A commercial

Rating: 2/10 (13 April 2014)

I still remember seeing this movie the first time back in '97 or '98 when it arrived on video. As a kid who was obsessed with the NBA and was a WB toons fan this had to be a treat.
When I first watched it, I couldn't really pinpoint what really bothered me. I didn't sit right with me and I remember regretting forcing my parents to buy the VHS. I know I was disappointed with the way basketball was depicted... it had absolutely no foul or any sort of rules for that matter. Naturally, no one should expect realistic basketball from this movie, but I still had hoped they would've managed to keep some rules in some way, while still delivering the looney exaggerations.
But as an adult I have to say that this is the least of the movies problems. At the time as a kid, I didn't notice that I didn't laugh... or better yet, I've noticed it - I just didn't want to admit it to myself. This is really weak humor, especially compared to the old, classic WB cartoons. It's uninspired, toned-down to the bare minimum and in some instances really annoyed me, because it tried to be "cool" at the same time. And that is the main problem I'm having with this one - it's not funny to me, at all, both as a kid and adult.
The acting is bad, but that's rather forgiving considering that NBA players aren't professional actors to begin with. The animation and artwork is good, great actually, but by far not enough to save it. It's just a heartless commercial for all the merchandise. Watch "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and/or "White Men Can't Jump" instead.