Space Jam
1996
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- PG2021 · Children · 1h 55m
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Jul 16, 2021 · Despite LeBron James' best efforts to make a winning team out of the Tune Squad, Space Jam: A New Legacy trades the zany, meta humor of its predecessor for a shameless, tired exercise in...
- (229)
- Malcolm D. Lee
- PG
- Kids & Family, Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
Jul 14, 2021 · As in the 1996 "Space Jam" starring Michael Jordan, "A New Legacy" is the story of a real-life basketball superstar transported into a cartoon world for a high-stakes game.
Space Jam: A New Legacy brings a film meant to be enjoyed by everyone whether you are 12-years-old, a millennial inundated in pop culture, or from an older generation who grew up on WB...
- Not quite a slam dunk, but still a lot of fun.
- HBO Max Spotlight: July 2021
- Which Looney Tunes character would you pick for your basketball team?
- Verdict
By Francesca Rivera
Updated: Jul 16, 2021 7:24 pm
Posted: Jul 14, 2021 7:00 pm
Space Jam: A New Legacy debuts on Friday, July 16, in theaters and on HBO Max.
It’s impossible to watch Space Jam: A New Legacy without comparing it to the original 1996 Space Jam starring Michael Jordan. The sequel, which features LeBron James as its basketball star this time, makes big strides in updating the premise for 2021, but ultimately acts as a calling card for Warner Bros. properties the way Ralph Wrecks the Internet was for Disney. There’s still, however, a surprising amount of heart in this story, reminding audiences to stay true to yourself, but to keep things fun as well.
The movie takes on the same beats of the original film: an all-star basketball star is trapped in a universe where he plays a high-stakes basketball game against a team composed of, by some measure, pro-basketball players. This time, however, the stakes are more personal. The movie’s LeBron James is a multi-championship winning, social media-influencing entrepreneur/basketball player who only wants his sons to focus on basketball. His son Dominic has greater passions for video game development and feels misunderstood that his dad won’t let him be himself.
After LeBron rejects what is essentially a deep-fake pitch from Warner Bros.’ AI program, Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), LeBron and Dom are kidnapped by the scorned Al-G and trapped in the studio’s Serververse. LeBron is challenged to a basketball game where winning means saving his son AND his likeness. However, the game of “basketball” Al-G challenges LeBron to is based on the version from Dom’s video game, where participants play with style and fun rather than with the rigid fundamentals of the sport. It’s a lesson LeBron struggles to learn throughout the film, which is more than enough time for Warner Bros. to showcase a huge chunk of its catalog of movies and TV shows.
The original Space Jam placed the weight of the movie on Michael Jordan’s back, but in this more fleshed-out (pun intended) sequel, LeBron also has an engaging supporting cast of characters that evens out LeBron’s more grounded performance. So while LeBron’s performance in Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck garnered him praise and confidence in leading the Space Jam sequel, it’s harder to see his charisma past a string of lines that are nothing more than stern, motivational mantras. LeBron’s fictionalized version is just a 2D avatar of himself, ironically becoming the very thing Al-G Rhythm wants. However, when the script allows James to lean into being Looney or playing the compassionate father, he is the ultimate showman athlete.
LeBron has an engaging supporting cast of characters.
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Removing himself from his superhero armor, Don Cheadle is an unhinged villain as the all-powerful king of the Serververse. Channeling his unnerving spoof performance as Captain Planet, Cheadle’s Al-G pits son against father with a smile on his face, manipulating their relationship all for his own gain by hacking into LeBron’s social media feeds. Al-G’s ease of control of technology outside of the Serververse is questionable, but also serves as a reminder of the larger surveillance state we actually live in.
The emotional core of the film is Cedric Joe’s Dom, who has defeat and hope written on his face as he sorts through this complicated relationship with his father. He avoids tropes of being either a jock or a tech fanatic by being both; he could be great at basketball, but his face lights up when he talks about his true passions in tech. It’s surprising, and a little hard to believe at times, that LeBron wouldn’t encourage his son to be the best in anything he wanted to do.
Space Jam: A New Legacy gets a modern update to one of nostalgia’s largest strongholds. LeBron James’ performance is self-deprecating and earnest, if not a bit uneven, but excels when it matters the most, especially against Don Cheadle’s chaotic villain and Cedric Joe’s vulnerable Dom. The story and characters navigate a whole new digital world, fi...
Jul 16, 2021 · Twenty-five years ago, the movie Space Jam paired Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. Now, Space Jam: A New Legacy brings together Bugs Bunny and LeBron James. It's now in theaters and...
Jul 14, 2021 · Space Jam: A New Legacy Rated PG for saltier-than-usual cartoon humor. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. In theaters and on HBO Max.
For a very basic overview, Space Jam: A New Legacy sees Warner Brother's sentient artificial intelligence Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle) hatch a plan inside the "server-verse" to finally get the recognition he feels he deserves. Central to that mission?
