirk. (Paramount).
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
Seriously, a pop culture reference-based drinking game would be fatal.
A critic should not give a duck a bad review for quacking. So, the only proper comparison for Space Jam: A New Legacy is its predecessor. Yes, there is a story. There is an argument over who was the GOAT as a player (there’s even a self-aware line about it, “the jury’s still out”). But there’s no question that LeBron James is better at playing himself than Michael Jordan is (which we already knew from the comedy Trainwreck).
LeBron plays himself, having a “dad crisis” with a fictionalized version of his real-life family. His youngest son Dom (Cedric Joe) is a computer game genius who (perfectly understandably) refuses to follow his in his dad’s footsteps. After a demonstration of the Warner 3000, Dom falls under the spell of an artificial intelligence named Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle, who doesn’t get to play the villain often enough), and Dom is digitized.
James follows him to the digital dark side, where it appears Dom is being held captive. Al-G’s demand, put together a basketball team that will beat his own, and you get your son back.
For unclear reasons, James draws his team from the Looney Tunes gang, who’ve been scattered all over the “Server-verse” by Al-G (hence, we find, for example, Speedy Gonzales as Neo in The Matrix moving in “bullet time” and Lola Bunny, voiced by Zendaya, being inducted into the Amazons by Wonder Woman).
NBA players were a big draw in the original, with practically an all-star team in the cast, including Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and Shawn Bradley. Other people may remember Jordan. I remember Space Jam as one of Muggsy Bogues’ finest moments.
Oddly, considering its legacy, Space Jam: A New Legacy is light on pro participation. And even then, they are the bad guys, a.k.a. The Goon Squad, with the likes of Anthony Davis and the WNBA’s Diana Taurasi playing unrecognizable digitized monster versions of themselves.
Times change, and though it will probably carry the box office (hey, the theatres are open, folks!), Space Jam: A New Legacy is unlikely to leave anything like the pop culture crater of its predecessor.
All that’s left for parents is practicality. The fast pace is attention-span theatre for the young’uns, and the adult-aimed quips are entertaining for a while. The movie could have been a half-hour shorter, but you’d have to lose a few dozen Warner references.
Space Jam: A New Legacy. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Starring LeBron James, Don Cheadle and Jeff Bergman (five different voices). In theatres and available to rent at home, Friday, July 16.