This past week I watched Space Jam again for the first time in close to 20 years in preparation for the release of the new Space Jam. Having LeBron create a version of this classic film had been in discussion for years before this was in production. Then once it was being produced this really led to the discussion as to whether LeBron's film could best the classic Michael Jordan was a part of. The new version was released to HBO Max, and it came out in theaters. I opted to watch it at home, so that I could watch the finale in the Fear Street Trilogy once I finished. When people compare LeBron to MJ, they typically talk about the amount of championship rings they have, but now there is a new variable to add to the equation, so who did it better?
First, a summary of the original Space Jam. Michael Jordan was playing baseball in Birmingham after his first retirement from basketball, and he was doing subpar. While this was happening, aliens were trying to figure out a way to get the Looney Tunes to be a side show at their amusement park. The Looney Tunes decided to challenge the aliens to a basketball game because the aliens were so short, but the tunes did not realize that the aliens had special powers. The aliens absorbed the abilities of some of the best NBA players at the time like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, and the aliens became massive talented monsters. This led to the tunes having to recruit Michael Jordan to their squad. The tunes did not have great basketball talent, so in the first half of the game they were being smoked. In the second half, they came out with more energy and mounted a massive comeback. MJ used his clutch gene and newfound toon abilities to finish off the aliens and keep the tunes out of enslavement.
The new version had some added twists to it. LeBron's kid, Dom, wanted to be a videogame designer and go to E3 camp instead of basketball camp, but he felt like he was going to let LeBron down. When LeBron gets a chance to visit Warner Brothers’ movie campus, he ends up upsetting Dom, and Dom runs off. That is when Dom gets sucked into Al G. Rhythm's cyberspace, and so does LeBron, but LeBron gets sent to the toon world to build a team for an epic matchup. After exploring many of the other Warner Brothers properties, LeBron has his team of Tunes ready to go up against the all-stars that his son put together that consisted of souped-up versions of Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Sue Bird, and others. The basketball they are playing is much closer to a version of NBA Jam, a classic arcade version of a basketball game. So the scores were massive. Also, the stakes were raised, all the people watching the game on their phones were sucked into cyberspace, and if LeBron lost, they all had to stay. Just like in the original, the Tune Squad goes down big, but in the second half, they make a comeback, and Dom joins LeBron's team. After they win, LeBron sends Dom to video game camp.
One of the first aspect changes that is noticed between the two films, is the massive jump in the ability to animate these films. For 1996, the original Space Jam looked very rough, especially when they integrated the animated figures into real world scenarios, or when they integrated MJ into the animated world. It just did not work well at all. It would be easy to say that since this film was made in 1996 that it should not hold up, but if it is compared to Toy Story, which came out around the same time, the Space Jam animation is bad even for its time. Pixar is the pinnacle for animation, and Toy Story did not try to integrate real people into their movie, but it still seems like they would have done a much better job in animating this movie than Warner Brothers did. Now it is common to CGI so many aspects in movies today, that it makes sense that they were able to integrate LeBron and others into the cyberspace world so easily. Clearly when watching a movie, how it looks is a large part of how enjoyable of an experience the viewer will have, so when it comes to animation, A New Legacy takes the point for this one.
In the original Space Jam, the aliens are the antagonists, and they are trying to enslave the Looney Tunes and MJ, and they play a big role in the film. Whereas in the new one, Al G. is the antagonist, but he does not really come into the basketball game until close to the end. They do a good job of developing his character and his motivations throughout, but they barely let the players on his team shine at all. The aliens play a massive role in the film even though they are not the ones in charge. It just felt like the animated versions of Dame, AD, Klay, Sue, and Nneka were not really role players in this movie at all. It would have been a better movie if those people had played a bigger role, so for this aspect, the original gets the point.
As far as acting goes, this one easily goes to LeBron. Jordan seemed like he was trying to be a caricature of himself but with a more positive spin on his personality that was overly forced. MJ was very happy go lucky, and at one point he said he did not care about winning, that it was all about having fun, even though if they lost, they became enslaved. This clearly goes against any of the mythology that has been built and proven about MJ. He has always been a cold-blooded killer and wants to win everything, so this portrayal just does not fit. He let himself get dribbled around by the aliens, the real MJ would not stand for that. After that moment, all I could picture was the meme from The Last Dance, where he said, "And I took that personally." Then he would go on to explain how he destroyed his opponent. This did not fit his movie role, and it felt forced and poorly done. Whereas LeBron does come off as a cold competitor in many aspects, even as a father in the opening scenes. There are times in the film where he almost comes off as unlikable, which feels truer to life. LeBron just seems to have a more natural feel on the screen unlike MJ. Part of this could be due to his being a media darling since he was in high school, and the massive growth of the presence of media everywhere. So LeBron has an unfair advantage due to the era and way in which he grew up, but he still gets the point for this one.
This brings us to the most important part of the movie, the plot. One of the aspects to keep in mind when it comes to plot is that the original is a tight 88 minutes, whereas the new version is two hours. Both movies open with relatively inconsequential scenes with MJ and LeBron, in their respective movies, as kids going through a moment showing their potential for greatness. Then both films go to a highlight reel of the players' careers, which take about five minutes. This is important because that is about ten minutes of the original Space Jam that gets taken away from their ability to tell the story in an already short film, now if they had added those ten minutes to more story development, would it have helped that much? Probably not, but it takes away from the chance for improvement. Also their overall message is lacking in the original, especially for a kids movie. It was about working together and believing in oneself, but the message really fell flat and had little to no emotion attached. In the new version, it had a stronger story. There was a strong focus on family and the need to support one's children no matter what, even if that is not what the parent had planned. It also had the similar message of believing in oneself and the necessity of teamwork. The story overall in the new one just flowed better, it had way more components working together, and although it did not all gel, it worked better than the original. Point LeBron.
So if the points are tallied, LeBron gets the win in this competition. Overall, it was just a better movie, from the acting, the visuals, and the plot/messaging, the older version just does not compare. They even gave LeBron a way better house. Clearly MJ was not living in some average suburban home after making millions of dollars, that was just a terrible portrayal. To be honest, this conclusion bummed me out. I held the original in high esteem. I truly looked back on it with rose tinted glasses steeped in nostalgia, but when I went back and watched it, almost immediately I could tell that it would not hold up as well. With all that being said, I gave the original 1 star, and I gave the new version 2 stars, so clearly both of them are not that great. It does make me wonder if the new version will build up a cult following like that of the original. It seems like it will be a hit with kids, and that it will hit a variety of kids groups due to it being video game focused, sports focused, it has some girl power aspects with Lola, and it has the presence of many well-known cartoons. All of that added together seems like it should leave a good imprint with kids, but only time will tell. It is not really worth the watch, unless you have a kid or want to make a connection between the two films, but if you have no connection to the basketball world or kids’ culture, it does not seem worth it.
Other movies this week:
Fear Street 1666 puts a nice bow on the Fear Street trilogy. The main storyline takes place in a colonial America setting. The residents are on a witch hunt to help end their troubles. It has a strong vibe from The Witch, The Village, and has a Salem Witch trials feel. It throws in a nice twist, and then brings the story to a close. It was the best of the three and blends the colonial horror well with the slasher aspects. The trilogy is well worth the watch.
The Hunt for Wilderpeople was an excellent movie directed by Taika Waititi. It was the story of a troubled teen getting adopted into a new loving home in the middle of nowhere, but that quickly evaporates when his aunt dies, and he ends up on the run in the bush with his uncle from child protective services. It shows the importance of being in a loving home and the healing power that nature can provide for a person. I highly recommend watching this, it is easily accessible on Netflix, and it is a quick and incredibly enjoyable watch. The only reason I did not give it the full 5 stars is because it needed slightly more of an emotional punch to it.
A Classic Horror Story was an Italian horror film released onto Netflix. It was very well done. It had a strong Blair Witch vibe that was blended with cult horror popular in European horror films. It has a nice Italian twist at the end and was quite enjoyable, not mention gruesome, gross, and unsettling.
Pig was a film starring Nicholas Cage, it sounded like it was going to be like John Wick, but it was far from it. It had a profoundly serious, somber, and dark tone. It hit many emotional notes hard. It was not what I was expecting, but it was still good, and it has received much acclaim. The pig needed more shine in the film. It was also an odd look into the underground restaurant world of Portland, Maine, and commented strongly on being yourself and finding what is important in life to you.
Thanks to the crappy weather this weekend, I racked up seven new movies this week.
New Rankings:
Space Jam: 1 Star
Space Jam a New Legacy: 2 Stars
Fear Street 1666: 3.5 Stars
The Hunt For WilderPeople: 4.5 Stars
Escape Room Tournament of Champions: 1 Star
A Classic Horror Story: 3.5 Stars
Pig: 3.5 Stars
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