Space Jam: A New Legacy, the sequel to the 1996 beloved movie ‘Space Jam’, is a reminder that Warner Bros Studios has made content that you loved in the past as well as an extremely long advertisement for Nike.
It also topped the US Box Office Charts, the highest grossing feature film in its debut weekend, making about US$30 million.
The two-hour long movie directed by Malcolm D. Lee, starring LA Lakers superstar LeBron James playing himself, is a look into what happens when you let an algorithm churn out content. Trending topics and buzzwords linked to pop-culture may get attention, but these combinations don’t make a comprehensive narrative. They only make a mix of things that people will recognize.
LeBron James was taught at an early age that he needs to focus on his talent to be able to go far, so he put childish fun aside, focused, and put in the work. We get a montage of his career and see how his focus did in fact pay off. In present day, LeBron’s younger son Dom, played by Cedric Joe, is playing a video game that he created as he sits courtside while his older brother Darius, played by Ceyair J. Wright, is casually working on his basketball skills. Darius tells Dom that he needs to tell their father that he isn’t interested in basketball, he’d much rather hone his skills in video game development which he is clearly more focused and committed to. This causes an internal struggle and tension between father and son because while Dom is focused on something, LeBron is concerned that he isn’t focused on “the right thing” and to him, that’s following in his footsteps.
Warner Bros Studios brings LeBron and Dom in to pitch the idea that an algorithm can put LeBron’s likeness into any of their vast intellectual property and understandably, LeBron is not impressed. His reaction makes said algorithm, personified by Don Cheadle playing the villain Al G. Rhythm, upset and he decides to trap Don and LeBron in the “server-verse” to have them participate in a basketball game.
We get a whole lot of Warner Bros content referenced from black-and-white movies like Casablanca to Mad Max, The Justice League and of course cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck and The Flintstones. There are so many cameos in the movie and if you watch it in the cinema, you can’t take your eyes off the screen, or you’ll miss them! If you stream the movie (available on HBO Max), you have the chance to hit pause every few seconds to blurt out “Wonder Woman!” or “Bugs is back” or “Oh no, it’s Pennywise”.
Since it’s been over two decades since the original Space Jam, there was a good level of expectation to see heavy references but that fell flat. We only got glimpses of characters associated with the original towards the end of the movie and a very special albeit unexpected cameo that was a nice surprise.
The Tune Squad vs Goons Squad game didn’t last very long, with flashy cuts, an arbitrary point system, and basically no rules. The film was fun to watch for the references but tough to sit through the painfully stiff acting by LeBron, who at one point recognizes how badly athletes are at acting. Thankfully, he’s animated for most of the movie, but even the animated version could barely act.
What may have drawn adults into watching “Space Jam: A New Legacy” may have been the need for nostalgia and to recreate the feeling of watching the original movie, but it’s zany and comical enough to make a very enjoyable children’s movie.
Have you watched it? What made you like or not like it?
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