All,
I did it. I watched Space Jam 2, and it may be the worst movie I've ever seen.
We all know Lebron James to be an absolute menace on the basketball court. Lebron has been dominating the NBA for 18 years and it doesn't look like he's slowing down. He and his Los Angeles Lakers are aiming to run it back and bring the Larry O'Brien trophy to tinsel town. But last night proved to me that skills with a basketball do not translate into skills on the big screen.
His acting was stiff and poor. You could tell he wasn't comfortable in front of the camera portraying a characterized version of himself. And I don't fault him completely. The narrative, in the beginning, makes him out to be a parent that forces his own passion for basketball onto his son even when his son tries to find his own interests. I'm sure Lebron doesn't think of himself as a bad dad, so I'm willing to bet he wasn't a huge fan of the direction of the character.
But that's about as much film critiquing I can do for this movie, any more intelligent thought directed at Space Jam 2 might be a waste of time. It's a fun kids' movie with a few jokes directed at Cleveland, the town and team he famously left for Miami, and a few obvious Nike ads (there is literally a shot of the Nike logo that was held for 4 seconds).
If you have kids then they'll probably enjoy the movie, but I would argue that the original was better. Micheal Jordan was no better an actor (or basketball player, yeah I said it, Lebron>Jordan) but he at least seemed comfortable playing a version of himself that was similar to his own personality. It's still a very silly movie but at least there are some good moments from MJ the Looney Tunes squad and even Bill Murray, who was arguably the funniest person of his generation.
Space Jam 2 points to an issue I have with Hollywood and many other industries. The recycling of old ideas.
Why do we retread original ideas with a new coat of paint? Why do we make movies and TV shows and even certain products that have already found success? Aren't there new stories to explore?
Of course, there are new stories, but new stories simply don't make money and they don't ride on a wave of nostalgia. Warner Brothers is banking on huge returns from overseas audiences driven by marketing and Lebron James' star power.
Hopefully, we'll be able to look back on the era of nostalgia-fueled entertainment and laugh. Thinking about how studio executives stifled creative new ideas in favor of tired, old and dragged-out concepts. I hope there isn't a Space Jam 3 but I fear that in 20 years someone will think to pair the next great basketball superstar with Bugs Bunny and the cycle will continue.
But I guess that's up to us, because even though I can sit here and talk about how bad the movie was, I still watched it, proving the formula works.
Jacob