Review of Space Jam (1996) by Kai82 — 05 Feb 2021

An enjoyable family friendly movie with great humor and a lot of good ideas. On paper it does sound so crazy and insane but it delivers an entertaining experience. The story starts when Michael Jordan ended his NBA career in 1993 to become a baseball player (This really happened in real life and we all are still baffled why this even happened).

Meanwhile the evil alien Mr. Swackhammer owner of a failing space amusement park need something to stop the decline. He wants the Looney Tunes and send his minions to get them no matter what (= persuasion with immense firepower;-).

However his minions are tricked into giving the Looney Tunes a chance and because all are small and physically not intimidating they chose a game of basketball. Of cause this does not work as planned and the Looney Tunes need a tiny bit of help to quote Bugs Bunny.

Like I said it sounds crazy but works well on the screen. It is just great slapstick, humor and entertainment in combination with Michael Jordan and basketball. There are so many that criticize this movie for its story and I cant understand them.

This is a sports comedy with cheesy fun intended and not the Godfather, Schindlers List or a Shakespearean play. You would in reverse not criticize a drama for lack of humor. For me the story is a good vessel for the humor, characters and slapstick.

It does a bit more than it needed. Then there is the cast. I don't need to introduce the Looney Tunes like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam and all the others. They are popculture legends and probably in the most know fictional characters lists.

They added a new character here with Lola Bunny. She worked well and was added to the rooster for the Looney Tunes and is still there today. For the human actors we have Michael Jordan as himself or the public image he has to keep up ;-).

Then we have Bill Murray also as himself and he is as always an entertaining actor (Is it acting if he is himself?), Wayne Knight as Stan Podolak who delivers and of cause some of the best NBA players of that time like Charles Barkley, Shawn Bradley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and Mugsey Bogues as themselves in smaller roles.

All deliver and I see no missteps here. Then there is the humor and slapstick. You get what you expected. Hilarious fun, great jokes and some abstruse cartoon violence. The humor works well and makes this movie worthwhile.

The animation looked really good and captures the style of the Looney Tunes. After rewatching I say they created something that ages well and will not be criticized for it even after all the years. The soundtrack is also remarkable.

The Monsters Anthem which actually is named Hit em High is a really powerful (bad guy) theme song, Fly like an Eagle by Seal is still excellent and R. Kellys I believe I can fly was still played in radio (until something happened which I will not mention here).

A good soundtrack with some memorable tracks. Overall this is an enjoyable movie you can watch and relax with. It is not perfect nor 10/10 material but still fun and with good humor.