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.
There’s no denying that the movie is visually exciting, inviting comparisons to Warner Bros.’ similarly flashy Ready Player One. The movie seamlessly transitions through different styles, from Looney Tunes to Bruce Timm to classic Ben Day comic book styles, while also mixing in live-action modern and Old Hollywood film aesthetics. The most impressive feat of the sequel is now incorporating video game design as a form of entertainment, and the CGI of the digital/video game space is impressive. The Goon Squad is a team of elemental monster/human hybrids, favoring to show more physical resemblance to the pro-basketball players over the extended cameos in the 1996 movie. The worlds and characters also move smoothly within these dimensions, with only a few of the Looney Tuners looking a bit off. (Here’s looking at you, Bugs.) The background live-action characters we see at the game, however, are distracting and underwhelming. It might have been better just to digitally insert actual movie characters, instead of seeing unsettling Halloween costume versions of Pennywise cheering alongside White Walkers and Droogs.
And yet, for all the spectacle, our Looney Tunes characters are sidelined and wasted in this sequel. Even Zendaya’s buzzy casting as Lola Bunny gets lost when you have dragons and the exciting Goon Squad filling every second in the Serververse. As Warner Bros. faces tougher competition than it used to -- with Disney and Pixar’s continuous output, the rise of adult-oriented animation, and anime becoming more accessible and popular in the U.S. -- it feels more like a passing of the torch. And that’s a little odd, considering the Looney Tunes brand has been revived on HBO Max with new episodes and if anything, this should serve as a revival of the franchise for new audiences, or even a reminder for old fans.
