Space Jam: A New Legacy (Review) - What's up, doc?
Updated: Apr 26, 2023
As we did with The Matrix, today we will talk about a film that brings back to the screen characters that evoke in less young humans (like my dad) nostalgia for a time when everything was simpler! Sorry, I got a little distracted ... We all saw the first Space Jam, with Michael Jordan engaged in a weird basketball match between his team (The Looney Tunes) and the very bad Monstars. Anyone who saw the film in the 1990s knows that it was a groundbreaking film, combining real-life actors with cartoons for the first time. Honestly, it was a film that, although it had some flaws, entered the history of contemporary cinema by right. So what is "Space Jam: A New Legacy" similar to "Space Jam"? The Looney Toons ... Nothing else. But before starting, you can watch the movie trailer here:
LeBron James,Lebron James who plays himself. His origins are shown and how, in order to achieve success in his field, he had to give up any entertainment during his growth (specific allusion to video games when he throws his GameBoy in the trash).
LeBron JamesLebron James has become the coolest of all, he has a giant house with a basketball court that throws a basketball in your face when you say "BALL!".
But he lacks one thing: a peaceful relationship with his son Dom (played by Cedric Joe), who would like to become a video game programmer but who is pushed by his father to improve as a basketball player.
The story begins when LeBron James and son Dom visit the Warner Bros.
Al-G Rhythm (played by Don Cheadle), a sentient artificial intelligence programmed by Warner, has a job offer for Lebron, which is however rejected by the latter (I do not remember the proposal itself, but I remember that it was very forgettable).
Dom, however, unlike his father, appreciates the idea of Al-G-Rhythm and for this reason the latter kidnaps both and imprisons them in the Warner universe, for a forgettable reason like the previous proposal ... Do you realize that you are the villain of the film and therefore must be the villain? I do not know...
Dom stays with Al-G Rhythm while Lebron is sent to the Warner "outcasts": the Looney Toons!
Here begins the best part of the movie! We see a Lebron in classic 2D animation interacting with Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Duffy Duck, Tweety and all the other Toons!
The graphics are fantastic with a modern design, but that refers a lot to the original designs and with really well done animations. Here, unlike the original where it is the Looney Toons who need Michael Jordan, it is Lebron who needs the Looney Toons to form the team that will play the basketball game against Al-G-Rhythm (Why he has to play a basketball game ? Dunno, I forgot that too).
And then unfortunately comes the real game. Lebron becomes himself again, and the Toons go from 2D to 3D. In this part, I wasn't sure what I was looking at on the screen for even a second. Very confusing action with hundreds and hundreds of characters from the Warner universe crowding the scene and disturbing the flow of the film.
I have to tell the truth, here the film totally lost me ... It was like seeing a group of distracted cosplayers staring into space.
The game itself is ok ... Nothing exceptional in terms of action with forgettable villains (toh, what a surprise) and with a very predictable ending.
But is this movie really as bad as I'm describing it? Yup.
Just kidding. The film is certainly not hideous, but it is certainly not a good tribute to its predecessor.
Among the things that I liked certainly there is the evolution of the relationship between Lebron and Dom, some might define it banal and with a taste of history already seen, but I think that a relationship between father and son that improves thanks to adversity is always one thing to tell. Plus, as I've already written, the 2D animated part is extremely well done and funny
Unfortunately, that's all the rest that I didn't like ... Starting from a villain with no clear motive to the total confusion that is on the screen during the second half of the film.
Having said that, I wanted to ask you ... Does anyone have Lola's number by chance ??? I ask for a friend !!
In my household rabbit opinion, Space Jam: A New Legacy deserves 2 out of 5 carrots!
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