Space Jam (1996)

Starring: Michael Jordan, Billy West, Danny DeVito, Wayne Knight, Theresa Randle, Bill Murray, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Shawn Bradley, with cameos from Alonzo Mourning, Vlade Divac, Danny Ainge, Horace Grant, Charles Oakley, Steve Kerr, Paul Westphal, Ahmad Rashad, Jim Rome, Derek Harper, A.C. Green, Jeff Malone, Cedric Ceballos, Luc Longley, Brian Shaw, Bill Wennington, and Patricia Heaton
Grade: Classic

Charles Barkley promising God that he will never go out with Madonna again will never not be funny.

Summary

Back in 1973, a young Michael Jordan shoots baskets outside after midnight. His father tries to get him to go to sleep but lets him shoot until he misses. Jordan can’t miss, so his father continues to encourage him. At the same time, Jordan talks about his dreams of going to college, winning a national title while playing for UNC, and playing in the NBA, with his dad telling him he can do whatever he puts his mind to. In addition, Jordan says he wants to play baseball after all that to the excitement of his baseball-loving father. As his father jokes that Jordan thinks he’s going to “fly” as well, his son goes to the rim for a dunk, and this cuts into the electric opening credits sequence showcasing Jordan’s career highlights, accomplishing everything he set out to do as a child.

Following this, we jump to 1993. This is where Jordan, fresh off winning three straight NBA championships, announces his retirement from basketball to pursue professional baseball.

Meanwhile in outer space, there’s a failing amusement park located on its own moon called Moron Mountain. After watching a son tell his father to not bring him to the park anymore via security camera footage, the evil owner Mr. Swackhammer (DeVito) realizes they need to spice things up and bring in new attractions to the park. As he discusses this idea with his assorted group of diminutive minions, the Nerdlucks, he sits on his remote. In doing this, it switches channels on all of his monitors, showing old Looney Tunes shorts instead. This gives him an idea. He sends the Nerdlucks to Earth to bring the Looney Tunes to Moron Mountain as his new attractions. If they don’t want to come, he tells his small assistants to “Make them”. Back on Earth, Michael Jordan is playing baseball to mixed results. Though everyone still loves him, he’s getting preferential treatment when he doesn’t necessarily deserve it. In one instance, a catcher from the opposing team thanks Jordan for autographing a basketball for his kid, so he tries to tell him what the pitcher is throwing when Jordan is at the plate. He listens on the first couple of pitches but decides to swing at a slider anyway, despite the catcher telling him not to. He strikes out. At the same time, the team’s publicist Stan Podolak (Knight) is told by management to make sure Jordan is happy. Once Jordan gets back in the dugout, Stan tries to introduce himself from atop of it but falls in. Upon recovering, he talks to Jordan and assures him he will do whatever it takes to make sure he is happy. Just then, the Nerdlucks’ spaceship zooms by the baseball field. Everyone looks in confusion. The ship continues to fly for a bit, goes straight into the ground, and flies for a few miles.

Eventually, they head straight into the Looney Tunes’ universe as its entrance is located somewhere underground, unbeknownst to the real world.

In the Looney Tunes universe, Bugs Bunny (West) is being chased by Elmer Fudd. Soon after, the Nerdlucks spaceship lands directly on Fudd. After some initial confusion with Bugs trying his trickery on the aliens as he denies who he is, the Nerdlucks realize what he’s doing and hold Bugs at gunpoint. Elsewhere, Stan drives Jordan home in his jalopy of a car, with Jordan thanking him but saying he’s going to drive himself tomorrow. After Jordan gets trampled by his dog Charles, his wife Juanita (Randle) shows up with the kids following their little league baseball game. Jordan’s son Jeff isn’t too happy and doesn’t want to talk to him about the game because he’s disappointed with himself. Inside, Jordan and Juanita greet their nanny, and Jordan tells Juanita how bad his game was. Then, they are interrupted by the kids watching Jim Rome on TV bashing Jordan’s most recent performance. Trying to lighten the mood for everyone, Jordan turns the channel to the Looney Tunes for the kids to watch and leaves the room. There, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are up to their usual tricks. However, it quickly gets odd. Porky Pig shows up and tells both characters to stop the cartoon because they have an emergency Cartoon Character Union meeting. All the characters leave with the show still in progress, confusing the hell out of these kids.

In the Looney Tunes Universe, all the characters go to the union meeting where Bugs is locked up in chains, on a stage with the Nerdlucks. He gives them the mic, with the lead one saying they’re all their prisoners. All the Tunes laugh them off. Yosemite Sam (Bill Farmer) storms the stage with his guns, but he’s vaporized by their space alien weaponry. After that, all the Tunes hold their hands up in defeat. Thinking fast, Bugs, who takes off the chains with ease, says the Nerdlucks can’t just take them into slavery without giving them a chance to defend themselves. On the spot, he writes a rule in a book he pulls out of thin air, fixing the title so it says, “How to Capture: Cartoon Character”, with “Capture” replacing the word “Draw”. Getting tricked into believing this to be a legitimate rule book, they agree to this. So, the Tunes go backstage to discuss a plan. Seeing who they’re dealing with in the Nerdlucks regarding their size and such, they challenge them to a basketball game. The Nerdlucks agree to it, though they have never heard of basketball. The Tunes play an instructional video for everyone in attendance to show them. When the voiceover narration of the video mentions how the best players in the world play for the NBA, the Nerdlucks hatch a plot. They go to New York City during a game between the New York Knicks and the Phoenix Suns and observe in disguise, with two patrons (Patricia Heaton and Dan Castellaneta) next to them being weary of their odd presence of a long trench coat and hat, more so the woman. Eventually, they see that Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing are the best players on the floor, so they turn themselves into a gel of some sort and inject themselves straight into the bodies of the two players. Upon exiting the superstars’ bodies, the aliens take their talent with them and put it magically into a basketball.

Later, the same happens with the Charlotte Hornets’ Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues, and the Philadelphia 76ers’ Shawn Bradley. Soon after, it starts to make national news that some sort of virus has affected these players and have put them out indefinitely. We even see players from the Los Angeles Lakers refusing to play. Jordan sees the report from Ahmad Rashad on television, but he’s interrupted by Stan, who shows up to get him ready for their next game. Back in the Looney Tunes universe, Bugs asks the others if any of them have played basketball before. Sadly, none of them have. Porky interrupts to tell him the Nerdlucks want to use the court, so Bugs lets them. After Daffy Duck makes a joke about them not being able to practice being any taller, the Nerdlucks grab the magical basketball and all touch it. In doing so, the powers, talent, and size from the NBA players transfer into them. Because of this, they grow to freakishly large heights and are now phenomenal at basketball. The Monstars are born! Relatively unphased, Bugs comes to the realization that they may need a little help.

On the golf course, Jordan plays with Larry Bird and Bill Murray, with Stan accompanying them. As Murray contemplates attempting an NBA career because of the recent outbreak stopping other players from wanting to play, Jordan hits his shot, and it’s a hole in one. Unbeknownst to him, Bugs uses a magnet from underground to bring it into the hole. The four men go to get the ball. With Jordan reaching into the hole and stopping for Stan to take a picture, Jordan is inexplicably lassoed into the hole, brought underground, and straight into the Looney Tunes universe. Just as Stan panics in trying to figure out where Jordan went, and Bird and Murray leaving without really caring, the Tunes work hard in recruiting Jordan to help them. Though he’s initially insistent on being a baseball player now, he has a run-in with the Monstars at the gym. They embarrass Jordan in front of everyone by turning him into a human basketball and playing with him. Following this, and Tweety Bird asking if he’s afraid of them, Jordan realizes he has to do something. Finally, he agrees to return to the game to help them against the Monstars.

However, he still needs a little practice to get back into game shape, as do the Tunes.

My Thoughts:

If there was ever a movie that didn’t need a sequel, this one would be it. Space Jam is iconic. From the title to Michael Jordan, to Newman from Seinfeld, this film is the quintessential 90s movie. Some argue that it’s practically a commercial with the way it highlights Michael Jordan, the NBA, and the Looney Tunes. If you’re one of those people, loosen up. Space Jam just makes us happy. It’s been doing so since 1996.

Why? Well, it’s because it’s the ultimate family film!

Kids will be entertained because of the craziness of the plot, the mixture of cartoon and human worlds, the humor of the classic Looney Tunes, and having the biggest star to ever play the game of basketball be at the forefront of the action. Adults will be entertained because though it’s a kid’s movie, it doesn’t insult your intelligence with pure stupidity, it’s actually funny, and the live-action personalities involved with the production are very entertaining. The imagination of the film is felt in both adults and children alike too. Yes, it’s a wild concept to digest, but it works because of how well it’s handled. Who would’ve thought that having the greatest basketball player of all time team up with some of the greatest cartoons of all time, in an intergalactic game of basketball would be a match made in heaven? Can you imagine pitching this one to the studio? Executives were either thinking, “This is the dumbest thing we’ve ever heard”, or “This is absolutely genius”. There’s no in-between.

Marketing alone would attract fans in droves, especially with Michael Jordan being at the height of his powers, but the real greatness comes from the story being pure, harmless fun. For this reason alone, it’s one of the many favorite films of the generation growing up during this time period. It’s not just nostalgia that makes it endearing. Space Jam is one of the most wildly imaginative movies ever made, with groundbreaking animation to boot. Similar to how Who Framed Roger Rabbit changed the game years back with its innovative mixture of two-dimensional animation, three-dimensional/computer animation, and live-action, Space Jam takes it even further by doing all of this in a hyperactive sports film. Here, the real Michael Jordan is inserted into these all-encompassing, detailed green screen landscapes and people to work with in not only the regular conversational scenes but also in the basketball-related scenes, and it looks incredible. The reverse is also done well, with an excellently crafted sequence in which Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck have to sneak into Jordan’s real house and get his basketball gear, interacting with real people and objects. It legitimately looks as if they walked straight out of the TV and into the real world. The minds behind this production truly deserve a round of applause for the amazing work they put together to make this whole concept seem as real as possible.

In fact, give them a pizza party. It’s on me.

Somehow, just as well as the animation sequences, they are able to insert a live-action Jordan into a two-dimensional world. For 1996, it looks phenomenal! Honestly, it still holds up too, along with the NBA shutting the season down because they can’t guarantee the safety of the players, as the aliens taking the talent from the players is looked at as a pandemic of sorts.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Making Jordan look like he’s actually in this scenario was vital to bringing this world to life onscreen, and they absolutely nail it from a technical perspective. However, Michael Jordan himself doesn’t get nearly enough credit. In his first and only acting role, Jordan is given a majority of the screentime and does a wonderful job as the star. Think about the pressure going into this. Warner Bros. gave the film everything it needed to succeed, including Bill Murray and a cavalcade of proven commodities such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Now, everything goes back to Jordan, one of the biggest stars in the world. The staying power of this film would have been affected greatly if Jordan stunk it up as an actor. Honestly, he would have gotten a pass regardless since he’s not a classically trained actor, and he’s being forced to act with characters who aren’t actually there, something real actors struggle with when dealing with CGI-focused films. Even so, much like how Jordan was on the court, he responded by taking this pressure head on and churning out a very solid performance for the usually dreaded athlete-turned-actor role. With the way he carries himself in the baseball scenes, to how he interacts with his friends and family, to how he reacts to Stan, Space Jam feels like a sample size of how Jordan is in real life, according to his family friendly image at the time. For all of his fans, this is exactly who we wanted to see, Michael Jordan in all his glory. It truly felt like this is him. His characterization was exactly what it needed to be, and the film did a great job at highlighting his strengths as an actor and talent.

The only thing I would want to change regarding his performance is his initial entrance into the Looney Tunes universe. Considering he’s coming face to face with a two-dimensional world populated by some of the most famous cartoon characters of all time, he should have been a bit more freaked out at first, or at least questioned how this was all possible. It would have only added to the humor and the world-building of the story in doing so. As it stands now, Jordan seems to be a little confused but borders more on being inconvenienced rather than shocked.

Then again, this is part of the charm of the movie. It never takes itself too seriously. Though this is a requirement of a Looney Tunes-centered production, it mixes in well with some decisions made within the narrative and the breaking of the fourth wall here and there like when Bugs talks to the audience or when Bill Murray says he was able to get to the game because the producer was a friend of his. It’s like director Joe Pytka and Warner Bros. themselves are trying to remind us that this is all for fun. Because of this, you can’t critique a film like Space Jam on certain details. It’s almost exempt in a way. Why are Jordan’s kids not shocked in seeing two living, breathing cartoon characters in their living room stealing stuff? Why aren’t Larry Bird and Bill Murray freaking the hell out that Michael Jordan was pulled into a golf hole, disappearing without a trace? If Porky Pig showed up on the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon and they all left mid-show, wouldn’t that make national news as well because of the lack of explanation? Jordan’s kids weren’t the only one’s watching it on TV. Wouldn’t Warner Bros. executives have to give the media some kind of confused explanation for this? This is my point. These are all legitimate questions, but Space Jam operates on a different playing field. Poking holes in certain story details aren’t really fair to a point because the entertainment value is so high, the movie is so fun, and it does so well for its target audience that we can’t criticize it too much without sounding like an obnoxious prude deserving of an ass-whipping.

You know who you are.

Though Billy West sounded a tad different from the regular Bugs Bunny we know, Space Jam also succeeds in honoring our cherished characters. They could have easily been enamored with getting Michael Jordan to star that the Tunes could have been sideshow pieces to the story as a whole, but they were integral to the film and the humor. Additionally, they don’t change them drastically to fit the modern era’s style or humor. The sequences involving the Looney Tunes just reminds us why these characters are timeless, at a time when they were waning in popularity. For that, we have to give them credit. You can feel the love of these characters from the people who wrote it. It’s a reminder instead of a reboot, which I think we can all appreciate. The only major change revolving around the Tunes is the creation of Lola Bunny (Kath Soucie), but her involvement in the plot “made” the film. She gave it the different energy it needed to make sense of the athletic portions of the story, while also giving Bugs Bunny someone new to play off of. This was just the amount of change required for the story without turning off loyal fans of the franchise. Let’s be honest, the Looney Tunes never had a strong female character. Sure, it’s sort of a non-issue since we’re talking about cartoon animals, but even so, there was room to grow. Because of this, the introduction of Lola could not have come at a better time. In addition, I enjoyed how they wrote her character too. It didn’t feel like a character who was created purely for PR reasons. It just felt like a good idea that added a layer to the story without pissing off fans of the existing characters. Realistically, this shouldn’t be too hard, but since we see it so often with the handling of today’s shows and movies, I have to give Space Jam credit for showing us the template on how to do it right.

Lola is strong, confident, tough, has her head screwed on straight as opposed to everyone else in this universe, and she doesn’t really buy into Bugs’s bullshit, despite her inevitably going to be his love interest. It offsets his slyness, and it messes with him for a change, which is cool to see. Though some could argue that more time could have been added to developing her a bit more, it’s not really needed to make this movie the pop culture phenomenon it became. Furthermore, it didn’t have a negative effect on her either. The way they presented Lola helped her because you only want to see more of her in future productions. Everyone loved Lola Bunny! If anything, we wish she existed in Looney Tunes canon sooner!

Everything in this film leads us to this climactic basketball game. Once we finally get there, it feels like you are watching something special. Despite the ridiculousness of everything going on, the audience is pulled into the action, and we feel the importance of this game and the potential danger the Tunes face. It’s so well done for such a crazy movie, but it’s crafted to perfection, making Space Jam one of the best sports movies of all time. As soon as they go through the starting lineups, we really feel like this is Game 7 of the NBA Finals. This game is a big deal, and director Joe Pytka treats it like one. The screenplay is also underrated. Do you understand the genius writing of Jordan being told by Bugs that cartoon physics can be possible while being in the Looney Tunes universe? This is such a fantastic idea implemented, and I never see anyone giving it the credit it deserves. Along with a great cast of NBA players who were willing to step out of their comfort zone to help develop the plot, we get a funny, small role by Larry Bird, and Bill Murray who, if you’ve seen the movie you know, absolutely steals every scene he’s in. At one point in the 4th quarter, we got Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck playing basketball against giant aliens in an entirely animated landscape. As insane as this sounds, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

I am dead serious when I say this might go down as the greatest film soundtrack of all time too. I’m willing to have this conversation because I would put it against any film. Every song used in this pop culture extravaganza is an absolute banger. The title song “Space Jam” is an all-timer by itself, so much so that I never skip the opening credits when watching it. Do you know how rare that is?

Space Jam is a personal favorite of many, but it’s not just because of the 90s nostalgia. You don’t even have to love the game of basketball to appreciate it either. It’s a lovable family film, starring the greatest basketball player of all time and some of the most adored cartoon characters ever. Combined with a light and genuinely funny script, and small celebrity roles who are in on the joke but also seem to appreciate the good intentions of the film, Space Jam stands the test of time as a movie that captures the heart and imagination of anyone who watches it.

Fun Fact: Before Wayne Knight was cast as Stan, director Joe Pytka’s first choices were Chevy Chase or Michael J. Fox. Warner Bros. turned both options down. Jason Alexander also turned down the role. Also, Mr. Swackhammer was originally planned to be Jack Palance. When the character was going to be live-action, Dennis Hopper was also considered.