Film Review: “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (2021)

Ready Basketball Player One.

In 1996, Warner Brothers came out with a little movie featuring Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons characters called “Space Jam.” The film (despite not being well received by critics) went on to become a moderate success at the box office, grossing $230 million worldwide on an $80 million budget, and also developed a strong following amongst children in the 90’s and 2000’s. 25 years later, The Tune Squad is back and this time, featuring Lebron James.

In “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” After Lebron James rejects an idea from Warner Bros, an antagonistic artificial intelligence (Don Cheadle) kidnaps the son of famed basketball player LeBron James, who then has to work with Bugs Bunny to win a basketball game and save his son and the rest of toon world from being deleted.

Even though the 1996 original film isn’t necessarily great, I enjoyed it for what it was. It was also one of the many films I had on VHS back then. Just like “F9”, I am well aware that a film like “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is not exactly a film that calls for a profound story or Shakespearean writing. That being said, one of my main concerns with “A New Legacy” was that it would be over-dependent on nostalgia and product placement.