In a desperate attempt to win a basketball match and earn their freedom, the Looney Tunes seek the aid of retired basketball champion, Michael Jordan.
Some films gain admiration retrospectively, via nostalgia. Upon release, they may not have been the best-reviewed movies, but because, as children, we watched them religiously, over and over again, we now associate them with that warm, fuzzy feeling; we believe that they played a crucial role in shaping our childhood, our way of thinking, us. In some cases, revisiting these films may reaffirm their status as enduring classics (see: “The Neverending Story”), but other examples tend to be rather traumatizing (as was my recent experience with, sigh, “Howard the Duck”).
Joe Pytka’s “Space Jam,” released in the fall of 1996, falls squarely in the latter category. Pretty much everyone my age gets misty-eyed upon the mere mention of “Space Jam.” I know a lot of readers will hate me for saying that “Space Jam” sucks, and judging by the trailers, its upcoming remake will suck even more — an inferior version of a dreadful film that somehow got elevated into the echelon of Great Childhood Movies.
Even as a child, I remember being disappointed by the lack of zany shenanigans in a film that merges live-action and animation. “Space Jam” is squarely about basketball, plot-driven to the Nth degree, with nary a compelling side-plot or interesting character in sight. The Looney Tunes are called looney for a reason. They were never about making sense. Robert Zemeckis understood this, imbuing his otherwise immaculately-scripted, dead-serious homage to film noir “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” with a healthy dose of non-sequitur insanity. The lunacy both juxtaposed and complemented the solemnity and did so perfectly — a phantasmagorical equilibrium of the familiar and the uncanny.
By having our beloved characters partake in an inherently highly-structured, very “Earthly” game of basketball, Pytka and his team of four (!) screenwriters shoot themselves in the foot. Since when do Bugs, Porky and Daffy give two foghorns about things like “team spirit,” or winning a game? Way to reduce the entirety of SPACE — and the literally infinite storytelling potential that comes with it — to a single ball game, of all things. The intention was clearly to appeal to two or three specific target demos. How prosaic and asinine.
On paper, using Michael Jordan’s abduction by the toons as an explanation for his brief retirement from the NBA in 1993 is not a terrible idea… Who am I kidding — it’s a TERRIBLE idea. The creators fail to expand upon the gimmick, tacking on a rudimentary plot involving aliens turning basketball stars into Monstars (clever), the toons recruiting Jordan to help beat them, and Bugs falling in love. It all leads to the decisive game, and ultimately, to the last 10 seconds of the game.
Performing opposite non-existent entities isn’t easy. While actors like Bob Hoskins in “Roger Rabbit,” or Liam Neeson in “Star Wars,” or Ian McKellen in “Lord of the Rings” pulled it off with aplomb, Michael Jordan — whose only previous acting experience had been appearing in numerous commercials — was most certainly not up to the task. He seems disconnected from the animated world surrounding him, possessing neither the dramatic skills to carry the more “serious” sequences, nor the comedic chops to keep up with the slapstick. Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Shawn Bradley, and other 1990’s legends show up, goof off, cash their paycheck, and bounce.
Bill Murray is about the only cast member who, playing himself, seems to “get” what the toons are all about, his trademark nonchalant delivery blending well with the heightened shtick of his cartoon counterparts. Special shout out to Bob Bergen (whom I interviewed recently) who does the voices of Porky Pig, Tweety, Bertie, Hubie, and Marvin the Martian, as well as Billy West (Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd), Dee Bradley Baker (Daffy Duck and the Tazmanian Devil) and Bill Farmer (Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Foghorn Leghorn), along with the rest of the impeccable voice cast. Too bad their beloved characters — all beautifully drawn and integrated into the narrative with care and precision — have so little to work with.
Despite its commercial success and subsequent cult status, “Space Jam”’s mixed critical reception promptly ended Pytka’s career as a filmmaker (he had directed one film prior to that, the 1989 Richard Dreyfuss flop “Let It Ride,” otherwise focusing on music videos). As unbelievable as it may sound, no film since has managed to live up to the sheer brilliance of Zemeckis’s classic (see, or rather don’t: “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” or “Rocky and Bullwinkle”). “Space Jam” attempts to make a three-pointer, but bounces hard off the backboard.
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