Space Jam

Dir: Joe Pytka, Tony Cervone, Bruce W. Smith

1996

*

1996's Space Jam made a lot of money and that's probably because that is what it was all about, money. Based on an idea from a Nike TV commercial, Space Jam was simply an attempt at cashing in on the popularity of Micheal Jordan (who was huge at the time) and the Warner Bros. cartoon characters The Looney Toons (who were experiencing something of a revival). Made eight years after Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam thought it could ride on its success without coming up with a particularly interesting or entertaining story/concept. The animation was ground-breaking I'm sure, but it didn't look that great and none of the characters seemed authentic. The worst animated character was probably Micheal Jordan himself but he would have been swimming in money Scrooge McDuck style after this so why on earth should he care. For some strange and baffling reason, Space Jam did really well and most critics gave it the big okay. Now, it hasn't dated well, but this was never a good film, not in 1996, not never. The Looney Toons were not themselves and even for a basketball film, there was way too much basketball. The product placements and tie-ins were obscene, the film was just one long advertisement which is no surprise, given that Joe Pytka was at the time, king of the TV advert. It's the third highest grossing sports film of all time. How does this happen? Chuck Jones, the veteran Looney Toons director absolutely hated it and was quite vocal about it. He said the film was terrible and was clearly quite upset about the representation of the beloved characters when he said "I can tell you, with the utmost confidence that Porky Pig would never say 'I think I just wet myself'". I remember thinking the exact same thing while watching. Just because something looks the same and sounds the same, doesn't mean it is the same and quite frankly, the character barely looked the same, they certainly didn't sound the same. People loved it but then if you put it in a pretty box, got a big star to sell it, attached a catchy slogan to it and told people it was the tastiest thing ever, they would eat faeces, I have no doubt about it. Space Jam is the embodiment of consumerism, advertising and celebrity, wrapping itself up in a package and waving familiarity in your face to convince you it’s what you want. It is utter faeces and it makes me sad for people like Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Mel Blanc.