Last night, my SO and I went to a drive in theatre to see A Quiet Place: Part 2. But before A Quiet Place, the theatre played Space Jam. We weren’t entirely interested, but we watched parts of it. So full disclosure – we weren’t fully paying attention to it. From what we did watch, it wasnt super great.
Spoiler Alert
The main plot of the movie is that a basketball star’s son (LeBron James’ son) gets sucked into this alternative universe – the internet / the kids video game; and LeBron james must go and rescue his son. On his journey, LeBron comes across the Looney Toons ands with their help, they play basketball to save his son.
We watched a movie critic sharing their comments about the movie and one thing that dunked was the unnecessary amount of references. A few here and there are funny, but the amount that were in Space Jam became too distracting. During the sceme where theyre playing basketball, they bring in a bunch of spectators. Behind the Looney Toons are all random human spectators, and behind the son’s team are characters from other media. Every time the movie switched to showing the son’s side, I briefly stopped paying attention to the plot and focused on the spectators to try and figure out who I recognized.
- Agent Smith; Matrix
- Iron Giant
- Godzilla
- Ice King; Game of Thrones
- etc…
Another big issue I had with the movie was the message during the basketball game. LeBron is a world-class athlete, he __really__ knows basketball, and is the best of the best. Without knowing much about basketball, I can confidently say that he is a tough opponent. So how do they level the playing field for his son? By allowing the players to break the rules of basketball. Did you do a dance when you got the 3 pointer? We’ll add 10 pts for style. Threw the ball a little too far to the left? We’ll move the basket for you. It got to the point where the rules really didnt matter, so as long as you got the ball in while doing some flips, you’d win.
During the same scene, the rules and mechanics of the game did not stay consistent. For example: the jump pads. Every so often, this plate a player could step on would give them a boost to jump higher. Throughout the game, the plate would appear around the net on the floor. I understood the plate as “you can only step on it, and you get a higher jump”. But then at the very end of the game, the son picks one up and throws it. When has that ever happened in the movie?? (Again, I wasnt fully paying attention so I could have missed something at the beginning).
My last big issue with the movie is the message of “dont try to learn how to play the game, just do what you want”. LeBron tries to teach the toons how to play basketball but during the lesson, the toons just goof off and dont pay attention. Later in the movie during 1/2 time, theyre sad because they dont know how to play. No one comments on how LeBron tried doing that, but they just ignored him.
I know its a kids movie, but the last sceme was particularly hilarious. They kill off Buggs Bunny as he violates the one supposed rule of not stepping into the 3 pointer ring, stepping out, then making your shot. First of all – it sounds more of a way to psyche out a defender to get a clear shot. Secondly, how is that one particular foot work reason for getting deleted when there was so much other stuff going on. Anyways, I digress. Point is, they kill off Buggs Bunny and I’m thinking “Is this how they end the Looney Toons franchise?” But nope – he comes back.
While a lot of parts really bothered me, I did overhear kids beside us saying they really enjoyed the movie. I guess Disney really did their research, and I must be getting old.