Bugs Bunny: So, you want me, a talking cartoon bunny, to play with you, an NBA superstar, in a high-stakes basketball game?

Sounds awfully familiar.

LeBron James: Who are you talking to?

Well. That was certainly a thing.

I haven’t watched the original Space Jam in probably 20 years… but I remember it fondly enough. I don’t think I really want to go back and watch it again. But it still does make me want to give Space Jam: A New Legacy a chance.

Overall: meh? There are some really fun moments, but a lot of it feels like ego stroking for LeBron James combined with cramming in as many references and as much nostalgia fuel as they thought they could get away with … and then some.

Perhaps it’s me (I pay zero attention to basketball and barely more to pop culture in general), but to me, LeBron James is no Michael Jordan…

LeBron. This ain’t about everybody, this is about you. Listen, you’re the best basketball player I ever coached. You could be a once in a generation talent, if you focus on the game of basketball and not these distractions. You can’t be great without putting in work, right? You got the chance to use basketball to change everything. For your mom, for you, for everybody who you care about. You want that?

What ever happened to show and don’t tell?

As mentioned there are so very many references to any property Warner/HBO owns. On one hand, it’s a continuous ad. On the other hand, the scenes collecting the tunes from various Warner Bros properties is kind of awesome (in the dumb ridiculous sense of the word). Daffy Duck as Superman in Metropolis. Wiley Coyote Coyote in Mad Max. Elmur Fudd in Austin Powers. Granny and Speedy Gonzales in the Matrix. It’s hilarious.

Add in a scene with the wrong Michael Jordan … hilarious. And a Hoosiers homage. Fun.

Really, it’s a small pile of fun and amusing scenes drug into a two hour movie that probably really didn’t need to be made.

LeBron James: With all due respect, this idea is just straight-up bad. That algorithm is busted.

Al G. Rhythm: Busted?

LeBron James: It’s among the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. Top five, easily.

So it goes.