The originals tend to be better for any movie series, and the same can be said for Space Jam. The original Space Jam, released in 1996, was a fun family film, but everyone knew that the purpose of the movie was for a merchandising opportunity for Michael Jordan’s popular Nike commercials featuring Bugs Bunny.
The plot remains roughly the same: a star athlete is sucked into a fantasy world where they must participate in a basketball game against cartoons and teamed up with the Looney Tunes. The stakes this time were more personal as LeBron doesn’t have to save the world, but save his relationship with his son. The interesting part about this movie was portraying LeBron’s son as a character who preferred computer programming over basketball. You know how many parents just assume that because their kids share some DNA that they would automatically love what they love? Well, passion is not in the blood. The movie did do a good job developing this portion of the story.
Though, having the villain as a computer system was a bit over the top and there was already enough goofiness from the Looney Tunes characters. I felt that this movie put the original to shame and unless you’re a diehard LeBron fan or Looney Tunes fan, I would just stick to the original.
5.5/10