Anthony's Film Review - Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

This remake of Space Jam is better than the original, exceeding my expectations...

For some movies, the trailer makes you think it's gonna be cool once you see it, only to find that the movie is not so great after all. Other movies have trailers that make you think the movie is mediocre once you see it, only to find that it's better than you initially assume. Space Jam: A New Legacy falls into the latter category. Although the trailers looked visually stunning, I had a few questions. One, what exactly are the stakes with a basketball game between one team with LeBron James and Looney Tunes characters versus another team of powerful goons? Two, Don Cheadle plays the villain, but why exactly is he evil? Three, what does the villain have in store? And four, is the basketball game mainly a rehash of the one in the original Space Jam movie?

Once I saw the movie, I smiled. I was pleased to see that the written story makes sense all the way through, and I liked the answers to my questions. Don Cheadle plays a powerful, artificially intelligent algorithm named Al G. Rhythm, who resides in the servers of Warner Bros., a.k.a. Warner Bros. ServerVerse, and is the creative mind responsible for much of the film and TV studio's produced content. But he is bitter, because the world doesn't know about him. Instead, much of the world reveres basketball superstar LeBron James, and Rhythm envies him. If he could get James to work with him, he could become all-powerful as well as famous.

Enter LeBron James and his 12-year-old son Dominic (played by Cedric Joe). The two get sucked into the Warner Bros. ServerVerse thanks to Rhythm luring them into his world. Now Rhythm has Dominic captive, and LeBron is forced to play a basketball game against Rhythm. If LeBron wins, he and his son can go free. But if he loses, he will be forever held prisoner in the WB ServerVerse, to do Rhythm's bidding, and satisfy the algorithm's craving for power. LeBron has 24 hours to put together a basketball team before the high stakes game commences.

Theoretically, LeBron could get any Warner Bros. movie character to be part of his team. But due to chance, he winds up in the world of Looney Tunes and first meets Bugs Bunny, who is the only character living in the Looney Tunes world. All other Looney Tunes characters are elsewhere in the WB ServerVerse, crossed over into other movies. I'll let you discover which ones, but I'll point out one unusual yet still amusing example: Wile E. Coyote in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Now, about the basketball game itself. It's not a total rehash of the basketball game in 1996's Space Jam with Michael Jordan. Yes, this new game has no rules and is rigged in favor of the tremendously strong opposing team, the Goon Squad, and it looks like the Tune Squad has no hope. But it only looks that way if you play by the strict conventional rules of basketball. If the way to win is to be creative with the anything-goes concept, the Looney Tunes might actually be the best team for the job. Other things that make LeBron's Space Jam game different from MJ's Space Jam game are the heavy dose of CGI graphics and the video game-like nature of it all. Oh, and the game score that goes off the chart.

I practically have laid out the whole plot of the movie, but I still left out certain elements of the story because they are related to key moments in the story. This is one of those movies where the plot moves along nicely, the new developments that occur make sense based on certain prior moments, and you end up nodding in approval because the story makes sense even underneath the wackiness and silliness. For me, this is the movie's strong point. Another reason I liked this movie is the humor. There are plenty of jokes that generate small laughs or at least big smiles. The comedy and the cleverness of the story work together to keep the audience amused.

Lastly, I loved how the 2021 Space Jam expands the formula of the 1996 Space Jam. Instead of focusing on just a basketball legend and Looney Tunes, this one mixes a basketball legend, Looney Tunes, and the entire Warner Bros. library. On the surface, these three things do not and should not mix. But with creativity, anything can be blended together if done right. It also provides an opportunity for the Looney Tunes to showcase more modern takes of their familiar old-style humor. Case in point: Porky Pig rapping. Yeah, no kidding. For me, it may be weird at first, but I did find it funny and appreciated the attempt to push the envelope with cartoon humor in contemporary times. The Looney Tunes do sometimes seem like secondary to the WB film references, but they weren't ultimately forgotten. They and LeBron still make a good team.

I went into this movie with low expectations because of many negative reviews already written about it, according to Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic. Well, I guess I'm part of the minority when I say that Space Jam: A New Legacy is a fun and comical ride. I especially enjoyed it because I already appreciate LeBron James, Looney Tunes, and Warner Bros. by themselves. Now that I've seen them in combination for almost two hours, I might like them all more now. As this film proves, sometimes you have to go a little crazy with mixing things that normally don't mix, because you never know if something cool could come out of it.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Space Jam: A New Legacy, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my review of Space Jam.