‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Review: A CGI-Fueled Nightmare
Oh man, this is a tough one. On one hand, I’m a big Los Angeles Lakers fan and a basketball fan in general. On the other hand, I’m an objective movie reviewer who is sick of movies just throwing a bunch of nostalgia at the screen in hopes it’ll make a good movie.
Let’s get this out of the way: Space Jam: A New Legacy is not good. It’s a CGI-fueled nightmare filled with terrible acting and cringe-inducing humor. I’ve seen many people defending this film because “it’s a movie for kids.” I call BS on that. We live in an age where kids’ movies can be great. Pixar comes out with two movies every year that are vastly better than this crap.
OK, let’s actually get into the movie. The first scene felt really off to me. It didn’t feel like a real movie. There was something amateurish about it. We get some boring stuff with LeBron James and his son played by Cedric Joe. For some reason, this child is a programming genius who was able to design this basketball game that looks better than most games put out by actual developers. It doesn’t make sense, but whatever.
The film quickly turns into a massive commercial for Warner Bros. There is so much shameless advertisement for Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and the DC properties. We get it, Warner Bros. makes movies and has a lot of IPs.
We also meet Al G. Rhythm (sigh) played by Don Cheadle. Cheadle is an excellent actor but he’s so hammy in Space Jam and not in a fun way. It’s just annoying.
We eventually get some fun Looney Tunes gags and that honestly was the only stuff I liked. Characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck have been out of the ether for quite some time so it’s fun to see them back. I’m glad that they did let them do some traditional little gags that you don’t really see in kids’ movies anymore.
However, once we get to the basketball game, this movie goes off the rails. There’s just soooo much bad CGI. They almost should’ve just made the whole movie CGI. If you’re not a basketball fan, I don’t see how you can enjoy the last act of this movie. Also, this movie is so damn long. Why is it almost two hours long? This movie should’ve been a solid 90 minutes. Overall, kids will probably enjoy it but it won’t bring much for adult viewers. Space Jam: A New Legacy is a shameless two-hour ad for Warner Bros. and LeBron James. Unless you’re a big basketball fan or fan of the first movie, just skip this one.
