Space Jam: A New Legacy movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: Space Jam: A New Legacy

This fun animated sports movie premieres in theaters and on HBOMax on July 16, 2021 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Space Jam movie.

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 55 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

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. There are some entertaining moments for sure, but it’s one gigantic commercial for Warner Brothers IP properties, which is a huge turnoff for most viewers. The target audience is definitely kids. Their parents who grew up watching the original movie might be annoyed and let down.

The film is directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Are you Team Tune or Team Goon? This is a spoiler-free movie review.

THINGS I LIKED:

If you’re a LeBron James fan, you’ll love this movie because it features him, showcasing a bunch of real-life clips from his historical career.
If you’re a Warner Brothers cartoon character fan, you’ll love seeing all of your favorites. Berg Bergen is the only voice actor to return from the original Space Jam movie of 1996.
Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle is great, as expected. He was just nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Good on him. He’s a wonderful actor and he seemed to have a lot of fun with his role in this film. He plays AL G. Rythm (algorithm)
There’s a lot of humor, although not all of it lands. LeBron is good about letting them take a lot of jabs at him and his career.
Tons of fun movie references and clips of film classics like Superman: The Movie, Batman (1989), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, THE MATRIX, The Wizard of Oz, Mad Max: Fury Road, Wonder Woman, and soooo many more.
If you’re not that much into basketball, there are still plenty of non-basketball shenanigans to enjoy.
TONS of fun Easter Eggs! Look closely!
Lots of entertaining cameo performances and voice talents from other sports stars like Sue Bird, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi, and so many more.
There’s an awesome Michael Jordan gag that actually made me laugh out loud. Loved it.
It’s super entertaining to look at the audience during the big game to pick out all kinds of characters from zillions of Warner Brothers movies.
I’ve always loved movies that combine animation with real-life actors. I enjoyed the different animation styles.
The movie features the huge E3 conference. One of my sons competed in that when he was in college. He now does art design on video games at Blizzard!
If you love basketball, you’ll get a kick out of the “server-verse” version of the game.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Warner Brothers promotes itself HARD in this movie.
As great as LeBron James is at basketball, he’s not a very good actor. I don’t think anyone is very surprised by that, but it’s a shame because LeBron is in almost every scene in the movie.
The movie tries to cram WAY too much into every scene.
Visually, it’s sometimes hard to catch everything because things fly by so fast and furiously.
The explanation at the very end of the movie about the demise of a certain character was incredibly lame and lazy writing.
There is some super cheesy writing as well.
Warner Brothers cartoon fans have already been complaining that we don’t see enough of the cartoons. I disagree. There is plenty of cartoon chaos.
All of the Extras in the audience during the game don’t always react correctly to what’s actually happening in the game. It just looks like they were filmed cheering to be inserted into the scenes later, which of course they were. I’m just saying that it really looks like it.
The soundtrack isn’t as good as the first movie.
The plot is just silly with ridiculously high stakes.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Lots of cartoon violence.
Mild profanity. One character is obviously spewing profanities in one scene, but they humorously get bleeped out.
There are a lot of references to R-rated movies that kids won’t understand or recognize.

THEMES:

Recognition
Respect
Hard work
You do you.
Family
Parenting
Not giving up

FUNNY LINES:

“Chill out. You know I’ve got full-court vision.” – LeBron James
“We’re inside the computer? You know I get claustrophobic!” – LeBron James
“I’m shorter than Kevin Hart!” – LeBron James
“Style points!” – Le Bron James
“What in the AARP is going on out here?” – AI G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle)
“There’s no crying in the server-verse, Pete!” – AI G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle)

INTERESTING LINES:

“If you’re passionate about something, you gotta learn how to push through it.” – LeBron James
“When an athlete tries acting, it never goes well.” – LeBron James
“Family is everything.” – LeBron James
“A warrior is not only judged by her skills but her values.” – Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson)
“Taking care of the people you love is FUNdamental.” – Bugs Bunny (Jeff Bergman)