“Space Jam: A New Legacy” is now playing in theaters and on HBO Max via subscription.
“Space Jam: A New Legacy” is an adventure/family comedy where a rogue A.I. kidnaps Lebron James’ son to lure the basketball star into the Warner Bros.’ digital server, where they are then trapped and James is challenged to a basketball game in order to save his son. Malcolm D. Lee directs the film and it stars Lebron James as himself, Don Cheadle, and Cedric Doe.
The film’s opens in 1998, where we meet a young Lebron. It’s here we get our first dose of nostalgia when we see LeBron’s Bugs Bunny backpack he’s wearing while playing a Game Boy. It isn’t long until he’s on the court; but we see his coach yelling at him for focusing too much on video games. This transitions into a montage of James’ career highlights throughout the years and brings us to present day.
We meet his family and immediately see that James is just as hard on his kids as his own coach was on him when it comes to basketball. There’s a clear disconnect with his youngest, Dom. He has apparently built his own video game and is only 12 years old, and doesn’t share the same career goals as his father.
In attempt to try to fix their connection, James takes his son to a meeting he has at Warner Bros. Studio which goes a wry when a rogue artificial intelligence named G. Rhythm tricks them and sucks them into the studio’s server. He kidnaps and attempts to manipulate Dom while challenging LeBron to a basketball game to save his son. However, he needs a team! It’s a different take from the original; but I will admit, they do make the film more modern with technology and social media.
The tunes are all back again for “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Photo: Warner Bros., 2021.
“Space Jam: A New Legacy’s” entire first act is a bit unbearable only because of Lebron’s cringey acting; however, this improves when enters Tune World as a cartoon, making his journey to form his team easier to watch. The film is very entertaining as we watch Lebron and Bugs Bunny embark on an adventure to find the original members of the Tune Squad who have been spread out throughout the Warner Bros. server-verse because of G. Rhythm. Each member is in a different production server, so with each trip, the older audience members are not only getting some pretty fun cameos, but Warner Bros. is also obviously trying to reboot their brand in shameless plugging which lasts the entirety of the film.
James is clearly a bit disappointed with Bugs’ team due to their looney nature; however, he still tries to train them like he was trained. Meanwhile, G. Rhythm has manipulated Dom into bringing the video game he created to life within the server. He further convinces Dom into playing the game against his father, but with real life basketball players in the game. Sound familiar?
This film modernizes its predecessor’s concept by live-streaming the game to the entire world via social media; as such, there’s many more fun cameos who show up as audience members for the game. It isn’t a great film, but much more entertaining than expected, and sends a good message about individuality and family. The cast is hit or miss, and regrettably LeBron James isn’t as strong here as he has been in his voice acting forays. But Don Cheadle plays an amazing villain; he carries a lot of the film, which makes it as decent as it is. Also, Warner Bros. is clever for using this film to reboot their brand, even if it was a bit of an advertisement overload.
