Upon rewatching the original Space Jam later in life, it becomes pretty clear that it's a fucking loopy movie. Although him teaming up with being kidnapped by the Looney Tunes to play a basketball game against a group of aliens that have stolen the abilities (and height) of several elite NBA players in order to beat them is the primary plot, it also happens to be a vessel for Michael Jordan to apologize to the public for his first retirement from basketball, announce his return to the Bulls after a catastrophic stint as a professional baseball player and help sell some Nikes so he could pay off his gambling debts. Space Jam: A New Legacy bottles up that insane spirit and in true 21st century fashion, proceeds to heighten it to a comical degree.
The insanity of Space Jam: A New Legacy begins with its setup: LeBron James along with his video game programming son (Cedric Joe) are brought into the Warner Brothers headquarters for a pitch meeting that's set up by a disgruntled, fame-seeking algorithm named Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle-in a sincerely incredible piece of self-aware overacting). When LeBron balks at Al. G's proposal-which was literally just inserting him into various established Warner Brothers properties- he promptly lures LeBron and his son into the basement of the headquarters and sucks them into the company's computer system, which is of course known as The Warner Brothers Serververse.
In order to free himself and his son from the Serververse, LeBron has to team up with the Looney Tunes to win a game of basketball. Seems easy enough right? WRONG. The twist is that they're playing inside of an arcade-style video game that LeBron's son designed where scoring with flash is heavily rewarded and their opponents are modified versions of several NBA/WNBA greats (Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Diana Taurasi, Neka Ogwumike) known as the Goon Squad. Will LeBron be able to adapt to a new brand of basketball to save himself and his kin or will this evil algorithm finally become a worldwide phenomenon? The answer probably won't shock you...
As loopy as the general premise is, it's ultimately just an appetizer for what follows. The entire film is a colorful, spastic contradiction that perfectly encapsulates the current short attention span era of the internet. The film is simultaneously unapologetically self-congratulatory as it rips through Warner Brothers pop culture references at a clip that makes Ready Player One feel downright restrained and self-aware as it features a heavy dose of meta humor that takes shots at its own referential excess. Its primary message is about the importance of being yourself and teamwork yet it pumps up LeBron's individual greatness at every possible avenue. There's just as many scenes full of asides that are clearly designed for kids who spend their time drifting through YouTube/TikTok rabbit holes as there are ones that are built around cultural references (The Matrix, Mad Max: Fury Road, Casablanca) that are guaranteed to go over their heads. Creating a wild world driven by overstimulation, conflicting ideals and the cheap yet satisfying intoxication of name-checking old pop culture stuff is actually kind of genius, and there's no possible way for me to condemn a movie that's aimed at the current generation of youth for successfully distilling the essence of today's internet culture into a 115-minute package.
Unsurprisingly, the over-the-top excess carries over to the actual basketball segments as well as each Goon Squad player effectively has their own set of superpowers (ex: Lillard can slow down time and Ogumike is a spider-like creature who specializes in steals) within the game. However, this is the only area of the film that feels almost exactly like the original. Watching the Looney Tunes play a high stakes basketball game alongside some of the world's best basketball players that's frequently derailed by silly jokes, periodic villain meddling and sweeping pep talks took me back to the euphoric state I entered dozens of times while watching the Tune Squad take on the Monstars in the late 90's/early 00's. While modern entertainment is definitely far too reliant on tapping into nostalgia on the whole, it's a beautiful, joyous thing when a piece of it hits your personal sweet spot and I'm thrilled that A New Legacy was able to do that during its most pivotal moments.
Space Jam: A New Legacy has gotten and will continue to get a lot of hate for the way its constructed. When aggressive self-promotion sits at the core of a film, some people are going to lament its existence and call for Hollywood to stop making movies that are more concerned with selling shit than telling a story. A New Legacy might not end up having the staying power of the original because of this trendy, time capsule approach, but it's dedication to tapping into the hyperactive mindset of today's internet culture makes me respect and enjoy it in a weird kind of way.
Grade: B
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