Space Jam: A New Legacy Review

Space Jam: A New Legacy (aka Space Jam 2) is a live-action/animated sports comedy film and the stand-alone sequel to 1996's Space Jam. The film is produced by Warner Animation Group, Proximity Media, and The SpringHill Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Space Jam: A New Legacy is written by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon, and Celeste Ballard and directed by Malcolm D. Lee.

The story is Lebron and his son Dom don't exactly have much in common. Lebron is a basketball champion, while Dom would much rather follow his dream of being a video game developer. Soon both of them are transported into the Warner 3000 Server, and Dom is kidnapped by the tyrannical ruler Al-G Rhythm. Now, Lebron along with the Looney Tunes must team-up and but a stop to Al-G Rhythm, but first they must beat his team the Goon Squad in a basketball match.

Initial Reaction

At first I was hyped for this movie, but the closer and closer we got to it the less excited I felt. For 1) Our main lead Lebron James thinks we're interested more in his horrible political takes than either his basketball skills or this film. 2) The really stupid Pepe Le Pew "controversy", which got even more hilarious/worse since there's a special little cameo in the movie that definitely doesn't make Warner Bros. look idiotic and 3) I'm not really digging the whole 3-D animation they're using for the Looney Tunes. But, I'm a guy who'll give any movie a fair shake, so I went into this film hoping for the best.

Cons

One thing that's a negative for this movie is LeBron James performance. Sure, Michael Jordan's acting was alright (in my opinion) but with LeBron there's no charm to it. It almost felt there was nothing. And then there were times when he was just bad. There was this one scene when he was falling into Tune World, and he was moving his limbs in the most robotic way I've ever seen some move their arms and legs. Let's continue to talk about LeBron, well more like a topic on him. This movie spends I want to say like 15 minutes, overly praising him. There's quite literally a line from Al-G Rhythm were he says and I quote "He is more than an athlete...he is a king". I thought to myself, Jesus, did LeBron himself write this portion of the film? I gotta give the first movie credit, at least when Michael Jordan was being overly praised it was either in the opening credits or the writers making a joke about everyone kissing his ass. The other problem with Space Jam: A New Legacy is the very predictable subplot with LeBron and his son Dom. The moment Dom's like "My Dad doesn't understand me", you know exactly where the story is going to go. What also didn't work for this film were the jokes. I laughed a couple of times, but those moments were very far apart from one another. Then came the moments when they started using outdated memes, and thought it couldn't get any worse.......then Porky Pig had a rap scene, and I completely ignored every other attempt at humor. That was my breaking point folks. Then we have the movies biggest problem, and that's it was one big commercial for Warner Bros. Almost every other scene felt like a plug for something or was a quick nostalgia trip for something WB related. It got even worse, because when they have the live-action properties in the background, the actors barely look like the real actors who played those characters. For instance, we see the Burt Ward version of Robin, and even though they have the same costume, they by no means have the same built. And it got even more awful, because having Pepe Le Pew and curvy Lola Bunny is bad, but you know what is okay for the kids? Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, The Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, and Pennywise from the It movies! Those were okay, but not Pepe Le Pew and curvy Lola, those are very naughty.

Middle Ground

The mix bag for Space Jam: A New Legacy is the animation. I absolutely LOVED the 2D animation, it was very well done and actually would've loved if they had kept that style. The 3D animation is good, the problem came from the designs. This more realistic look for the 3D Looney Tunes wasn't a good idea. It just didn't work for those characters. Especially since 3D Lola's eyes felt like they were looking into my soul.

Pros

The only good thing about the movie was the special effects. They were very top notch. A matter of fact, this is really the only reason to see the movie.

My expectations for Space Jam: A New Legacy were low and yet, I was still massively disappointed. LeBron's performance was bad, the praise he was given was just ridiculous, the subplot between him and Dom was painfully predictable, the jokes suck, and the whole movie is just product placement for Warner Bros. The animation 2D wise is great, the 3D animation is bit of a mix bag. Really the only true good aspect of the entire film is the special effects.

My final rating is Bad.

Well that was a letdown. But this was sadly the way the cookie crumbled. Anyhow, come back on Monday, Jul 19th for review of Fear Street Part 3: 1666. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and just stick with the first movie.