Space Jam

You couldn’t ask for more of a commercial movie than with the 1996 film crossover sensation, Space Jam. Just spelling out the plot of ‘’The Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan challenging Aliens to a basketball game’’ is proof enough of this, as it alone feels like nothing but an excuse to sell merchandising and bank on the widespread popularity of both IP’s. To the film’s credit, it quickly became a massive hit when it came out, with people flipping out over how much they loved it. To no one’s surprise, it wasn’t popular among critics, but audiences ate every little manipulative bit of it up to the point that it managed to gross over $230 million worldwide at the box office and remained in the public eye for long enough that a sequel is in plans to be made with LeBron James in 2021. So, what was that magic secret that it used to win fans over with such obvious commercial junk food? After a highly successful basketball career, famed Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan (played by himself) decides to move over to baseball after the death of his father, even though he has very little talent in the sport. Despite things seemingly being normal, he is unwittingly thrown back into the court when the Looney Tunes themselves bring him into their world and tell him that they need his help. It turns out that they are being hunted down by aliens who wish to take them back to their intergalactic theme park, Moron Mountain, where they would become star attractions. Only agreeing to it if they beat them at basketball (which is the only logical response to give in a movie like this), they quickly discover that the aliens have sucked the talent out of other basketball players, and now have the potential to wipe them clean off the field. Jordan agrees to help, and he and the classic Looney gang prepare for the game to determine whether or not their choice of residence will have to be permanently changed. If any non-nostalgic adult would happen to watch this movie, they would quite clearly say it’s bad as it is beyond obvious that this film doesn’t work on any natural level. Being more of a movie that is favoured by those grew up with it as they wouldn’t care at all and be sucked in by the film’s tone, plot, hi-jinks and very idea, it is at least important to understand why this film managed to grab people for so many years, and even in spite of its terrible qualities, is there any true bright spots underneath it all.

On an obvious note, the movie’s concept literally started off as a commercial, as Bugs Bunny would be attached to two commercials with Michael Jordan advertising Nike products in 1992 and 1993. While neither commercial was anything phenomenal or used either Bugs Bunny or Jordan in their best light, it had its own form of dated charm to it, which allowed the general public the chance to see the Looney Tunes back in modern day after a long time away as well as the potential that could come from having both of them together. This sparked Warner Brothers’ interest, and after discussing ideas with a Nike executive and director Ivan Reitman, decided to create a movie centred around these two legends, and even though the possibility for legitimate quality coming out of this was vastly limited, these two big-name celebrities having a basketball match with aliens, could result in a ”guilty pleasure” kind of experience if handled correctly. It has a framework that wouldn’t seem to out-there for kids and could be stupid-fun for the adults, it would just need to understand what it’s doing and how to portray it. The film can’t escape the fact that it is a commercial, acting as one for its own characters as well as several other shoved-in product placements that don’t even try to hide how obvious they’re being. The story is as paper-thin as it was originally conceived to be, and it doesn’t pretend like it has much to offer outside of the mere visual of what its presenting, so what you see is what you get and not a lot else afterwards. You’ve seen these kind of sports stories done to death anyway, so it can’t even feel fresh in its dated existence, there’s nothing that surprising to witness due to how safely everything is played, and the worst offense the really kills the whole movie, it just isn’t that funny. The writing by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod just doesn’t get the strengths of either property, and results in lines that are pathetically unfunny, gags that feels soulless, situations that are lifeless, and a tone that doesn’t in any way feel appropriate for the brand of the Looney Tunes. With all that said, the film is slightly fascinating in how much of a time capsule it is of the era, with everything down from the look, the tone of voice, the choice of actors, the visual style, the soundtrack, to even the premise screaming of that era loudly and proudly. Despite how obvious of a cash-grab it is, it doesn’t feel too cynical in nature and more harmlessly ignorant, so at least it doesn’t feel like it’s entirely talking down to its audience and rather just pandering to their childish wants and needs

Both the Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan are so iconic in pop culture that they didn’t need any form of introduction when getting into the film, which is largely beneficial to them as it means they didn’t need to waste time on traditional film staples and could instead jump right into the madness. While these two properties feel like complete opposites, they are also two larger popular icons who did prove successful together in advertising, so logically the next step onto the big screen shouldn’t have resulted in anything that drastically different. With that said, the results are fairly basic all the things considered and (to no one’s real surprise) doesn’t really result in anything that dramatically interesting or funny (at least not anything that could last a feature length running time). To be fair, the fact that they don’t fit together is almost the point as since the situation is so strange, that it would just kind of mesh together into a bizarre experience, but the film isn’t weird or unique so it can’t play off that, and as to be expected, typical film issues get in the way and really slow things down. Neither are written as very interesting in this movie, despite both feeling like they could. Despite Michael Jordan apparently having a pretty interesting life and had tried to present his story in a more dramatic and adult manner, he’s not allowed to be in this film because any sense of real-world problems or issues would destroy the mythical image he created for himself. He’s also not a very good actor but his general nice-guy demeanour kind of makes it tolerable to the point where he’s not unlikable, despite how bland he is. The Looney Tunes are another thing entirely, as while most of the voice actors like Billy West, Dee Bradley Baker, June Foray, Maurice LaMarche, Bill Farmer and Bob Bergan are still really good as these famous characters, the movie doesn’t really use them as effectively as they could be used. They aren’t very funny, they don’t work off each other very well, any new additions like the character of Lola (voiced by Kath Soucie) are pathetically handled, and it doesn’t really feel like the film cares about representing them well, but instead wants to prop up their faces in a way that can be marketable first. Celebrity appearances like Bill Murray, Wayne Knight and Danny DeVito are again totally fine for what they are, but they clearly aren’t happy to be there and don’t bring any good material to the movie.

For a hybrid movie that mixes animation and live action, it makes sense that it would be a prominent quality given the nature of the idea, but it thankfully had a decent amount of effort put into it as it actually works together pretty well. Given that this was around the time of other movies that blended the two styles together like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it would be something other studios would want to experiment with, and while it’s hard to say that they always look like they occupy the same space, it does look pretty colourful and expressive. Since the Looney Tunes actually hadn’t been shown on screen for while at the time of the film’s release, the characters have probably never looked better than they have in this movie. The animation on them is super top-notch and blends very nicely into live action without it feeling too out-of-place especially considering the stuff they do in this movie in regard to goofy antics. Some of the designs on the other characters can be a little bland in some areas and overly detailed in other parts (the amount of times Lola is sexualised in this film is both disturbing and not surprising at all, it’s a little sad), but most of the time spent on the court at least offers some nice visuals, even if it doesn’t provide anything in the form of laughter.  Even the soundtrack for the movie is surprisingly pretty good, and even though it is all music of the times that do feel dated, the choices they pick are well chosen and match the vibe of the film nicely.

Space Jam is just pure 90s cheese and it feels comfortable being that. It’s a product that could really only exist in that time period and even with the sequel coming out, it will most likely have a very 90s vibe to it again just with more modern components.  After all the hype around the film and after all the back and forth of people either loving or hating this movie, it actually is quite easy to see both sides. The movie is clearly not a good movie by any stretch of the word; the plot is a joke, the characters have no set-up or progression, the writing is never funny and its only excuse for existing is solely based off the popularity of a commercial. But on the other hand, the movie doesn’t feel nearly as annoying and degrading as it could have been, the premise is stupid but fun, the animation is actually great, the music is pretty enjoyably dated, and the corporate sell-out angle doesn’t feel quite as painful as it should have. For people who grew up with it or people who just want to not think for a movie, it will honestly entertain you fine, but it clearly doesn’t work as a real movie. Check it out for yourself and see if this movie is a slam dunk or a foul.