Space Jam

What’s the Story?

Made shortly after Michael Jordan's first retirement from basketball and his short foray into professional baseball, SPACE JAM marks an attempt to revive the Looney Tunes franchise by creating a big budget live-action/animation feature riding on the basketball superstar's coattails. Bugs, Porky, Tweety, and other favorite Looney Tune characters assemble a basketball team, including Michael Jordan as a member, to defeat a group of aliens, the Nerdlucks, who are trying to enslave the Tunes as attractions in their outer space theme park.

Is It Any Good?

Space Jam does little to revive the Looney Tunes characters, who pretty much stick to their tried and true (and violent) antics, albeit in a new setting. As for Michael, his athletic prowess need not be proven, but the mix of animation in the basketball sequences tends to trivialize his abilities. With cartoon characters bouncing around every which way and easily slam dunking the ball, Michael's acrobatics seem minor in comparison.

While the film fails on many counts to best utilize the characters at its disposal, it's still likely to impress younger viewers, especially those without any sentimental attachment to the original Looney Tunes cartoons. By standing up against their potential slave masters, the Tunes' efforts are admirable, so the overall message is fairly positive. Jokes about merchandising and Jordan's ill-fated baseball career are thrown in for the older folks, but ultimately, this film will likely fail to hold the attention of many people over the age of 12.