Space Jam

Plot synopsis:
On a summer night in 1973, a young Michael Jordan is practicing basketball. His father steps out and tells him it's bedtime, but lets him make a few more shots. Jordan shoots while making several wishes like going to the University of North Carolina, playing on a championship team, joining the NBA, going on to play baseball, and successfully scores every shot. Impressed, Jordan's father jokingly asks if next he is going to wish he could fly, and Jordan turns to make one final shot.
In 1993, Jordan announces his retirement from professional basketball to follow his now deceased father's career as a baseball player. However, it becomes evident that he is not as skilled in baseball as he was in basketball. Jordan is assigned a publicist and assistant, the bumbling Stan Podolak, to make his new career less bumpy. Elsewhere, in outer space, an intergalactic amusement park called Moron Mountain faces dwindling popularity, so its owner, Mr. Swackhammer, sends his diminutive minions, the Nerdlucks, to capture the Looney Tunes as new entertainment. The Looney Tunes live in an animated world called "Looney Tunes Land" hidden in the center of the Earth, but ignore the Nerdlucks' threats and challenge them to a game of basketball.
The Nerdlucks steal the talents of professional basketball players Charles Barkley, Shawn Bradley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues, leaving them incapable of playing. The Nerdlucks absorb the talent, transforming into the gigantic "Monstars" who easily intimidate the Looney Tunes. While playing golf with Bill Murray, Larry Bird and Stan, Jordan is sucked down a hole and is recruited by Bugs Bunny to help the Tunes win against the Monstars. Jordan at first refuses, saying he does not play basketball anymore, but changes his decision after he is insulted and humiliated by the Monstars when they call him "baldy". He then sends Bugs and Daffy Duck to his house to retrieve his basketball gear.
Meanwhile, Stan has been digging out the golf hole to find Jordan, but spots Bugs and Daffy leaping down another one and pursues them, reuniting with Jordan in the Tunes' world and joins their team, the "Tune Squad". Another new recruit is Lola Bunny, a skilled basketball player whom Bugs falls in love with. On the day of the match, the Monstars dominate the first half, leaving the Looney Tunes unconfident. Stan overhears a conversation between the Monstars and Swackhammer, learning of how they gained their talent and informs Jordan and the Tune Squad. Bugs and Jordan convince the rest of the Tune Squad to fight back and the first quarter of the second half allows the Tunes to catch up using old school gags and Acme weaponry. During a timeout, Jordan raises the stakes of the game with Swackhammer: a win by the Tune Squad would require the Monstars to surrender their stolen talents, while a Monstars win would win Swackhammer Jordan as a new attraction.
To ensure his victory, Swackhammer has the Monstars play dirty and injure all of the Tune Squad until only Jordan, Bugs, Daffy, Lola and Stan are left. Stan becomes the fifth player and manages to score, but is literally flattened by the Monstars and is removed from the court to be inflated. The referee, Marvin the Martian, informs Jordan that unless the team gets a fifth player, they will have to forfeit the game, at which point Murray appears and volunteers to be the team's fifth member. In the final seconds of the game, Jordan gains the ball and manages to use cartoon physics to extend his arm and score the winning points. Murray retires from the sport and the Monstars blast Swackhammer to the Moon in a rocket when Jordan makes them realize that they do not have to take his abuse anymore. Jordan convinces them to give up the stolen talents, and the Looney Tunes agree to recruit the reformed Nerdlucks in their ensemble. Jordan and a recovered Stan return to the surface, the Nerdlucks dropping them off at Jordan's next baseball game. Later on, the two visit the incapacitated basketball players and return their talent. The players invite Jordan to a three-on-three match, but when he declines, they question his loss of talent. In 1995, Jordan returns to the Chicago Bulls to resume his basketball career.

Tags: cult, psychedelic

Review:
Moreover, the presence of a legend sports like Michael Jordan makes this movie a must for any basketball fan, also the film is full of quotations and sports references that make it a real gem.
The story is very simple but well managed: a group of aliens to steal players NBA their talent, by doing so challenge mj and looney tunes in Basketball: at stake is the freedom of the animated characters and Legend of the Chicago Bulls..
Movie about Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Roadrunner etc etc).
NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Ryan Clevenger for "Steve Pulaski Sees It." Living in Illinois, Space Jam is a film that hits the tender spots of the last two generations; one generation that got to experience Michael Jordan's unfathomable legacy as arguably the greatest basketball player who ever lived, and the other, mine, that reflects on his legacy through highlights and documentaries to keep the memory of such an all-star alive.
Space Jam exists as a response to Jordan's departure from the NBA to the MLB, as the Looney Tune gang of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Porky Pig, and Lola Bunny all call Jordan out of retirement when they challenge a group of intergalactic invaders from "Moron Mountain" to a basketball game in exchange for the planet.The Looney Tunes thing this will be an easy win, until the aliens from Moron Mountain, who are relatively puny in size and strength, find a way to steal the talents of star basketball players like Charles Barkley and Larry Johnson and become the "Monstars" of the court.
The real-life characters of Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, who has an amusing role, like he always does, Larry Bird, and even Bill Murray's interactions with the animated characters of Bugs Bunny and the like in a convincing, believable manner.
The result is a beautifully colored and nicely executed mix of whimsy.Because both worlds of reality and animation are explored here, Space Jam has the luxury of being a film that can go beyond traditional boundaries of a sports film, and the Looney Tunes are no better characters to incite such zaniness.
However, because everyone involved recognizes what a zany project this is, they don't try to fight the lunacy, but instead, play along, and that provides us, the audience, with a wickedly entertaining stride into a lively sports film that is so fun you almost, almost miss the clichéd underdog element.Starring: Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Bill Murray, and Larry Bird.
I guess a lot of people dislike this movie because Mr Jordan played for such and such a basketball team A bunch of evil aliens invade Looney Tunes World and cast the cartoon characters into slavery and it's left to a sports legend to save them !
The basketball action is fun to watch and I was surprised how well real-life stars Larry Bird and Michael Jordan acted.BAD - The story gets a little too juvenile in spots.
It's just cool seeing a plot involving Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, and the movie will definitely keep us entertained and our eyes on the screen.So, I enjoy watching this movie.
The setup: Basketball icon Michael Jordan agrees to help the Looney Tunes play a basketball game versus alien slavers to determine their freedom.The verdict: I am aware of much of the criticism around this movie, claiming it is awful and not worth seeing.
And while I suppose this movie doesn't seem particularly true to either the element of animation or to MJ(though,I'd say,between the two,Jordan comes away as the winner and I'll explain why),this still is a perfectly good piece of entertainment for the whole family.Aliens come to earth seeming innocuous enough(they measure in inches) but they have a less-than honorable mission:they want to take the Looney Tunes characters back to their planet and make them into something just above slaves for their entertainment.
I don't think you need to be a fan of Looney Tunes or necessarily know that much about pro basketball(in fact,it might help!)to enjoy this film,just an ability to appreciate this rarefied blend of familiar animation with commercial savvy..
Wayne Knight's good, Bill Murray funny and Michael Jordan....well, his acting's not too bad till he arrived in the Loony tune land.So a good film to watch with kids and eat popcorn..
For the first time in his illustrious career, Michael "Air" Jordan shares the court and the spotlight with some of the most intimidating players in basketball...most of which have fur and feathers."Space Jam" melds real-life and cartoon-life as well as in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and with about the same result.
No one can say that they skimped on the FX, or the story - which yields some mighty big laughs.Seems that Looney Tune Land is under threat from aliens from an other-worldly amusement park and the only way Bugs, Daffy, Porky and Tweety can save themselves from intergalactic slavery is by challenging them to a basketball game.
But when the aliens in question acquire powers from Earth's best b-ball players (Ewing, Barkley, Bogues, etc.) and become Mon-Stars, Bugs and company acquire the newly-retired Jordan to help them get game.Jordan is comfortable in front of the camera, even when surrounded by cartoon characters and Bill Murray (!), so he proves he has even a future as a movie star, especially in movies like this.
And as if there were ever a doubt, Bugs Bunny shows he still has what it takes after all these years.I love this movie; I've always been a fan of animation and "Space Jam" doesn't disappoint.
Every figure, shadow and shade of skin is perfect and shares screen time with real people so seamlessly that, sure, it looks real enough that we could be surprised that this kind of thing doesn't happen every day.Anyway, you have to love a movie where Murray's big entrance is heralded by someone shouting "I didn't know Dan Aykroyd was in this picture!"Ten stars and a pair of Nikes for "Space Jam".
For example, that the story is a bit stupid that most of the seats are not so funny, it has just about all the typical sports movie clichés from the book that the Looney Tunes are more weird than really crazy and funny in the cartoon and the humor Michael Jordan as the other athletes can not actors.But this does not matter to us all because this movie is fun from start to finish the effects are pretty silly and that helps the movie and the fast paying the interaction between the real people and the cartoon characters is pretty good and is pretty much even during the basketball game seamless, you can make a game of how many cameos in this movie occur in both the cartoon characters and the actors and I still love it.Already as a child, I found the feelings in this film between Lola Bunny and Bugs Bunny really strange and wondered if they were just a couple because they are both rabbits now as an adult is that a bit more unpleasant because you know the devintart anyway I am thankful to this day that this character was invented and you can also see it as a career as it began.
For example, that the story is a bit stupid that most of the seats are not so funny, it has just about all the typical sports movie clichés from the book that the Looney Tunes are more weird than really crazy and funny in the cartoon and the humor Michael Jordan as the other athletes can not actors.But this does not matter to us all because this movie is fun from start to finish the effects are pretty silly and that helps the movie and the fast paying the interaction between the real people and the cartoon characters is pretty good and is pretty much even during the basketball game seamless, you can make a game of how many cameos in this movie occur in both the cartoon characters and the actors and I still love it.Already as a child, I found the feelings in this film between Lola Bunny and Bugs Bunny really strange and wondered if they were just a couple because they are both rabbits now as an adult is that a bit more unpleasant because you know the devintart anyway I am thankful to this day that this character was invented and you can also see it as a career as it began.
It has a plot involving aliens, Michael Jordan, Looney Tunes and Bill Murray having a great basketball match for heaven's sake!
"Space Jam" tells a story in a fictional way that Michael Jordan has retired from being a famous basketball player to become a baseball player like what his father want him to play.
The movie does hold up pretty well as a great family film, obviously people of all ages love the Looney Tunes, I find it impossible to not feel joy when Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck are onscreen, and watching them play basketball with the surprisingly good actor and professional basketball player Michael Jordan, who has a great presence on screen, against a group of aliens is fun and enjoyable from start to finish.
Watch it with the whole family and just forget about real life for 90 minutes, the whole house will get a great kick out of Space Jam. Michael Jordan plays a basketball game with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes against a group of aliens that are looking to keep them as slaves for their theme park.
Michael Jordan is sucked into Looney Tune land to help Bugs Bunny and co win a basketball game against 5 aliens who will make them slaves if they lose.The Looney Tunes are a great creation.
Sweet, if somewhat cliché inspirational.After Jordan declares he is to leave basketball to become a baseball player we are taken to a typically evil setting, a theme park run by Danny De Vito's Mr Swackhammer, that ugly looking animated evil genius.And then the real fun begins as we see comparisons from real life to fantasy and a charm and sweetness about the extraordinary is encoded to give a feel of light-heartedness.Ultimately Space Jam is actually really funny because it is so silly.
I mean, Bugs Bunny and gang are among the ones which I grew up watching those cartoons which feature them.Add in NBA star Michael Jordan, and one gets a movie about a bunch of animated characters playing basketball.
Bugs, Daffy and the other Looney Tunes, together with Michael Jordan, have to play a match against some aliens that steal the talent of 5 NBA players.It's funny many times, and the idea of mixing real-life and cartoons is very good.
Also, Michael Jordan is an athlete but he did a mighty fine job by being and actor and thats the same with the rest of the people - like with those funny lines and all...and how could u give bugs that bad rating, and r.kellys song make me watch it and listen to it as well!!me i give this an all out 10, clearly!!
It's difficult to find a stone wall resting place upon which to perch one's self in regards to Space Jam, a film with an immense amount of charm in its thrashing together of live action sporting super stars and the Looney Tunes brigade, although it does come with an equal amount of flaw.
This is not, of course, the first time we've seen live action and animation blend together like this; 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit is the film that immediately springs to mind, and throughout Space Jam it is tough to rid it from one's head once it's in there.
The 1996 animated/live-action release of "Space Jam" shows a bit of both.Who would of thought that his supporting actors would be the most recognizable, brilliant and crazy co-stars Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes themselves?
Ivan Reitman can, since the director of "Ghost Busters" produced the family feature at a cost of $100 million dollars plus, almost three times the amount it cost to create the walt Disney masterpiece, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which "Space Jam" tried to compare to, but received lukewarm results.It's really interesting to see for the first time that the entire Looney Tunes bunch come to the big screen in a while, especially now when the use of digital effects for the film by Kodak's Cinesite Studios (U.S. and U.K.) make it fun to see.
But the addition to the cute, sexy and dazzling Lola Bunny to the Looney Tunes roster, who can now be seen on almost every detail of merchandise you see in stores with Bugs and company, and hopefully in feature cartoons, still makes it all the more fun to look at.The fact that `Space Jam' was based on the successful 1991 Nike commercial pairing Air Jordan and the wabbit together, somehow make up the reason that the movie only earned $90 million nationwide out of its $100 milion budget, (it did, however, exceed $225 million worldwide altogether, so that helps.)  Nonetheless, Space Jam is worth seeing, if you don't mind that it's an attempt to score the winning basket, be it a winning franchise, that is.Rating: 3 stars out of 5NOTE: The Two-Disc Special Edition DVD of the 1996 release of Warner Bros.
Selling Out. This movie combines the two most overexposed groups of sellouts in the world today: NBA players and the once-great Looney Tunes characters.It would be impossible for anyone to dumb down Bugs and the gang more than they've been dumbed down here.
MJ was at the height of his popularity and it was great for the kids to see their favorite looney tune characters interact with MJ and Bill Murray and the rest.This is just a popcorn movie for kids, and those who like hoops will find it real entertaining..
For visual humour, it tends to substitute one-liners and lame pop culture in-jokes."Space jam" not only has Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny in it , but also Wayne Knight ("Jurassic park") , Bill Murray ("Ghostbusters") , famous basketball players ( Larry Johnson , Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing ) and all the Looney tunes characters .
Kelly " I believe I can fly " , Seal "Fly like eagle " , Coolio , LL Cool J and Method Man "Beat them up"."Space Jam" is a feature-length expansion of a Pepsi commercial that paired Bugs Bunny and NBA star Michael Jordan.
For adults there are some nice jokes that will go over the kids heads and i'm sure many a person will have a laugh at the level of Jordan's acting.It's Looney Tunes on the big screen and that's not such a bad thing.
There's a great scene far into "Space Jam," when comedian Bill Murray makes an unbilled appearence at a basketball game with Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes.
But he comes back later again at the end when Larry Byrd takes a seat next to Bill, who, watching Michael Jordan dribbling the ball on court, says, "That coulda been me."Humor like that comes in abundance during "Space Jam," a fun family film that has been ridiculed by critics and audiences alike for, as far as I can see it, no purpose whatsoever.
There was a lot of laughter and a lot of joy in the cinema--kids were laughing at certain physical gags and adults were laughing at in-jokes referencing such subjects as Michael Jordan's sports career to political humor to Bill Murray humor like mentioned above.Daffy Duck has always been my favorite Looney Tune, and he's given the usual treatment here.
The fate of the Looney Tunes will be decided by a basketball game against aliens, and desperate toons are calling for help from Michael Jordan.Story is classic Looney Tunes cartoon combined with feature film.
This film is one I truly enjoy watching over and over again, that is something I rarely say about a film.I first watched this film when I was 6 after realising that the sequel was in fact a sequel, I enjoyed the acting of Basketball players, usually when someone plays themselves in a movie, in a main role, they do a poor job, but the acting in this film felt genuine.This film despite being a comedy still has an inspirational feel, this is most evident when Michael Jordan is training in one of the most serious moments in Looney toon's history.This film is one of the greatest I've ever seen, and deserves more reconnection for the many aspects and it's great blend of comedy and drama..
Even if they are a bunch of post- production drawings.Space Jam is the story of a once really good basketball player, Michael Jordan, who ends up off his game.
Directed by Joe Pytka, it stars NBA legend Michael Jordan, as he teams up with the Looney Tunes, to play in the "Ultimate Game" that decides the fate of these cartoon characters.
If you want a good Looney Tunes film, check out any of the compilation flicks like "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie."To start the movie off, we're treated to a supposed-to-be-heartwarming scene in which a young Michael (you know, that classic Looney Tunes character Michael Jordan) is playing basketball outside and tells his dad about all the things he wants to do when he grows up.
This 1996 live action/animated crossover, starring then-basketball champion Michael Jordan as himself, plus the popular Looney Tunes characters, was obviously a success.
If you get past the so-so acting of the live actors and the somewhat clichéd plot, Space Jam is a funny film that will entertain kids and Looney Tune fans alike.
"Space Jam" is an animation/live-action hybrid starring NBA superstar Michael Jordan and the greatest cartoon characters of all time, the Looney Tunes.The plot of the movie is: Mister Swackhammer wants a new attraction for his alien theme park "Moron Mountain".
I am not a fan of basketball, Michael Jordan or the Looney Tunes.