SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY (2021)

SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY (2021)

Tagline: They're all Tuned up for a rematch.

(Action, Adventure, Comedy) [PG]

What in "The Matrix" hell?

So in this one Lebron James is (playing himself) and is trying to teach his son the fundamentals of basketball. He is basing this teaching technique on his coaching when he was younger. Only his son Dom James (played by Cedric Joe) isn’t really as into it as Lebron would like him to be. This causes friction between the two which is ceased upon by a crazy A.I. that feels like its ideas are not getting the respect they deserve. The A.I. (played by Don Cheadle most famous for being War Machine in the MCU*), ends up sucking Lebron James into a toon world populated by only Bugs Bunny and tasks him with finding a basketball team that can defeat a team the A.I. and Dom will be putting together. It doesn’t take long before things get a little…looney. 

First off if you saw any of the previews you pretty much saw everything worth watching this movie for. It has just a TON of WB and DC properties with everything from SCOOBY-DOO! to WONDER WOMAN. It’s so intense that unfortunately the majority of the running time of this movie just feels like a poorly written canned cereal commercial. Bugs Bunny is probably the most likable character and I think young kids will understand where Dom James is coming from, but Lebron himself really isn’t likable or even really any fun to watch. His efforts end up taking a back seat until he eventually has a predictable epiphany. The rest of the toons aside from maybe Granny are pretty great. I thought Grannies depiction was basically stupid. 

Where this movie is successful is in the visuals. This damn movie is incredible to watch in certain aspects and will probably require multiple viewings just to catch all the freakin detail they crammed into this thing. I also loved that in spite of getting rid of  Pepé Le Pew who is deemed by some as too “rapey” for today’s world, this movie doesn’t seem to bother to try and be PC in any other way that matters. This movie is teeming with nostalgia and I am a huge Marvin The Martian fan, so I loved his scenes. There was some crying about the taming of the sexiness of Lola The Rabbit, but I think that complaint is bizarre. 

I can see where kids will like this more than I did, but I watch a lot of stuff that falls in the “for kids” category and this movie just felt disingenuous and static in both the story and the overall message. The movie also sadly throws away a lot of the talent they brought in for the film. Sonequa Martin-Green best known as Sasha from The Walking Dead maybe gets 4 minutes of screen time, Steven Yeun (also from The Walking Dead is also underused. 

Overall I was disappointed with this movie especially after some cool previews had me sucked in. I wish I had better things to say, but sometimes spectacle is just spectacle and the balance of humor and emotion was pretty much flat. I don’t want to blame Lebron James for this one just missing the mark in so many ways, but I would much rather have seen someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lead role. It’s sad that he turned it down. I think Giannis would have come across as far more genuine, and we may have gotten less egocentric nonsense with more humor in the script. This one is a 3 out of 7 that I have zero desire to watch again. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS. AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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