Space Jam

PLOT:

As NBA superstar Michael Jordan retires from basketball to pursue a career in baseball, Mister Swackhammer, the proprietor of the extraterrestrial theme park “Moron Mountain”, is seeking new attractions for his failing park. He sends his minions, the “Nerdlucks”, to capture the Looney Tunes, who reside deep below the surface of the Earth. The Looney Tunes retaliate by challenging the Nerdlucks to a basketball game (seeing as that they aren’t very tall). To prepare for the game, the Nerdlucks return to Earth and steal the talent of top NBA stars Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson and Shawn Bradley. The Nerdlucks use the stolen talent to become the “Monstars”, gigantic creatures that the Looney Tunes are unable to defeat by themselves. To aid them, the Looney Tunes summon a reluctant Michael and his wormy and rotund assistant Stan Podolak. Soon after, the game between the Looney Tunes and the Monstars begins, but the Looney Tunes appear to be no match for them even with Michael’s help as the Monstars completely dominate the entire first half. As halftime begins, Stan becomes suspicious on how the Monstars are able to play so well and spies on them inside their locker room. While he is ultimately caught (and heavily roughed up), he does discover that the Monstars stole the talents of the NBA players.

Meanwhile, Michael tries to raise the Looney Tunes’ spirits who are already accepting defeat. However Bugs grabs a water bottle and labels it “Michael’s Secret Stuff” in order to boost everyone’s confidence by “claiming” it is what helps Michael play basketball well. Everyone drinks from the bottle and with their spirits raised, the Looney Tunes make an amazing comeback against the Monstars and reduce the Monstar’s giant lead to only a few points.

At that point, Swackhammer yells at the Monstars for losing their lead and Michael decides to confront Swackhammer about the NBA players’ stolen talent. Michael proposes to raise the stakes; if the Looney Tunes win, the Monstars are to return the talent, but if the Monstars win, they can have Michael as the new attraction for Moron Mountain. Intrigued by this offer, Swackhammer demands the Monstars to play as dirty as possible. The Looney Tunes are then roughed up by the brutal playing style of the Monstars until only Michael, Bugs, Lola and Daffy are left standing leaving them short one player. Bill Murray, being friends with the producer of the film, is able to enter the Looney Tunes’ world and join their team, averting forfeiture.

By the climax of the game, the Tunes are down by one and it is up to Michael to score the final point for his team. Using his infamously extendable arm, Michael manages to make the basket and win the game. Swackhammer scolds the Monstars for losing the game; however’ with some motivation from Michael, the Monstars realize they do not have to tolerate his abusiveness. They stand up to him and send him to the Moon.

Despite everything that has happened between the Looney and Nerdlucks, the Looney Tunes allow the Nerdlucks to stay on Earth instead of returning to Moron Mountain. Afterwards, the Looney Tunes return Michael to Earth, just in time for his baseball game, where he returns the stolen talent to their respective owners. He is later prompted by his rivals to return to the NBA, mirroring his real-life comeback.

REVIEW:

A movie featuring the Looney tunes and some of the hottest basketball stars of the late 90s, including Michael Jordan. How could anything go wrong with this, right?

Well, aside from the cheesy plot of tiny aliens coming to Earth to force the Looney Tunes into slavery on their planet, only to be challenged to a basketball game,m which they have to steal talent from NBA stars and the Looney tunes have to abduct Michael Jordan, who was a baseball player at the time, to help, this really isn’t that bad. OK…so, the plot, as bad as it is, makes for quite an intersting story.

There are plenty of pluses to this film. We have the Looney Tunes, who are always good, although it did feel like they were trying so hard to get them all on the screen, that some got shafted *COUGH* Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, etc. *COUGH* Everytime I watch this, I wonder what possessed them to create a totally new female character. Don’t get me wrong, Lola Bunny is totally hot and all, but why? They could have just as easily given that basketball talent to some other character. For instance, Speedy or Marvin could have ended up as a basketball prodigy. I’m just saying.

I found it interesting that this story takes place during that odd time in Michael Jordan’s life between his initial retirement from basketball and the failed baseball months. In the back of my head, I have to wonder if this really happened…lol Seriously, though, it does make for a nice framing for the plot. I’ve always wondered why they used Michael, but not his family. His boys are now in college, I think on may be playing in March Madness, if I’m not mistaken…just FYI. Nothing against these actors, but it was just weird for me to have the real Michael Jordan, yet actors playing his family. It would have been one thing if he was playing a character of MJ, but he was literally playing himself, so why not use his real family.

AS good as Michal was on  the court, there is a reason he didn’t branch out into acting. I’m sorry to say that Michael cannot act. I don’t know if that has anything to do with this material, or if he just isn’t that good of an actor. Perhaps there are just high expectations since he was so good on the court, as with baseball, we just expect for him to be that good in everything.

Jordan isn’ t the only basketball star in here, though. Charles Barkely (much skinnier than what he is today), Muggsy Bogues, Shawn BRadley, and Larry Johnson make appearances as the players whose talent is stolen by the Nerdlucks. As they try to figure out what’s wrong with them, they have some of the best scenes in the live-action part of this film.

The Nerdlucks. These guys are just odd little cats. Tiny aliens who are pushed around by their boss on the sole reason that he’s bigger than them. I actually think they were better as the Monstars, though. It’s a shame we never learned their names, but then again, it’s never said that they are called Nerlucks, either.

This is another one of those films that is nothing more than just pure fun. If you expected something serious  from a film with the Looney Tunes in it, then you seriously need you head examined. For those of you that have been looking for a good family flick, Space Jam is just what you’ve been looking for. I’m not really sure why this isn’t rated G, but then again the MPAA probably thinks that since Lola is showing her midriff that is good enough reason for this to lose the G rating, but I digress. I totally expected to be disappointed when I heard what this was about, but I took the chance anyway and fully enjoyed myself, and I’m sure you will, too.

5 out of 5 stars