Space Jam Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: Space Jam
Year: 1996
Director: Joe Pytka
Country: US
Language: English

Golfing has Tiger Woods, wrestling has Hulk Hogan, Baseball has Babe Ruth and Basketball has Michael Jordan. Born February 17, 1963 Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a household name, he is synonymous with basketball. Jordan played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, eventually gaining a reputation as one of the best defensive players in basketball. The most effectively marketed athlete of his generation, Jordan is a five time MVP award winner, he fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers and starred in Space Jam alongside Bugs Bunny.

In Space Jam, Michael Jordan agrees to help the Looney Toons play a basketball game vs. alien slavers to determine their freedom.

The movie has a distinct charm that separates itself from other films aimed at children that also have sleazy merchandising tie-ins. While Michael Jordan is a very poor actor, the absurdity of his situation makes the story quite compelling. He doesn't try to act too goofy; his comedy comes from playing it straight.  It also helps to have the anarchic antics of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird (amongst others) as a supporting cast. The movie entertains kids while also not be mind numbingly boring for adults. This is a great use of Michael Jordan's image, while at the same time introducing old characters to a new generation of film-goers.

The cartoon sequences employ traditional animation techniques and newer approaches, like computer animation. The use of live-action and animation often blend perfectly together, but sometimes seem quite dated compared to 2015, then again does Hollywood still make crossovers like this? Unfortunately Space Jam lacks urgency in its central conflict. If the Toons loose this game of basketball they will be ENSLAVED FOREVER. I understand that there needs to be humor, because if it was full of doubt and dread then the picture wouldn't appeal to children, but his pregame speech is “Let’s just go out and have fun.” Have some FUN?! When your lives are on the line?! The writer's needed to come up with lesser stakes if they wanted the basketball game to be all about "fun"

In conclusion, I'm disappointed that Bugs Bunny did not appear in drag to distract a few sexually confused monsters. However Space Jam was still a fun movie for its time and isn't terrible to watch as an adult almost twenty years later. Many parts feel dated, there is a lot of throwaway humour and sometimes the flick lacks drama where it needs it, but overall it's a marketing ploy gone right. Did I mention Bill Murray? Yeah, it has Bill Murray. 3/5