"Space Jam: A New Legacy" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[Moe]

Warner Bros adding a massive number of references and cameos of characters in Space Jam: A New Legacy from franchises like Hanna-Barbera, DC Comics, Animaniacs, Game of Thrones, Mad Max, The Lord of the Rings, Wizarding World, and The Matrix, as well as films, such as The Wizard of Oz, The Maltese Falcon, King Kong, A Clockwork Orange, The Mask, Smallfoot, Casablanca, The Goonies, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Iron Giant, and It. WB is only doing that to brag about how much properties they own for their huge company.

I don’t see WB brag about their properties and they just show everyone to watch basketball game. I just see as awesome crossover.

Thats way too similar to Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet which was packed with their IP just for them to brag about how many properties they own.

Not all characters - Disney had to make agreement with video game companies like Sega to use their character like Sonic. I don’t see as brag about their properties.

Looney Tunes Cartoons actually uses Toon Boom Harmony, the same software used for the 2D animation in Space Jam 2

Yes, Toon Boom is flash based animation that powerjake dislike.

 

[Jonwo]

The animation was gorgeous in the film but it was a bit odd that The Nerdlucks were 2D but other animated characters at the game were CGI but I guess that was a stylistic choice.

The Rick and Morty cameo and also the DCAU superheroes were fun to see although I get the sense that clearly Daffy and Porky had done this before judging by how Superman looked at all of them.

Bugs getting deleted but then coming back to the real world was a strange ending, I wonder if they planned to have Dom fix the glitch but decided against it.

 

[reflection01]

Today I learned Fone Bone and I are about the same age. That explains a lot.

Space Jam 2 is better than I thought it would be. My 9 year old knows nothing about the NBA except that his dad watches it all the time. He doesn't know much about Looney Tunes either but he's been hyped to watch this movie for the last month. It's squarely a kids movie. But it was entertaining in enough ways to appeal to a mass audience.

The film does a good job appealing to all possible audiences. The rumor is very PG, not even any sneaky adult humor. Plenty of classic Looney Tunes gags. Don Cheadle chews up plenty of scenery as the bad guy. 90% of his acting must have been by himself in a green screen. It takes a ton of talent to pull it off and do it well in a role he could have just mailed in.

I wasn't expecting the film to be as Black as it was. I know Malcolm D. Lee was the director and I know what he's done in the past. I just wasn't expecting a big budget brand heavy Warner Bros film to be earnestly Black. I think Sarah Silverman, Steven Yeun, and "Inside the NBA" host Ernie Johnson were the only live actors with speaking roles who weren't Black.

There were several unexpected sports-related jokes, cameos, and easter eggs to keep sports fan parents entertained. Who knows? Maybe a kid will see Dame and be like, "That's Chronos." Ernie Johnson was good as a broadcaster for the Tune vs. Goon game. There was good "TNT" gag early in the film. They even played a Looney Tunes version of the "Inside the NBA" theme.

NBA fans could even look at the overall story of Lebron as a dad and forming a team as a kind of an acknowledgment of how he's struggled to lead young or less talented teams in his career. There were even a few digs to that effect including a line that was something like "You can't just pick who you want for your team. This isn't the Miami Heat."

The real Lebron hasn't embraced the moral of the story of letting your son and teammates be themselves. I'm sure Kyle Kuzma* will watch that movie, shed a tear at the end when Lebron let's the Tune Squad be looney and hugs his son, and say, "Damn, I wish I was playing with that Lebron."

I also got a kick out of how on the game-winning play, Lebron's son set up for a corner three-pointer even though they were only down 1 in typical NBA fashion.

So if your kids want to watch Space Jam 2, turn off your brain for two hours and enjoy it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Markus Nelis]

The movie was better than I thought. The animation was great. It's not in the list of greatest movies of all time but it's not bad either. I have mixed feelings with this.

 

[Jonwo]

What I like about Warner Animation Group is that they don't stick to one style or look of animation so Space Jam has a different feel to Tom & Jerry or Scoob

 

[powerjake]

Not all characters - Disney had to make agreement with video game companies like Sega to use their character like Sonic. I don’t see as brag about their properties.

I am not talking about the video game characters within Ralph Breaks the Internet as they do not count. I am talking about just Disney making the movie a shameless and tired exercise in IP-driven branding.

I don’t see WB brag about their properties and they just show everyone to watch basketball game. I just see as awesome crossover.

Space Jam: A New Legacy suffers the same problem as Ralph Breaks the Internet, it is also being a shameless IP-driven branding movie.

 

[Moe]

I am not talking about the video game characters within Ralph Breaks the Internet as they do not count. I am talking about just Disney making the movie a shameless and tired exercise in IP-driven branding.



Space Jam: A New Legacy suffers the same problem as Ralph Breaks the Internet, it is also being a shameless IP-driven branding movie.

That’s your opinion so I’m not going to debate further with you.

 

[Ghoster1987]

That Rick and Morty cameo feels cursed. Especially in a kids/family movie

 

[AllenJ]

Saw the movie twice (first in theaters, then on HBO Max). Considering the terrible reviews (along with the fact that it's an unnecessary sequel to what was basically an extended commercial), it was better than I expected, and I'd even consider it an improvement over the first movie in some ways, but it's still far from great. The 2D animated parts were definitely the best, and some of the crossovers with other Warner-owned IPs were kind of fun (particularly Austin Powers and Casablanca), but much like the first movie, the Looney Tunes characters just don't feel like themselves most of the time. Bugs actually having a "serious" death scene at the end was just bizarre, and Porky rapping reminded me of the Tiny Toons episode "Gang Busters" more than anything else. Plus, if "toons can survive anything," why were they worried about getting deleted if they lose the game?

One thing I liked better about the first movie was that it featured way more of the classic LT characters (even fairly obscure ones like Sniffles), whereas this one only featured the "core cast" of Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and so on. None of them show up until almost a half hour into the movie, and some characters like Foghorn and Speedy hardly even get to do anything (although Speedy at least gets more focus than in the first movie, where he only appeared a handful of times in the background and never spoke). It seemed like Warner Bros. was more interested in showing off its hundreds of other IPs instead, probably due to them owning more things now than they did in 1996. And as others have pointed out, it's odd that they exclude Pepe Le Pew but prominently feature the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange among the spectators at the game.

I never really cared about Lola Bunny; I always felt she was an unnecessary addition to the LT cast and never had any strong opinions about the character other than that, so I don't really have anything to say about her "sexiness" getting toned down (if people online hadn't made such a big deal about it, I probably wouldn't have even noticed). I can't say I liked the CGI interpretations of the characters either; I'm not necessarily against 2D characters being rendered in 3D if it's done right, but something about the way they looked here was just unsettling to me (particularly Gossamer and Yosemite Sam). They did a handful of CGI theatrical shorts with the Road Runner, Daffy, Tweety and Sylvester in the early 2010s, and I thought the characters looked okay there, but not so much here.

Other random thoughts:
- Eric Bauza's Porky voice isn't bad. It's not often someone other than Bob Bergen gets a chance to voice him. I also thought Bauza's Daffy sounded remarkably close to Joe Alaskey's version, which was always my favorite post-Mel Blanc Daffy voice. On the other hand, Jeff Bergman has really lost his touch with Bugs compared to when he first started voicing the character in 1990.
- Did Pete's design remind anyone else of Flik from A Bug's Life? And speaking of Pixar, how often does "A113" show up in animated films that weren't made by them or Disney?
- The "wrong Jordan" part reminded me of an episode of All That where the cast is playing basketball and gets their wishes granted whenever one of them makes a basket; Kenan wishes to meet Michael Jordan, but instead of the basketball player, he gets a random plumber with the same name.
- Why are the Nerdlucks the only 2D animated characters in the crowd?

 

[ToonsJazzLover]

As my first movie theater experience in two years, I enjoyed it more than the first film. A lot of critics may think otherwise but I love the corporate synergy for Warner Bros.

 

[Moe]

I didn't like the movie. The difference is I am not bullying people who did.

I think people who liked the movie are cool. That is their privilege and enjoying a movie is a very good thing. I am envious of them and think they are awesome.

Yes, I respect your decision to dislike this movie.

I think it is best interest for WB to focus on Looney Tunes movies, outside of Space Jam film series, also they need to focus on H-B cartoons too, but they did with some Tom and Jerry movies.

I'm fine with people enjoying A New Legacy but I have not picked on anyone that likes it just making an opinion . For the fans that really did enjoy the movie, they can like as they have something to watch for the summer.

If more Space Jam sequels get made atleast they have something to look forward to for Looney Tunes.

I'm not big fan of animated shows that made with flash animation, but I don't dislike most of them - they are pretty average to good, depending on series and their style.

I personally preferred traditional drawing or hand drawn animation but not much option for studios for financial reason and audience. Many audience preferred CGI or flash animation, so that forced studios to accommodate those audience. If studios release new series with traditional drawing so less audience and they don't make enough money to recoup the loss because traditional drawing is a lot expensive than CGI and flash animation. It is just like drywall vs lath and plaster in 1950s - of course, drywall is super cheaper and you won't see new houses with lath and plaster after 1950s. I just realized that studios don't have much choice because of customers and yes, that upset a lot of classic fans.

HBO Max has 511 classic LT shorts and that is half out of 1,041 and Boomerang has numbers of exclusive shorts, but sadly no Speedy Gonzales on both services, so need to buy on iTunes. WB did a better job with LT shorts that released on streaming services but Disney only released less than 100 classic shorts on Disney+.

 

[Pooky]

One thing I like about it is that it's at least a complete, if not necessarily completely satisfactory, story. There's a beginning, middle and an end; there could be more sequels but there are no dangling threads "necessitating" one. I don't know if that *should* be worthy of praise, but for a big budget franchise tentpole movie in 2021 it kind of is.

 

[Fone Bone]

One thing I like about it is that it's at least a complete, if not necessarily completely satisfactory, story. There's a beginning, middle and an end; there could be more sequels but there are no dangling threads "necessitating" one. I don't know if that *should* be worthy of praise, but for a big budget franchise tentpole movie in 2021 it kind of is.

I definitely agree with that. Tags in current non-Marvel movies do nothing but frustrate me. It's good this movie was just concerned with telling its own story.

 

[Classic Speedy]

- Eric Bauza's Porky voice isn't bad. It's not often someone other than Bob Bergen gets a chance to voice him. I also thought Bauza's Daffy sounded remarkably close to Joe Alaskey's version, which was always my favorite post-Mel Blanc Daffy voice. On the other hand, Jeff Bergman has really lost his touch with Bugs compared to when he first started voicing the character in 1990.

I don't know why they keep using Bergman for Bugs. There are plenty of imitations he can still pull off (Fred Flintstone), but Bugs is not one of them. Honestly, I always preferred Greg Burson's take to Bergman's, but of course Burson is sadly no longer with us.

- The "wrong Jordan" part reminded me of an episode of All That where the cast is playing basketball and gets their wishes granted whenever one of them makes a basket; Kenan wishes to meet Michael Jordan, but instead of the basketball player, he gets a random plumber with the same name.

That sounds hilarious, honestly funnier than Michael B. Jordan here.

 

[powerjake]

I'm sure any moment now Warner Bros will announce a Space Jam 3.

 

[doglover44]

There is my review about Space Jam: A New Legacy.

I gave 7/10

Most liked: They put almost all of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, along with a lot of characters that are owned by WB like Game of Thrones, Harry Potters, Matrix, Rick and Morty, Kong, IT clown, DC characters, The Iron Giant, Animaniacs and others more. Impressive CGI. Great to turn the real basketball into video game. Perfect crossover ever.

Most disliked: Pepé Le Pew isn't included in this film due to outrageous political correctness. They should emphasize on Hanna-Barbera characters like traveling to Jellystone.

@powerjake I want to let you know about this film convinced me that WB did great job with 3D CGI, so I think that we may need to reboot of H-B shows in 3D CGI, so you made a great point about CGI.

Hope we get HB shows rebooted

 

[Classic Speedy]

The Internet Is Dunking On Space Jam 2's Game Boy Cameo

Glad I'm not the only one who was like, "Wait, what?"

 

[ToonJay723]

Note from Moderator

When a user asks that they no longer wish to be apart of a particular conversation/discussion, don't continue it with them. Doing so is harassment.

Infractions will be given for any further violations.

 

[wiley207]

It's not the greatest thing the Looney Tunes have done in recent years, but I sure enjoyed it a lot! Here's my review of the movie...

Back to the Jam!

This weekend, Warner Bros. released the latest Warner Animation Group feature film: Space Jam: A New Legacy! Its been concurrently released to movie theaters reopening across the country and to Warners streaming service HBO Max. At first I was a little unsure, because I…

wile-e2005.livejournal.com

 

[Zanneck]

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Where to begin? This blank page seems a bit daunting. Usually when I write my reviews I have a solid idea where things will end up, but no, this might meander a bit.

I think it's probably wise to start with my view of the original Space Jam starring Michael Jordan in 1996, to give some context for things here. I liked it. I was one of the few adults at the time that did. I thought it was cool. To hype the sequel (which can't actually decide if it's really a sequel or a reboot instead) Teen Titans Go! made the questionable decision to make an MST3K-style TV movie of the characters on that show watching the movie and providing color commentary. Nobody ever accused that show of brilliant ideas. Actually, that's a lie. Weird Al Yankovic as Darkseid is one of the very best things a DC Comics project has ever done, live-action or animated. But everything else about that show is kind of shady. Including that idea.

To that show's credit, unlike the MST3K guys, the Titans actually allowed the kids at home to watch the movie. Commentary was only provided in either establishing shots with no dialogue, or the Titans thoughtfully paused the movie to goof off. I felt like I actually saw the movie again. And I decided the movie was terrible, and all wrong for Looney Tunes, and all wrong for people who dislike dumb writing. How bad is it? Bill Murray couldn't save it. Do you know rare that is, and how few movies that have Bill Murray in them actually suck? Granted he's great in the movie, but he's the only great thing in the movie, and that ultimately helps nothing. Regardless of what my 21 year old self was willing to let slide back in 1996, 45 year-old Matt Zimmer has very solid ideas about writing and storytelling that made me view the movie through a critical lens. I am no longer a viewer who can shut off my brain and watch a dumb movie. I'm not saying I don't like dumb movies. To bring up Weird Al again, I love UHF, and that is bonafide terrible. But if I am to like and enjoy a dumb movie, it has to be enjoyable. Space Jam with Michael Jordan simply was not.

So I told myself going in I was probably going to take it easy on this movie. My view was "If it isn't outright terrible, I'll call it a win." There are some sincerely bad things in the movie, but all in all, I would not call it outright terrible. And yet, despite what I told myself beforehand, there is no part of me that considers THAT movie a win.

I fully suspect I'm going to be spending the latter half of this review destroying the movie piece by piece. I think my upcoming judgments are about to be pretty harsh and brutal, especially considering I WILL give it 2 stars, which is a lot more than I give some things I talk less smack about. But the thing is, this movie gave me a LARGE variety of things to talk smack about. So I'll jump at them. But since I AM giving the movie 2 stars (which it DID earn) I'm going to start off talking about the numerous good things in it. Won't that be nice?

First good thing to note, is a good thing it shared with the original movie. It's nice to see a movie with an all-black cast where race doesn't actually matter, and the characters are treated decently. I'm not saying I dislike political hot-button movies or TV shows. But it's nice to have a break from them. Dom being excited King Rhythm is black is cool, rather than divisive. Which is outside of a LOT of stuff in this day and age. I don't think how bad racism is in this country should be whitewashed. But on the other hand, positive representation is very important, especially for things kids of all colors will wind up seeing.

The next two positive things I am going to comment on are important because they fix glaring faults in the first movie. Chuck Jones sourly complained that Bugs Bunny wouldn't be recruiting Michael Jordan and all of the other Looney Tunes and spending an entire movie teaming up with them to defeat the Mon-Stars. He'd do it himself in seven minutes, plus or minus the Warner Shields. Here it's Lebron James asking for help from Bugs Bunny. That's acceptable to me. I doubt Chuck Jones would like this movie either, but it did fix his biggest gripe.

I think a large part of Space Jam's negative reception had to do with the fact that it was compared negatively to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I didn't care much for that complaint at the time (live-action animation hybrids should not EVER be judged by Roger Rabbit because it is totally unfair). And yet, seeing this movie makes me understand one of the reasons I loved Roger Rabbit. It was all the crossovers. It was mindblowing to see Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny on the screen at the same time, and Daffy and Donald Duck's dueling pianos blew my mind. Now this movie doesn't pony up money for cameos from stuff outside of what Warner Bros already owns. But Warner Bros owns a LOT of stuff not related to Looney Tunes, and is was similarly pleasurable to see all that stuff crossover as it was to see Mickey and Bugs interacting in Roger Rabbit. I mean DC World is literally Bruce Timm's DC Animated Universe, which is how I always viewed it myself. And it's right there on-screen.

This next thing probably won't matter to most people. But I think one of the negative things about Space Jam that nobody really brings up is that it's practically a vanity project for Michael Jordan. He's the undisputed good guy, always knows what's best, and his family is totally wonderful, and loving, and conveniently absent. When Jordan signed his contract to be in the movie his agent must have worked in a clause that his personal life should be portrayed as squeaky clean and uncontroversial. Lebron James allows himself to be portray if as not a bad father here, than perhaps an entirely misguided one who has to learn how accept his son for who he is. I hesitate to put this observation in the section of the review marked "compliments" but it's certainly not a bad thing.

If June Foray was still alive she'd be like what 106, right? She'd be less the oldest actress in Hollywood, and more like the youngest person on the current Guinness Book Of World Records for oldest living people. But I kind of wish she had been alive to voice Granny's Crowning Moment Of Awesome here. It would have been a nice career capper.

The Rick and Morty cameo was fun and unexpected. And I HATE Rick And Morty!

One more compliment: I like that the Warner Security Guard is Black Jesus. Always good to see Slink Johnson getting work.

So now we get to the second half of the review.

I said I would consider it a win if it wasn't terrible. But at various points I thought it was. Not as a whole. But some of what I was watching was super embarrassing. I've noticed a lot of early online chatter about Porky Pig's rap being terrible. And it is. But the things that concerns me most about it is the fact that the studio actually put it in the trailer. They used the worst thing in the movie as one of its selling points. That does not speak to any sort of wisdom on either the studio or the producers' end. If they had actually been good at their jobs, and there was better quality control, (and frankly Looney Tunes gatekeeping), the scene would have been on the cutting room floor to begin with.

The Looney Tunes being CGI got a bit of flack online too. But it turns out those designs are actually supposed to be live-action representations of the Looney Tunes. You see where the confusion came from though, don't? They don't look remotely live-action or credible, so I can't imagine how anyone could have seen them in a trailer and considered them anything but CGI toons.

I think I need to spend a lot of time criticizing Lola Bunny. To be blunt, I found the character appalling in the first film, and to its credit this film wisely doesn't sexualize her the way movie inexplicably and grossly did. But now she's boring instead. Lola is a problem character and the most problematic character in the movie. She reminds me entirely of Summer Penguin from the treacly Muppet Babies reboot. The selling point and interesting thing about the Looney Tunes (which is also true of the Muppets, for the record) is that they each have a VERY visible fault or character quirk to differentiate themselves from each other. Bugs is a smartass, Porky a pushover, Daffy a loon or a jerk depending on the era, etc. Lola in this movie doesn't have any personality besides that of the earnest female jock. Once she's made an Amazon in her introductory scene, arguably her entire arc is already over!

I think the thing that makes me SO unhappy about Lola here is that The Looney Tunes Show redid the concept entirely, cast the hilarious Kristen Wiig, and gave her the character fault of being obsessive and a bit crazy. As such, if you had asked me who the best Looney Tunes character was while that show was on the air, I'd have said Lola! And before Wiig, Lola was widely despised by the Looney Tunes fandom because of the first film and Baby Looney Tunes, but that polarizing animated sitcom, for whatever reason, decided to make Lola the best character. It refused to put the characters in 7 minutes cartoons with dynamite and anvils, and the entire cast antagonists with each other. And a lot of Looney Tunes fans resented it for refusing to live up to the expectations of what Looney Tunes should be about. Bugs and Daffy as best friends using observational sitcom humor rather than slapstick? Eh. But in reality the furthest thing the show did from Looney Tunes is take the token female character and make her funnier and more interesting than everybody else including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. That made a statement, and whatever else The Looney Tunes Show was, good or bad, it was a bold statement. And one I loved.

I hear Kath Soucie probably has a sob story for how shabbily the studio must have treated her by replacing her voice with Zendaya after her lines had been recorded. But Soucie sucked in the first movie, and would have underwhelmed me here as much as Zendaya ultimately did. I'm not saying it's cool what the studio did. But it didn't hurt anything either. If you want to argue movie studios replacing long-time actors with stunt casting hurts the relationship between studios and voice actors, and I'll agree with you. But the proper Lola Bunny voice isn't Kath Soucie. It's Kristen Wiig. If they had unceremoniously dumped Wiig for a bigger name, I'd be outraged. Here, I just don't really care.

Also Wiig IS a bigger name than Zendaya, so there really IS no reason they shouldn't have cast her.

Teasing Michael Jordon and not showing him? Why am I disappointed in Michael B Jordan? It's the build-up. I'm bummed instead. There was no good ending for that joke. They never should have made it.

It's time to talk about the plot points that don't hold up to scrutiny. Really, Matt? You're nitpicking a Looney Tunes cartoon? Oh, yes. I do that every new Looney Tunes Cartoons episode if they mess things up. And this movie messed up quite a bit.

To start off with, King Rhythm was far too overpowered. The movie sort of made it not a factor at the end, by the inexplicable ending of turning him into a poster (which by the way is not a credible resolution) but the truth is I felt the game had no stakes this time out because if Rhythm lost, he could easily go back on his word and keep everyone there anyways. The Tune Squad winning the game was actually unnecessary, because if he had a mind to, he could keep them there forever for any reason he wanted. Expecting an audience to believe a Godlike character who has already been shown to be cheating, lying, and untrustworthy will keep up his end of a bargain / bet is unreasonable, stupid, and yes bad writing. Even for a Looney Tunes project.

Speaking of which, this next part is bad writing for any project. But when Lebron declares the algorithm the stupidest thing he's ever heard of, that's bad writing because he's wrong about the reason he hates it. He's all "I'm a basketball player, I don't have time to be actor, and athletes are never good actors." And he might have had a point about those three specific things. Except that's the actual selling point of the algorithm! They scan him once, he's free to play all the ball he wants, and they can used stand-in actors, who WOULD be good at that job to make him look good! Basically he hates the invention for completing fixing the things wrong with athlete actors. The truth is the movie wanted him to personally insult the bad guy in front of other people, in front of the bad guy himself, so the bad guy would have stakes to want to show him up later on. But that is freaking nonsensical from a writing standpoint.

Speaking of which, I hate Bugs Bunny reappearing at the end. Don't get me wrong. I hated the death scene even more (It says a project doesn't understand Looney Tunes if it believes Bugs actually loves the rest of the cast) but the reason I hated it is because they made a big to-do about the death. If toons can't ever be killed, all the other toons should already know that, and therefore nobody should be crying over Bugs' dying body. It's a cheap storytelling move to tug at the heartstrings unearned, and a total cop-out.

Do you know what infuriates me the most about that specific thing? I knew Bugs wasn't actually dead the entire time. Which is what made the death scene so annoying and pointless. Don't forget manipulative, which is the worst way a project can ever make me feel. And the end is rubbing my face in how annoying and pointless and manipulative it all really was.

To make a long story short (although the review is already long) the sequel fixed the two biggest flaws in the first movie. And yet it didn't seem to learn much else from that movie's mistakes. I'm disappointed, and surprised that I AM surprised at how disappointed I am. My expectations were already super low, and they still weren't really met. **.

*Claps Hands*. Thank you. Thank you ever so much - for making me avoid this film like the plague!

I think I'll go watch Arlo the Alligator Boy again, as in a good movie, someday.
Take care, now. Again - *Claps Hands*