Much like LeBron James faces constant comparisons to Michael Jordan on the basketball court, the same was inevitable for his latest film project, Space Jam: A New Legacy, which sees James take on the same sort of role that Jordan did in A New Legacy’s predecessor, Space Jam, 25 years ago. It’d be easy to just rip into this movie, as it is fairly hollow when it comes to characters or actual plot, so very little resonates once the film is done; however, once Bugs and the gang get out on the basketball court it does get entertaining enough to make a viewing worthwhile.
That obviously doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement, and it’s not one. Space Jam: A New Legacy is passable entertainment, which is unfortunate because there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been better, or they couldn’t have come up with a fresh live-action Looney Tune adventure to be had, but I’m sure the original Space Jam’s popularity made this one seem like it’d be a slam dunk. But one of the main issues with the movie is just how empty it feels while trying to tell a father and son bonding story.
Space Jam: A New Legacy centers around the relationship of James, who plays himself, and his son Dom (played by Cedric Joe.) Ever since he was a kid James was pushed to put all his focus into basketball if he wanted to make it, and now arguably the most successful NBA player ever, James looks to pass that same philosophy onto his kids. The problem is that Dom doesn’t want to play basketball, he wants to be a video game designer and he’s already created his own version of a basketball video game called Dom Ball. James can’t seem to wrap his head around this, and while it’s partially done for comedic purposes as though James can’t understand why anyone would want to talk about anything other than basketball, it makes for a fairly painful opening twenty minutes to simply set up that James needs to learn the lesson that basketball can sometimes just be fun and not a job, and that his kids should be able to choose their own path.
I won’t knock James for his acting, as he’s not an actor and it’s not his fault that a lot of his lines are delivered in a wooden fashion. He actually does an okay job, but his lack of acting chops is especially apparent in the film’s first act. Space Jam: A New Legacy has a whopping one hour and fifty-five minute runtime, which is just far too long for a movie like this. The set-up is a lot more convoluted than the original and it may turn off viewers before things get remotely entertaining when the Looney Tunes arrive on the scene with how long it drags out.
The antagonist of the film is Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), who is a self-aware algorithm that helps Warner Bros. decide what movies will be successful, and what actors they should sign to big contracts. Being self-aware, Al-G Rhythm wants recognition for all he’s done for Warner Bros. since the creation of the software he’s trapped inside, Warner 3000. His next big idea is to make James a star, and to basically copy his appearance into their system so that they can put him into any franchise they desire. At the meeting with WB James says the idea is the worst he’s ever heard, which causes the Warner execs to question their algorithm. Infuriated by James’ slight, Al-G Rhythm uses his ability to control…everything inside Warner Studio and he lures James and Dom to a server room in the basement where the pair are sucked into the server.
The thing is, Cheadle is fantastic as Rhythm! He’s one of the best things about A New Legacy and he makes the movie work, despite its bloated and illogical premise. Once Al-G Rhythm has James and Dom inside the server he separates them, telling James that in order to get his son back he has to beat him in a game of basketball. Dom doesn’t know he’s been kidnapped, as Al-G is grooming him, hyping him up and prepping him to be the captain of his Goon Squad. Al-G gives LeBron 24 hours to create a team, then fires him down to the reject world of all the Warner worlds, Tune Town. The thing is, the world seems to be completely deserted until Bugs Bunny shows up and wants to do a bunch of wacky things with James because he’s been alone so long.
You see, Al-G tempted all the Tunes to leave Tune World and go out and prove to themselves that they’re destined for more than simply being Looney. Everyone but Bugs left, and he’s miserable. Needless to say it doesn’t take much coaxing by James to get Bugs on board, and after they steal Marvin the Marian’s ship they’re off to search the Serververse (filled with such places as Harry Potter World, Game of Thrones World, DC World,) to find the rest of the Tunes. Well, that’s Bugs’ plan, as LeBron has dreams of recruiting the likes of Superman and King Kong.
There’s just a lot going on here, as that’s still roughly the first act and Al-G’s motivations just seem weak, as if his Goon Squad wins then LeBron and Dom have to stay in the Serververse with him forever. It’s just a lot of work to figure out a way to get LeBron and the Looney Tunes to play a game of basketball against this generations Goon Squad without simply telling the same story as the previous film. I give the movie credit for not just going the exact same route, but it’s just takes so long to get to Tune World and that’s the only reason people are tooning (sorry) in to begin with.
Once we get past the drawn out setup things do get a bit more enjoyable, but it still doesn’t hit the same endearing notes of the original. Seeing the Tunes in some of the other Warner worlds (albeit incredibly briefly) is fun, and the random WB IP cameos are good for a chuckle the first time around; but the real star is the film’s animation and visual effects, which are all top notch. The basketball game is fantastic, built to look like the more computerized court that Dom created for Dom Ball. There are loads of crazy moves and maneuvers characters make to score points, and since this is based off of Dom’s more fun idea of basketball, the point system gets crazy really fast.
I think if they’d found a way to tighten up the first act and make the entire premise less convoluted allowing them to get into Looney Tune action sooner than it may have helped things out. To put it into perspective some more when comparing it to its predecessor, the first Space Jam comes in at a lean 88-minutes, so to have this one reach 115-minutes but do so much less with that time says something. As it stands, the all style and very little substance Space Jam: A New Legacy works well enough as rainy Sunday afternoon viewing but th-th-th-that’s all, folks!
4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
With the film’s animation and visual effects being the strongest selling point for the film I can happily report that the movie looks fantastic both in 4K and on Blu-ray.
Obviously of the two the 4K is where the film truly shines, as it’s bright, vibrant and extremely colourful, and with so much of the story taking place inside a server, where the rules are limitless, the team behind Space Jam: A New Legacy made sure to take advantage. The animated Tunes, who are later turned into CGI versions of themselves, look great at all times, and the special effects are top notch across the board. With all that said, the Blu-ray also looks wonderful, so if you’ve yet to upgrade you’ll still be taken care of in this visually Looney world.
On the audio side of things we’ve also got lots to be happy about, with the soundtrack rocking nicely alongside the constant sound effects and neither muffle out the dialogue, so it’s nothing but net here too for your surround sound systems or sound bars at home!
Special Features:
The special features are broken up into four quarters (featurettes) and average out at around 8-minutes each.
First Quarter: Game On – First up we see the cast and crew talking about bringing the film to life, the desire to make another Space Jam film, and what got everyone so excited about it. Like the film it’s more fluff than anything, but those who want a bit of insight into the creative minds behind the film on the most basic level (basically they don’t delve into anything deep whatsoever, and it’s all surface level talk) should be satisfied.
Second Quarter: Teamwork – Here we’ve got the same cast and crew talking about working on the film, working with LeBron, Don Cheadle’s work as Al-G, and more. While it’s not the same as the first featurette, it has the same fluffy tone where everyone is just happy to be here and give a little look into how things got done.
Third Quarter: Out of This World – This featurette focuses on all the cameos by various Warner Bros. characters from across all their IPs appeared in the film, and how they got that to happen. We skim through the make-up, costumes and placement of characters, but again don’t get too deep into why some characters were chosen or given center stage (such as the child murdering Pennywise being right beside the Goon Squad bench instead of a tamer WB villain,) but it gives you a brief look at it all.
Fourth Quarter: The Looniest – Lastly we’ve got the film’s score and soundtrack covered, again in very quick, fluff-driven fashion. There’s nothing wrong with this style, but it would’ve been nice to have gotten one feature that really looked into the visual effects side of things instead of just touching on everything briefly and moving on.
Deleted Scenes – There are also some deleted scenes here for those who enjoy those.
Disclaimer: A review copy of this Blu-ray was sent to me to cover in honest and truthful fashion.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents Space Jam: A New Legacy. Directed by: Malcom D. Lee. Written by: Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon, Celeste Ballard. Starring: LeBron James, Don Cheadle, Cedric Joe, Sonequa Martin-Green, Khris Davis, Zendaya, Jeff Bergman, Gabriel Iglesias, Eric Bauza. Running time: 115 Minutes. Rating: G. Released on 4K Blu-ray: Oct. 5, 2021.
