Space Jam: A New Legacy review

I watched Space Jam: A New Legacy directed by Malcolm D. Lee and really liked it. Great movie to take a kid to or watch from home. Wholesome, fun, and family-friendly. Some of this review may be considered spoilers. Here is the trailer – video.

Cedric Joe plays Dom James (LeBron James’s son), who wants to be a video game developer and makes a really cool basketball game. His Dad LeBron wants Dom to pursue being a better basketball player, and that is where the tension/plot develops. LeBron’s wife Kamiyah encourages LeBron to pursue his passion for game development and programming. The code camp is the E3 Game Design Camp.

There is not a movie I can think of at this time that has a kid wanting to be a game designer / programmer and having such a good positive message on family and acceptance in a giant movie like this. Everyone in the cast was great, it was really well done for a kids movie.

A smart kid who wants to go to code camp and builds a stronger bond with his father along the way with the help of the Looney Tunes might sum it up too.

Don Cheadle portrays Al G. Rhythm. In a Tron-like effort, A l G beams Dom in after LeBron shoots down the ideas for Warner 3000, a server-verse inside a giant computer system/data center at Warner. Al G. wants Dom to compete with LeBron in the computer world. LeBron must enlist the help of the Looney Tunes. Every costume Don Cheadle wore was terrific.

During the movie, there are tons of cameos from many Warner Bros. franchises. WB has a wiki with all the appearances, from speaking roles to ones in the background. Of course, part of the fun for folks who grew up with all these characters is to try to spot them in the background.

As LeBron entered the serververse, he flies through many of the WB worlds, from The Matrix to Wizard of Oz, to Harry Potter.

If Looney Tunes wins, the people can go back to the real world. If not, they’re stuck in the serververse. And all the Looney tunes get deleted.

As the competition starts, the opposing team to LeBron’s Looney Tunes is the Goon Squad. Some of the players are from the NBA and WBNA: Sue Bird, Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi, Klay Thompson. Micheal Jordan was in it too, but not the one you might guess. It was cool to see WNBA in there.

The lead player on LeBron’s Looney Tune team (besides LeBron) is Lola Bunny, voiced by Zendaya, and it was really good.

As the movie action builds, the toons and most characters get converted to 3D renderings vs. their toon appearances.

LeBron wants to stick to the fundamentals of basketball at first but eventually lets Bugs Bunny develop the strategy.

Al-G Rhythm portrays a Steve Jobs-like character as they plan their victory, which seems to be cheating. Dom starts to see that Al-G Rhythm is not the friend he thought he was.

As the competition gets more intense, Dom starts to see that his Dad Lebron is trying hard to embrace the Looney of it all, and the Looney Toon team starts to make a comeback.

Dom and LeBron acknowledge each other, and each embraces the “Let me be me” theme.

Al-G then leads the Goon Squad and becomes what seems invincible. Finally, Dom realizes a move can win the game, but whoever does it will be deleted. LeBron offers to make a move, but in the end, Bugs does it. They win, and then Bugs disappears.

All the people that were pulled in to the serververse are returned.

Fast forward – LeBron is dropping off Dom at what he thinks in the basketball camp, but it turns out it’s the video game programming camp.

Bugs comes back to the real world, and stays with LeBron (and invites other toons).

This is not a paid review. No one asked me to watch this movie. I’ve been looking forward to it since it was announced. I am putting this here because I understand the need to make things even clearer if and when there is a post about anything pop culture-related. This is not part of any marketing effort in any way for Space Jam.