LeBron James can’t fill Michael Jordan’s sneakers in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’
LeBron James is the greatest NBA player of his generation, but in the debate about who is the G.O.A.T., he has long been trying to emerge from the shadow of Michael Jordan.
James’ championship with the Los Angeles Lakers last year gave him four NBA titles, but Jordan has six. And one could even make the case that the title James won with the Lakers last year in a pandemic bubble without fans in Florida was overshadowed by the cultural event that was “The Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN/Netflix documentary series on Jordan’s championship years that riveted a nation under lockdown.
Now James is directly challenging Jordan in the toon world. The Ryan Coogler-produced “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is a reboot of Jordan’s unlikely 1996 box-office hit “Space Jam,” in which Jordan, then retired and playing baseball, joined forces with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and pals to defeat space aliens in a game of hoops and save his NBA pals, among them Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing.
In the new one, an A.I. deep in the bowels of the Warner Bros. “server-verse,” the center of its streaming empire, kidnaps
James’ son Dom (Cedric Joe), a video-game genius who doesn’t want to follow in his father’s basketball footsteps. The A.I., named Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle), promises James he can get his son back — and hundreds of millions of people who have been sucked into the toon-verse through an app — if he defeats his “Goon Squad” team in a game of basketball.
Among the crowd to watch and worry is James’ wife, Kamiyah (Sonequa Martin-Green, who has far less to do here than in “Star Trek: Discovery”).
James has to assemble the same team Jordan did — Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Granny, Lola Bunny (voice of
Zendaya) and others (Pepé Le Pew, who was culture canceled, was left off the roster). Meanwhile, Al G. is stealing the basketball skills of some of the game’s greats — including Golden State Warriors forward Klay Thompson, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, James’ Lakers teammate Anthony Davis and WNBA stars Diana Taurasi and Stanford alum Nneka Ogwumike — and turning them into monsters.
Warriors fans will be happy to know Thompson, at least his animated alter ego, is apparently fully recovered from his Achilles’ injury. Thompson plays a character called Wet-Fire, who can turn to water or fire as the
need arises — a character inspired by the “Splash Brothers” nickname given to him and Warriors teammate Stephen Curry.
The basketball is, of course, nonsensical. It’s more “The Matrix” than James Naismith, but the kids will like it. The game is called by TNT announcer Ernie Johnson and Lil Rel Howery (“The Carmichael Show”).
Cheering from the crowd are a host of Warner-owned properties, including Batman and Robin, King Kong, Yogi Bear and many others who apparently used their connections to secure courtside seats. “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is nothing if not a vehicle for product placement selling the Warner Bros. and Nike brands.
An amusing bit early in the film, in which Warner Bros. executives (Steven Yeun, Sarah Silverman) try to sell James on having him appear virtually in movies so as not to interfere
with his basketball career, has James inserted in various Warner films from “Mad Max: Fury Road” (LeBron with a mohawk) to an Austin Powers movie.
At one point, we get a full-on closeup of Ingrid Bergman, in glorious black and white. It is a scene, of course, from “Casablanca.”
“Play it, Sam,” she says.
The piano player is Yosemite Sam.
James looks good in Humphrey Bogart’s tux, though.
The original “Space Jam” was an out-of-nowhere delight, and Jordan gave space to his fellow live-action co-stars, such as Bill
Murray, Larry Bird and Wayne Knight. It was also in and out in 87 minutes; “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” directed by a good filmmaker, Malcolm D. Lee (“Girls Trip,” “The Best Man”), is a bloated 115 minutes, its mayhem and madness wearing pretty thin as it goes along.
There is one truly inspired moment: Down by a lot at halftime, the demoralized James and his toons openly wish for help from Jordan. Suddenly, the lights go down. The ominous Chicago Bulls intro music from the ’90s plays. A spotlight silhouettes an advancing figure.
It is … Michael B. Jordan. The actor.