Spoiler Warning: This discussion has very few spoilers: some set up from the first act, a general idea of the narrative at hand.
"You got a lot of… a lot of… well, whatever it is, you got a lot of it."
1990s time capsule, Space Jam works best as just that. For 90s kids, this is going to be a nostalgia trip, reminiscing on the untouchable cultural cornerstone that was Michael Jordan. In 2021, it falls flat as a rather bizarre combination of one popular athlete and a smorgasbord of Americana.
The filmmakers, and let’s face it, the studio behind the film, are so focused on making a star of Jordan, playing on the ins and outs of his transitions between basketball and baseball that they forgot to make a real film. The narrative is beyond sloppy, more a montage of sequences that executives thought would work well. The Looney Tunes stuff is fine, but much of Jordan’s narrative leans towards his family. It’s a text that seems to be made for his own kids, who are brought into this more frequently than you might expect. It ends up as a semi-autobiography for half of the film and a fantasy basketball game for the other.
It doesn’t help that the basketball sequences are shot without much grace, with editing that only compounds that aesthetic. It feels strange to criticise a Michael Jordan-Buggs Bunny film this way, but kids film or not; I’d still like to be able to see what’s going on. I’m not going to rag on the special effects for the simple fact it was so long ago, even if there were 1996 films that were technically far more competent.
The rewatch did kill a little bit of my inner love for Space Jam, but I don’t identify as much with it as 90s babies do. I still have fun with this; its general lack of sense and great soundtrack only adds to the insanity of the project. It is clear to see why Jordan didn’t become a film star off the back of this, but it’s not like he needs it. A film so strange it becomes charming, Space Jam remains a cultural landmark just for its pure ridiculousness.
Connor Clarke Film 