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

The story begins in 1998, when a teenage LeBron James plays on his Gameboy, only for his coach to make him focus on basketball, which LeBron eventually agrees to.

Years later, LeBron has a family, including a 12-year-old son named Dom who yearns to pursue computer coding. He has created a video game that he nearly completed – only for it to crash and for all the data to disappear.

Regardless of Dom’s goal of continuing to code computers, his dad pushes him to play basketball when he doesn’t want to.

At some point, the two go to the Warner Brothers studio. LeBron says something that annoys Dom and makes him walk away from him.

Dom and LeBron end up in a technological background, called the serververse. There, a holographic man named AL.G. Rhythm makes a deal with LeBron. If he can win a basketball tournament, his freedom will be returned. Otherwise, he and everyone against AL.G Rhythm will remain in the serververse.

He offers LeBron many opportunities to participate in various Warner Brothers franchises, such as the D.C. universe, Game of Thrones, and even Harry Potter.

LeBron denies those options, though, especially after Dom has disappeared. AL.G then banishes Lebron into the Looney Tunes universe, where he has to train characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and many other characters to play basketball.

My thoughts

Despite the negative reviews the majority gave, I happened to enjoy this film a lot. I have even laughed numerous times.

During the scene where LeBron soars through the Warner Brothers worlds, one of the planets shows Hogwarts from Harry Potter. And at some point, LeBron shows excitement about passing the wizarding world. He discovers that he is a Hufflepuff. This is when he travels with the Looney Tunes as a cartoon character.

Which brings me to my next point – when LeBron falls into the Looney Tunes world, he becomes a cartoon character and becomes shocked, especially when his body distorts.

After he meets Bugs Bunny, he discovers that the other toons have escaped due to the peril that had occurred. But they eventually return. I especially admired Marvin the Martian’s arrival.

However, the group had to retrieve Granny and Lola, which took more effort than they’d predicted. Lola had to fight with Wonder Woman, and Granny was in the middle of battling someone. Yet, I did appreciate their fierceness.

Unexpected twists

One moment that surprised me was when the characters from the Adult Swim show, Rick and Morty, came through Rick’s jet, even though it stayed brief.

Although they don’t use profanity, I really didn’t think they belonged in a PG-rated movie. In spite of that, the film did include some mild naughty language.

And, perhaps, the most memorable twist is when all the Warner Brothers’ characters from different franchises came to the basketball tournament. They included those made by Hanna-Barbera, Game of Thrones characters, King Kong, and many more.

It went on for a while, which made me lose a little patience. But LeBron and the Looney Tunes’ struggles against AL.G’s team consisting of monstrous creatures kept my attention as I worried about what would happen.

While the teams had to take breaks during halftime, a huge turn took place, when Sylvester “found” Michael Jordan to save the day. That excited the Looney Tunes… only for it to be Michael B. Jordan, the actor. LOL.

Overall

I could go on with many amazing moments, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I did feel like Warner Brothers Studios took over my mind after the film ended.

But an essential strength is how the movie taught some great morals. Examples included understanding your authorities, but also following your chosen paths. 

I give this film a well-deserved 5 out of 5 stars. This is another time I fall in the minority. Oh, well. But I do have a couple of friends who also liked this movie.