Space Jam: A New Legacy Review

25 years ago, Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes joined forces to defeat aliens on the basketball court. After years of development hell, a sequel has finally been released with LeBron James in the main role.

LeBron James is an NBA megastar and wants his sons to follow in his footsteps. But his younger son, Dom (Cedric Joe) has talents involving computers. During a visit to the Warner Brothers lot father and son have a falling out and the pair end up trapped in Warner Brothers’ Serververse. To save his son LeBron must beat the nefarious Artificial Intelligence being AI-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) in a basketball game. LeBron searches the Serververse with Bugs Bunny to form a team of Warner Brothers’ best-known characters, but Bugs uses the search as a way to find the Looney Tunes.

The original Space Jam is a film that many people have nostalgic feelings towards even if the quality was questionable. It was a simple family film that teamed up the world’s most famous basketball player with some of the most famous cartoon characters. For fans of basketball and cartoons it was a dream come true. It was a film that didn’t need a sequel and after so long it’s surprising that it was even made.

Space Jam: A New Legacy felt more like a cynical marketing exercise for Warner Brothers. They wanted to show off all the Intelligential Properties they own, and you can stream it all on HBO Max. A notorious clip going around on Twitter was one where the Looney Tunes were in films like Austen Powers and The Matrix and had a cameo from Rick and Morty. The Looney Tunes was also in films and shows like Mad Max: Fury Road and Game of Thrones and during the game there were cameos from the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, the Nuns from The Devils, and Pennywise from IT. It led to the question, who is this film and these references aimed at? It’s certainly not children because all these films and shows were adult ordinated. Plus, all these references remind audiences they can be watching something much better.

The executives at Warner Brothers saw the success of The LEGO Movie and wanted to repeat it. The LEGO Movie looked like it was going to be nothing more than a giant toy advert and ended up being a charming film about individuality, creativity, family, and friendship. Space Jam: A New Legacy took the basics of The LEGO Movie like the father/son storyline, the world hopping, and the crossovers. However, Space Jam: A New Legacy lacks the heart and the creativity that made The LEGO Movie so special.

The other influence on Space Jam: A New Legacy was Ready Player One. Ready Player One was also a pop culture mashup set in a virtual world. Space Jam: A New Legacy had design influences from Ready Player One because the different Warner Brothers worlds planets (i.e. a Harry Potter planet and a DC planet) and the Looney Tunes had to travel in a spaceship.  This travel does justify the title.

Space Jam: A New Legacy did attempt some wider themes. As already stated, the film had a father and son storyline. LeBron needed to learn to listen to his son and let him walk his own path. The other theme involved the reason why people play basketball. As a child LeBron was told by his coach he had to give everything to become a professional. LeBron tries to instil these lessons and the Looney Tunes. LeBron had to learn the lesson that basketball is meant to be fun.

LeBron James is clearly a talented basketball player. He has won numerous awards and NBA championships. However, I do wonder if he has the same level of name recognition as Michael Jordan to international audiences. It was obvious that LeBron was not a trained actor because his performance was wooden as a mahogany table. LeBron even made a joke that it doesn’t go well for athletes who attempt to act. Even the most optimistic audience members weren’t expecting a great performance from LeBron.

Don Cheadle was the biggest name actor in the film and he was clearly having fun hamming it up as the film’s villain. He got to eat a lot of the digital scenery. Sonequa Martin-Green was the other big-name actor in the film with a major role. Her role can simply be summed up as wife and mother.

Space Jam: A New Legacy was a product, not a film. It was designed to sell a streaming service to Americans, Warner Brothers properties to everyone else, and enhance LeBron James’ brand. It was a film made for the worst reasons.