Possible spoilers ahead!
25 years after the original “Space Jam,” Warner Bros. relaunches the series with “Space Jam: A New Legacy” starring NBA superstar LeBron James. The plot follows James as he struggles to connect with his youngest son Dom (Cedric Joe), who would rather design video games than follow in his dad’s footsteps. In an attempt to bond with his son, LeBron brings him to a Warner Bros. pitch meeting for something called Warner 3000. The idea is conceived by WB’s algorithm Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) and would see LeBron become the star of every Warner movie.
LeBron rejects the concept, angering Al-G, and when LeBron and Dom attempt to leave the WB lot, Al-G traps the two inside the Warner ServerVerse. He challenges LeBron to a basketball game where if Lebron wins, he and his son go free. But if Al-G’s side comes to put on top, Lebron and dom have to stay in the server verse forever. LeBron has to put a team together quickly, and he recruits Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang to help him get his son back.
I guess the best way, to sum up, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is that the movie tries to be a little bit of everything: a showcase for LeBron James, a re-introduction of the Looney Tunes characters, and a tale about how we should focus on the more important things in life. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t execute any of them well enough, and instead A New Legacy serves as nothing more than a two-hour-long Warner Bros. infomercial to let people know all of the cool properties they own.
The relationship between LeBron and Dom is supposed to serve as A New Legacy’s emotional anchor. But from the first moment we see LeBron interact with Dom, I was rooting for the kid. The LeBron we see in these scenes is a horrible parent. Not only does he constantly compare Dom to his older brother, but he also puts down the things Dom cares about. Based on this alone, it was not a surprise when Dom forms a bond with Al-G and turns his back on his father. Now some of this has to be the fault of the script, but I’m surprised no one attached to the movie thought it made LeBron James look like a dirtbag instead of the sympathetic dad he should be.
However, where “Space Jam: A New Legacy” lost me for good was in the pitch meeting scene. After LeBron is shown clips of himself in movies like “Batman” and tv shows like “Game of Thrones,” he turns to the Warner executives and literally says adding to all these properties “is a terrible idea.” Keep in mind that this scene takes place15 or so minutes into a movie that is all about LeBron James interacting with every Warner Bros. property possible. This may be one of the dumbest scenes ever put into a movie. I mean why would you shoot down your own project at the start?
Like the 1996 original, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” contains plenty of the classic Looney Tunes humor. But unlike the previous movie, there weren’t any standout moments for me. Porky Pig’s rap battle was alright but could have been funnier. Lola Bunny attempting to become an Amazon was decent enough, but why Warner Bros. didn’t get Gal Gadot to voice Wonder Woman baffles me. Surely someone at WB has a Zoom account and they could have recorded Gadot that way. And don’t get me started on Bugs Bunny’s voice. Now that I think about it, some of the funnier Looney Tunes moments came in the closing credits, like Foghorn Leghorn’s reaction to a Chicken & Waffles sigh.
The only moments I can honestly say I liked comes while Leron and Bugs Bunny search for their team. Somewhere, the two end up in the middle of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and it was so unexpected it did make me chuckle a bit. The other moment that I liked came during the climactic basketball game, Sylvester the cat claims he found Michael Jordan, and it turns out to be Michael B. Jordan. One of the other Looney Tunes characters shouts out “Couldn’t you find Michael A. Jordan?”
So, yeah, at the end of the day, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was not for me. I didn’t care for the human characters, most of the jokes fell flat, the Looney Tunes were not used well, and Lebron James is made to look like the worst father in years. But having said that, I’m sure this movie will appeal to younger viewers and die-hard fans of the 1996 film.
“Space Jam: A New Legacy” final grade: C-
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