Twenty five years on from the original, Space Jam, Warner Brothers have made an attempt at bringing some nostalgia back to our screens. Space Jam A New Legacy instead turned out to be a two hour advertising flex to show the amount Warner Brother has to offer.
Written by Elliot Lines
The original Space Jam brings together a game of basketball, and the much loved Looney Tunes family. While being pretty silly, it still stays pretty grounded, knowing what it's bringing to the screen. Space Jam A New Legacy throws all of this out the window in an attempt to shove as much into this 2 hour runtime. You are bombarded throughout, reminded just what Warner Brothers has to offer, at each turn the film attempts to throw one of the WB characters into your face.
You don't have much of a story line here, and there is an attempt at a sentimental meaning behind the film that just doesn't come through, bogged down by the shear volume of things being thrown in your face. You never feel the bond between Lebron James and his son Dom (Cedric Joe), this largely coming from a pretty unemotional performance from James himself. There is also an attempt at comedy the whole duration, which doesn't end up being actual laughs but a cringe at how A New Legacy is using the characters and script at it's disposal.
The story itself brings James to face up against Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle), who brings a strange performance to the screen, certainly not what you'd expect from him. These tow characters "must" play a game of basketball, with a twist, its in the format of a game designed by James' son Dom. There are so many problems to this game where one moment players would get 300 points for a basket, and then 2 points for exactly the same type of score. Due to this the stakes don't seem as tense, forcing the film to have 1 point between the teams at the end of the game...it doesn't make sense.
However you have to admire the visual aspects, as clearly there was a lot of time, effort and money thrown into this. Visually it is vibrant, bright and colourful and bringing all these characters to the screen is impressive, bringing some interesting cameos, most of them were just totally unnecessary. Although it was good to see the Tunes back on the big screen.
Where Space Jam may not be the best film, it brings to screen a fun and bonkers experience, A New Legacy however tries too hard to one up a simple story while throwing the whole Warner Brothers library in your face.