Editorial Reviews:
Synopsis
Bugs Bunny has gotten himself and his Looney Tunes cohorts into a jam by facing off against the Nerdlucks, a grouchy gang of tiny space creatures who land on Earth. The Nerdlucks, dispatched by their boss, the ruthless, belligerent Swackhammer, intend to kidnap and export Looney Tunes to Moron Mountain, Swackerhammer's failing theme park on the Nerdluck's boring planet. Bugs has challenged the small weak aliens to a fateful basketball tournament: if the Looney Tunes win, they'll remain on Earth, but if the aliens win, Bugs and company are headed into the hands of Swackhammer. Basketball's most spectacular star, Michael Jordan, has retired from the sport and begun to play baseball with limited success. But after the Looney Tunes capture Jordan from a golf course, transport him to Looney Tunes Land and explain, in true Looney Tunes style, their predicament, he agrees to join their team. Of course, what else can he do? They won't let him go home.
Amazon.com
Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie costarring the beloved characters from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his costars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Looney heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon
