Anthomation Assesses Space Jam

Howdy guys, Anthomation here. Today I shall review a movie with intelligence and brilliance: Space Jam.

Space Jam is a 1996 live action and animation hybrid produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation. The film stars Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. What an odd combination. Well if you can’t even handle that much, then getting through this movie with any common sense will be tough to accomplish.

Swackhammer (Danny DeVito), an evil alien theme park owner, needs a new attraction at Moron Mountain. When his gang, the Nerdlucks, heads to Earth to kidnap Bugs Bunny (Billy West) and the Looney Tunes, Bugs challenges them to a basketball game to determine their fate. The aliens agree, but they steal the powers of NBA basketball players, including Larry Bird (Larry Bird) and Charles Barkley (Charles Barkley) — so Bugs gets some help from superstar Michael Jordan (Michael Jordan).

Obviously, this is a very story-driven film. In the sense that it’s story doesn’t drive very often. This has gotta be one of the most outlandish narratives ever put into an animated film. Michael Jordan? The Looney Tunes? Team up in a basketball game? I mean, this entire film was created based on two Nike ads in the early 90’s that featured the two main characters. But this is the Looney Tunes. So giving them a narrative that would be showcased in a Pixar movie would feel out of place. With that being said, the only way to get into the story is to go in without a care in the world. The two things that I did not care for in the narrative both involved Michael Jordan. First, the movie tries to portray Jordan as this guy who feels lost as he struggles in baseball and is not playing the sport he truly loves. Those scenes have an easy time being recycled and an absolute snore fest. The second is that the movie makes believe that it was because of the Looney Tunes, SPOILER ALERT!, that Michael Jordan came back to basketball. I know the movie plays it off as being fictional, but it still makes Jordan look silly as he needed a bunch of cartoon characters to get him back to the fane that he loves.

With this live action and animation hybrid, I can only talk about half of this film in this department. So take that for what it’s worth. The first to get across is that the Looney Tunes are animated in CGI and not their usual hand drawn animation. Which for the most part, actually works out pretty well. Their movements are delightfully over the top, the designs almost mirror the designs of their 2D counterparts, and the characters are able to show enough facial expressions to keep the younglings entertained. Why do I say just the younglings and not the entire family? That will be explained in the characters section. The aliens also carry the same qualities as the Looney Tunes. The one nitpick I would have is that the interactions between the animated characters and the live action characters can feel a bit funky. Unlike in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1998), where every character felt like they were in Toontown, here it feels like the Looney Tunes should be over a computer generated backdrop and not in the real world. 

The characters were definitely the most disappointing part of the feature. In a film that is supposed to be built off of its humor. And because this is not a story driven film, the characters have carry the bulk of the enjoyment. But the thing is that the characters are NOT funny. As I alluded to before, the scenes that feature just Michael Jordan are not engaging as it feels like he us acting for a commercial than an actual movie. It’s one thing to not have Michael Jordan not be funny. I mean, he is an athlete by trade and you can only expect so much out of him. But how could you make the LOONEY TUNES not be funny? They are the definition of comedy gold, with their amazing slapstick and witty dialogue. Well, you won’t find any of that here. But hey, at least their are low brow jokes that you would find in an Illumination film. And don’t forget about the Lola jokes, who is not only the sex symbol of the movie but is also a bunny. Movie, is there something we need to talk about?

Overall, Space Jam is a mess of a film that could have been uniquely enjoyable, but could not execute on a proper level. The story is absolute bonkers, and because the characters are can’t save the movie, the entire feature goes downhill from there. The animation can be fun to watch, but not enough to make too much of an overarching impact. If you are in the mood for something mindless, this could do the job. But don’t be looking to gain any brain cells from watching this movie.

Score:

5.5/10