Watch the trailer
Written by: Juel Taylor & Tony Rettenmaier & Keenan Coogler & Terence Nance and Jesse Gordon and Celeste Ballard (screenplay by), Juel Taylor & Tony Rettenmaier & Keenan Coogler & Terence Nance (story by), Timothy Harris, Steve Rudnick, Herschel Weingrod, Leo Benvenuti (based on "Space Jam" written by)
Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee
Starring: LeBron James, Don Cheadle, Cedri Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Wood Harris, Sue Bird, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Diana Taurasi, Sarah Silverman, Steven Yeun
Rated: PG
Plot
A rogue artificial intelligence kidnaps the son of famed basketball player LeBron James, who then has to work with Bugs Bunny to win a basketball game.
Verdict
Other than Don Cheadle chewing the scenery this isn't as much fun as I expected. It lends itself to being a commercial with so many cameos from other Warner Brother properties that don't have a reason to appear. The message this wants to impart is clear from the second scene which seems to be secondary to the movie as advertisement. Even the big game lacks excitement.
Skip it.
Review
This falls into the Ready Player One gimmick where this is a giant commercial for Warner Brothers properties. The inclusion of many of these make little sense other than being one long commercial. I have to imagine one of the reasons The Matrix is mentioned so often is that the fourth movie will release this winter.
The foundations for the movie aren't bad. A rogue computer program, Al G. (Don Cheadle), wants to harness Lebron James's star power to further his/it's career. It stretches logic, but this is a movie where cartoons and humans play basketball together. Lebron wants his son to play basketball, but don't see his son's true passion. It's going to take some kind of cosmic event to open his eyes. Al G. recruits Lebron's son, providing a father figure that seems to care. Al G. plans to use the son's basketball inspired game to beat Lebron.
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| Lebron James plays himself. |
Cheadle does such a great job just chewing the scenery as he slowly reveals his true manner. Lebron never quit felt believable. Having the plot revolve around his kid makes it even more difficult as I just never bought his emotions as a parent being genuine or even logical. While Lebron plays himself, his family in the movie are actors.
For some reason Lebron and Bugs can only recruit Looney Tunes characters, despite all the potential talent in other movie-centric worlds in the WB server. I assume it's an excuse for Bugs to find his friends who are hiding in various movies, like The Matrix. I get that, but why not add good players too?
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| Don Cheadle plays Al G. Rhythm. |
The most fascinating aspect of this is Al G. Rhythm, algorithm, stating if you have a camera he can see you and if you have a mic he can hear you. That's the real catch in this movie. Companies are always collecting data and trying to tailor an experience to what people already like. That's the reason we have this movie. Lebron is an extremely popular athlete with a broad reach, and the original Space Jam is beloved. The studio took few risks by creating nothing new or creative. It's repackaging nostalgia while acting as a commercial.
This is a shadow of the original. The entire premise is a bit off. Instead of saving the world, this is trying to save Lebron's son, but felt like Lebron was just trying to win a game. The game is basketball with a twist. The Looney Toons team feels destined to fail, facing insurmountable obstacles. That is until they don't. There's no tension as the Toons fall behind so quickly. Then they come back even quicker. The Lebron and son plot line plays out as expected. The most fun aspect of the game was trying to see all the WB characters in the attendance at the game, but I'm pretty sure the movie wanted me to care about the game. During half time the Toons try to recruit a ringer, and that's a very funny bit. I wish the movie put more time into having fun.
If I didn't have the 1996 version as a comparison maybe I wouldn't be as harsh on this one. It's been a long time since I've seen the original. The Toons hiding out in other movies wouldn't feel like an intrusion if that was the only occurrence of it. This movie needs to take a few queues from other sports movies to make the final game intriguing. I don't like invoking tropes, but it would be an upgrade here.
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