Warner Bros' 1996 movie Space Jam was an attempt to revitalize the studio's venerable cartoon characters by associating them with basketball superstar Michael "Air" Jordan. Although reviews were mixed, the film was a financial success, making $230 million on an $80 million budget.
So how does the movie hold up 16 years later on Blu-Ray? Not great: the once-groundbreaking animation has aged badly and the storyline isn't strong enough to compensate. Add side-plots which take away from the main story, plus blatant product placement, and Space Jam fails to launch.
Warner Home Video Presents Space Jam Blu-Ray, Starring Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny & Bill Murray
In the farthest reaches of space, Swackhammer (Danny DeVito), owner of interstellar amusement park Moron Mountain, is desperate to revitalize his aging fun fair. What better than to kidnap the Looney Tunes gang and force them to entertain at the park? Swackhammer sends his heavily-armed but tiny Nerdluck minions to capture Bugs Bunny and pals and bring them back to Moron Mountain.
But Bugs Bunny (Billy West) is able to negotiate a compromise: if the Nerdlucks can beat the Tune Squad in a basketball game, the Looney Tuneites will come quietly. However, Bugs doesn't count on the Nerdlucks' alien technology which allows them to steal the B-ball talent from some of the NBA's top players, making the miniature Nerdlucks 'Monstars' on the court.
Bugs desperately turns to the one basketball player the Nerdlucks missed: Michael Jordan (Michael Jordan), recently retired from basketball in order to become a not-so-stellar baseball player. Can Michael get his game back, and help the Looney Tunes crew triumph on the court?
When it first came out in 1996, Space Jam was praised for its innovative Toon Boom animation and hammered it for its over-the-top product placement. Fifteen years later, the animation doesn't look quite so innovative but the blatant product placement remains. You can almost hear the cash registers ka-ching! whenever Michael holds a McDonald's cup or a Spalding basketball.
As an actor, Michael Jordan is no Bob Hoskins but he plays an idealized version of himself fairly well.
Warner Bros. also didn't think that Looney Tunes + Michael Jordan was enough to sell the flick, so they added subplots about the poor NBA stars who lost their talent, plus appearances by Wayne Knight and Bill Murray. Murray is as much a highlight as he was in Zombieland, but the sideplots take away from the main story, and the classic cartoon characters who are supposed to be starring in this film. You wish Warner had given less time to Wayne Knight and more time to those great cartoon characters we all love.
Space Jam Blu-Ray Extras
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck have an uninspired audio commentary with director Joe Pytka. Elsewhere, the featurette 'Jammin' with Bugs and Michael Jordan' is a half-hour ad for the flick plus you get music videos for Seal's cover of Steve Miller's 'Fly Like an Eagle' while B-Real, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J and Coolio perform the Monstars' anthem "Hit 'Em High.'
Space Jam: Not Enough Looney Tunes and Too Many Plots
I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is possible to revamp an old property for a new era - witness Winnie the Pooh.
But it's crucial to respect the strength of that property and give it the space it needs to show its worth, not smother it with other stuff. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. didn't understand this, which is why Space Jam gets a 2/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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