Welcome to Miguel’s Friday Thoughts! After two weeks of its release on HBO Max, I will finally talk about Space Jam 2: A New Legacy. It’s an enjoyable movie and had some solid moments, but overall, I’m not impressed. I have some positives and negatives about this film.
I’m going to start with the positives:
What I liked the most about the movie was the CGI. I had a feeling the CGI would be better than the original Space Jam is because we are in 2021. Technology is much more advanced compare to 1996. Second, I like that they had better All-Star players in this Space Jam movie than the original movie. In Space Jam 2, you had Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Diana Taurasi, etc. In the original Space Jam, you had Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson, Shawn Bradley, and Muggsy Bogues. If they would switch Shawn Bradley and Muggsy Bogues for someone like Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and Scottie Pippen or Grant Hill, then it would’ve been much better.
Here are some of my negatives:
Although Space Jam 2 had better All-Stars, the original Space Jam NBA players had more storylines. AD, Lillard, and the rest of them had like two lines or so.
I had an issue with the scoreboard. I felt that it was over the top, with the opposing team scoring over 1,000 points. I understand that Lebron’s team was getting killed in the first half, but the director could’ve gone other ways with that.
The writing and acting in this movie make the original Space Jam better. Michael Jordan’s acting was slightly better than Lebron’s. Lebron James’ acting range couldn’t pull it off, especially in one scene with his son where he was supposed to get emotional, but he couldn’t deliver. It came off as cringeworthy. As a writer, I would’ve not given Lebron certain facial expressions and emotions that he can’t do it.
Lebron and his team need to be more original. The storyline between Lebron and his son could’ve been better without trying to copy the original Space Jam. Lebron could’ve made this a Sports/Drama film with that storyline.