Space
Jam (1996)
Rated:
PG
Runtime:
88 minutes
Stars:
Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, Wayne Knight, Bugs Bunny
Director:
Joe Pytka
Plot:
Michael Jordan (as himself) retires from basketball and pursues his dream of
playing professional baseball. Bill Murray (as himself) spends his time golfing
with Jordan and Larry Bird and dreams of playing in the NBA. Stan Podolak
(Wayne Knight) is MJ’s publicist and does everything he can to keep Jordan happy.
Bugs Bunny (as himself) and his friends are in trouble, so they grab MJ and
bring him to the animated world of Warner Bros. to prevent Looney Tune slavery
on Moron Mountain.
Rating—out of 5 basketballs: 2 basketballs.
1 for Lola Bunny, and 1 for Larry Bird/Bill Murray.
Tournament
seed: 10-12—movie is a sleeper, primed
to upset a higher seed. Don’t be surprised if other people jump on the
bandwagon when the brackets are released. It could play its way into the sweet
16.
Sadly,
this movie was not as good as I had hoped it would be. At times, it was one big
MJ highlight-reel/soundtrack-selling vehicle. The music was great, but it got
to be too much near the end. Every scene seemed to have its own song; here is a
rundown: “Fly Like An Eagle” by Seal, “Space Jam” by Quad City DJ’s, “I Believe
I Can Fly” by R. Kelly, “Hit ‘Em High” by B-Real/Busta Rhymes/Coolio/LL Cool
J/Method Man, “I Found My Smile Again” by D’Angelo, “For You I Will” by Monica,
“Upside Down (‘Round-N-‘Round)” by Salt-N-Pepa, “Given’ You All That I’ve Got”
by Robin S., “Basketball Jones” by Barry White/Chris Rock, “I Turn To You” by
All-4-One, “That’s The Way (I Like It)”, by Spin Doctors/Biz Markie, “Get Ready
For This” by 2 Unlimited, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C
Music Factory, “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic. Somewhere in between all the
music, aliens steal the talent of at-the-time NBA “stars” Charles Barkley,
Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and Shawn Bradley. Bugs then
challenges the “Monstars” to a game of basketball believing he, Daffy Duck,
Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, Porky Pig, Sylvester Cat, Tasmanian
Devil, Tweety Bird, and Wile E. Coyote are a “Toon Dream Team”. But they’re
not. Even after MJ decides to join the team, things don’t look good … until
Lola Bunny shows up! With her, and the help of Michael’s “Secret Stuff” (it’s
just water), MJ makes a deal that if the Toon Squad wins, the NBA players get
their talent back, but if the Monstars win, MJ will go to Moron Mountain in the
Toons’ place. After a game filled with slam dunks (if you’re keeping score at
home: 28 for the Toon Squad, 34 for the Monstars), MJ and the gang trail by 1
with 10 seconds to go. Down to 4 players, the Toons get a boost when Bill
Murray shows up and MJ takes off from half-court and stretches to dunk the ball
for the win as time expires. The NBA players get their talent back and
challenge MJ to return to basketball. The rest is history.
The
only 2 things that were awesome in this movie were the debut of Lola Bunny and a
funny exchange between MJ and Bill Murray where we learn an interesting fact about
Larry Bird:
Bill
Murray: “Larry’s not white, Larry’s clear.”
There are two things that always bothered me about this movie. First, Bugs got top billing over MJ on the poster. MJ (even though a stiff and uncharasmatic actor, even while playing himself), did carry this movie.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Wayne Knight was the only person in the movie not famous enough to not play himself. Everyone else stars "as himself," but not poor Wayne. Even Shawn Bradley, who as far as I can remember, was in the NBA because he was tall.
both very good points. I wish this movie would have been as good now as it was in 1996.
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