NEW ‘SPACE JAM’ A WORTHY LEGACY
‘A New Legacy’ a worthy follow-up for LeBron — and my dad
Last week, I went to AMC Waterfront to watch a screening of “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” which debuted in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday. Yes, I have opinions on how simultaneously cringe-inducing and heartwarming it is. I actually came away thinking the much-maligned clip of Porky Pig rapping as the Notorious P.I.G. isn’t as embarrassing in the context of the film’s climactic basketball game as it seemed on Twitter.
But I cannot in good conscience review “Space Jam: A New Legacy” objectively. The 1996 “Space Jam” is one of my favorite movies ever, one I have returned to many times over the years and still enjoy in all its ridiculous, campy glory.
How, you may I ask, can someone who wants to be taken seriously as a film critic admit that he loves “Space Jam”? Well, friends, the answer is simple: Both “Space Jam” movies remind me of my dad to the point where I get a knot in my stomach just thinking about them. We both got so much enjoyment out of the original.
My dad was none other than Phil Axelrod, a Post-Gazette sportswriter for 37 years who died on July 21, 2014, of lung cancer. I wrote about my enduring admiration for him on the last day of my Post-Gazette internship in 2017, upon the release of the new “Lion King” in 2019 and last year when I rounded up some of his best work.
Some of my earliest memories are the three times I saw “Space Jam” in theaters. Nothing was more entertaining to 4year-old me than watching Looney Tunes characters messing around in the real world and Michael Jordan showing the Monstars how it’s done in a game with galactic stakes.
The movie made such an impression on me that I remember all the friends my dad set up playdates with for another “Space Jam” outing. In retrospect, my mom and I believe that was just an excuse for him to see it again, which would be extremely on-brand for a man whose favorite sport by far was basketball.
My dad was born and raised in Pittsburgh and ended up being one of the few NBA fans in a town that couldn’t care less about professional basketball. He got me into the NBA in high school during the ascent of LeBron James, who stars in the new “Space Jam,” as the league’s heir apparent to Jordan. As silly as it sounds, “Space Jam” taught me a lot about ’90s-era NBA history and why Jordan was and continues to be so revered.
“Space Jam” became ubiquitous around the Axelrod household. My fifth birthday party featured a “Space Jam” cake adorned with little figures of Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil. I had so many “Space Jam” toys, including the Nerdlucks, that I used to play epic games of basketball. One of the first things I did after moving back to Pittsburgh in 2019 was go to a “Space Jam” screening at Lawrencville’s Row House Cinema.
With all that in mind, you can understand why I grew increasingly frustrated by the internet chatter surrounding “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Folks online dismissed it as a cynical cash grab and another excuse for Warner Bros. to smash its deep vault of intellectual properties together into something resembling a movie.
For me, none of that mattered. All I wanted to do was see James attempt to outG.O.A.T. Jordan as an actor and Looney Tunes teammate. Whether the movie was “good” or not was irrelevant. It also happened to be coming out the week before the seven-year anniversary of my dad’s death, so the timing seemed like the universe acknowledging how important “Space Jam” was to us both.
“A New Legacy” is pretty far removed from the original in terms of plot, scope and aesthetics. Again, not all of it works, but there are some legitimately funny gags and a surprisingly heartfelt central relationship between James and his movie son, Dom (Cedric Joe). Unlike Jordan, who was mostly just there to hoop, James has some real acting chops that he breaks out in between dunks.
If I had to go full critic, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is probably a 2½-star movie. But as a longtime “Space
Jam” fan and the son of Phil Axelrod, I can only see this franchise through rose-colored glasses.
James did his best to inject a new legacy into “Space
Jam,” which is anchored by a central story about a father learning how to let his son, as Dom says, “do me.”
Dad, I hope you’re proud of how I’ve kept your legacy alive while continuing to “do me” as well.