Space Jam

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Space Jam
Image:Space jam.jpg
Directed by Joe Pytka
Produced by Ivan Reitman
Written by Leo Benvenuti
Steve Rudnick
Timothy Harris (screenwriter)
Starring Michael Jordan
Bugs Bunny
Wayne Knight
Bill Murray
Daffy Duck
Charles Barkley
Patrick Ewing
Shawn Bradley
Larry Johnson
Muggsy Bogues
Larry Bird
Billy West (voice)
Bob Bergen (voice)
Bill Farmer (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker (voice)
Danny DeVito (voice)
Music by James Newton Howard
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) November 15, 1996 (USA)
Running time 87 minutes
Language English
Budget $80,000,000 US (est.)
Followed by Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated film starring Michael Jordan opposite Bugs Bunny (voiced by Billy West) and the rest of the Looney Tunes characters. It was produced by Ivan Reitman, and directed by Joe Pytka (live-action) and Tony Cervone & Bruce W. Smith (animation). This film was released to movie theatres by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment on November 15, 1996.

Other voices included Bob Bergen as Porky, Tweety, Hubie and Bertie and Marvin the Martian, Bill Farmer as Sylvester and Dee Bradley Baker as Daffy and Taz. The Looney Tunes crew did not return to movie status afterwards until 2003 in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (the year that Michael Jordan retired for good). Space Jam was also converted in a pinball and a video game by Acclaim Entertainment for PC-DOS, Sega Saturn and PlayStation.

Contents

[edit] Plot

10-year-old Michael Jordan plays basketball outside his home, telling his father that he wants to one day go to college and play in the NBA. Fast-forward several years, and Michael has not only fulfilled his dream of playing college and professional basketball, but has become a bona fide NBA superstar. After winning his third championship with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan announces his retirement from basketball and declares his intention to play baseball. Signed to the minor league Birmingham Barons, Jordan is a major draw for the team, but only a fair to mediocre player.

Deep in space, on another planet, five tiny aliens called Nerdlucks (Pound is the orange one, Bupkus is the purple one, Nawt is the red, Bang is the green one and Void is the blue) have been sent to Earth to go to Looney Tune Land and capture the Looney Tunes characters and take them back to Moron Mountain, an outer space theme park belonging to their boss, Mr. Swackhammer (voiced by Danny DeVito). The Looney Tunes call a meeting to find a way to escape slavery on Moron Mountain. Bugs Bunny convinces the Nerdlucks that the Looney Tunes must be allowed to defend themselves and, after consulting with his fellow Tunes, challenges the Nerdlucks to a basketball game, cockily expecting a blowout victory in light of the Nerdlucks' small size.

The Nerdlucks then use their strange powers to cheat by stealing the talent of five NBA stars (Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Shawn Bradley) who transform themselves into the tall and muscular MonSTARs. Faced with this unsettling new development, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck snatch Jordan from his recreational golf game with Larry Bird, Bill Murray and, Jordan's new agent, Stan Podolak (Wayne Knight), and bring him to Looney Tune Land. The Tunes convince him to take up the position of "player-coach" and train them for their game with the Monstars.

Jordan's work is cut out for him, for none of the Looney Tunes knows just how to play basketball, except for newcomer Lola Bunny (voiced by Kath Soucie), to whom Bugs takes an immediate shine. Jordan also finds himself dressed incorrectly for playing basketball, so he dispatches Bugs and Daffy to go to his home in the real world to retrieve his sneakers and lucky shorts. After a close call with Charles, the Jordans' pet bulldog, Bugs and Daffy are able to fetch Jordan's gear with the assistance of the Jordan children. Stan is then seen at the golf course trying to dig his way to Looney Toons world once he notices Bugs and Daffy returning from Jordan's house and decides to follow them down the golf hole.

The game starts disastrously for the TuneSquad, whose numbers are rapidly being whittled down by the injurious play of the Monstars. Come halftime, the Monstars lead by an overwhelming score of 66-18. Upset, Stan sneaks into the Monstars' locker room and manages to overhear how they got their powers before they catch him. Meanwhile, Jordan tries to fire up the team with a pep talk, but they are unresponsive. Bugs fills a sport bottle with water and pastes a label on it that reads, "Michael's Secret Stuff." Giving Jordan a knowing look, he manages to convince the team that a dose of "Michael's Secret Stuff" will give them the strength and dexterity they need to win. The TuneSquad eagerly gulp down the "Secret Stuff," and in the first part of the second half, they mount a comeback, using crazy strategies and props to baffle the Monstars. The TuneSquad has rallied to within two points of the Monstars when Swackhammer calls for a time out.

Jordan confronts Swackhammer to raise the stakes: if the Looney Tunes win, the Monstars have to return the stolen skills to the NBA players they stole them from. If the Monstars win, Swackhammer gets Jordan, along with the Looney Tunes. As the game resumes, Swackhammer tells the Monstars to "Crush 'em", which they do, literally. They beat up and injure almost every player on the TuneSquad, until only Jordan, Bugs, Lola, Stan, and Daffy Duck are left standing. Stan is literally flattened by the Monstars, but manages to bring the TuneSquad within one point of the Monstars. Marvin the Martian, the referee, warns the TuneSquad that if they cannot find a fifth player soon, they will have to forfeit the game. Bill Murray, who has somehow made his way to Looney Tune Land (prompting Swackhammer to exclaim "I didn't know Dan Aykroyd was in this picture!"), suddenly makes the scene to offer assistance, and the game continues. The TuneSquad manages to steal the ball and pass it to Jordan. He makes a leap to the basket from half-court, but is snagged in mid-air by two Monstars. Exploiting the unique physics of Looney Tune Land, Jordan stretches his arm towards the basket as his body is restrained. Jordan's arm grows almost 16 feet long, and he drops the ball into the basket as time expires. With that, the TuneSquad wins the game and their freedom. Swackhammer berates the Monstars for losing, but when they finally realize that they are physically bigger than he is, they turn on him and shoot him into outer space. Jordan convinces the Monstars to return the skills to the players, making them Nerdlucks again. The aliens beg the Looney Tunes to let them stay in Looney Tune Land, despite Bugs' objection that they "aren't looney enough". Jordan and Stan leave the court, and Bugs and Lola share another kiss.

Back at the baseball stadium in Earth, people all over are wondering where Michael Jordan is. William Hanna makes a cameo appeareance grumbling, "The Bulls are killin' us! Where's Michael!" Soon, a spaceship comes over all the audience's heads, with flashing lights. When it lands, Stan comes out and announces the arrival of Jordan, who comes out himself. Everyone cheers. Afterwards at a basketball gym, Jordan comes to his basketball player friends and tells them to touch the ball. They hesitate at first, but they do it anyway and gladly get their talent back. Jordan later makes a comeback to the NBA, mirroring his real-life return.

[edit] Reception

Space Jam had mixed critical response. Notable critic Roger Ebert gave Space Jam an enthusiastic "thumbs up," which Gene Siskel also gave the film although his zealousness was more subdued. Leonard Maltin also gave the film a positive review. Some critics compared it unfavorably to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a popular film in which cartoon characters and live-action humans coexisted in the same film as well.[1] Steven Spielberg had Pinky and the Brain refer to the film as "space junk". Those who liked the film praised the visual effects, which were groundbreaking at the time. The film's soundtrack was popular and highly praised, and it served as a high point for musical artist R. Kelly, whose song "I Believe I Can Fly" became a hit after it was featured on the film's soundtrack. Other notable musical numbers appearing in the film include a cover of "Fly Like an Eagle" (by Seal), "Hit 'em High (The Monstars' Anthem)" (by B-Real, Coolio, Method Man, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes), and "For You I Will" (by Monica).

Further information: Space Jam (soundtrack)

[edit] Box Office

Despite mixed reviews, Space Jam was a box office success. In its opening weekend, it grossed US$27,528,529 in the United States. At the end of its running, it grossed $90,418,342 in the United States and $230,418,342 worldwide.

[edit] Cast of Looney Tunes characters

[edit] Cast of NBA Players

Apart from Michael Jordan, who plays the lead role, Space Jam contains a liberal amount of NBA players and coaches appearances. Retired NBA great Larry Bird plays golf with Jordan, and when the Monstars steal the NBA players' skills, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson and the Suns Charles Barkley to make hilarious in-game mistakes. In these scenes, also the Knicks Charles Oakley and Derek Harper and the Suns A.C. Green, Danny Ainge and Paul Westphal (coach) are seen.

Later in the film, the now talentless Ewing, Johnson and Barkley are joined by the now also ill Muggsy Bogues (the smallest player in NBA history) and Shawn Bradley (at 7-6, one of the tallest). Also, when the Los Angeles Lakers are trying to avoid playing basketball in fear of getting infected, Lakers Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, Anthony Miller, and coach Del Harris make a short cameo. Similar short appearances are also made by NBA players Jeff Malone, Alonzo Mourning and Sharone Wright and TV commentators Jim Rome and Ahmad Rashad.

In addition, the NBA players make several insider jokes. When Barkley prays to God to give him back his skill, he swears to stop his trash talk and no longer have affairs with Madonna, sending up his image as a tough trash talker and in reference to his own real life affair with the singer. Also, Bradley contemplates becoming a missionary once again, again in reference to his own experiences as a Mormon missionary.

[edit] Actor Cast

[edit] Voice Actor Cast

[edit] Awards and Nominations

  • 1997 Annie Awards
    • Winner: Best Individual Achievement: Technical Achievement
    • Nomination: Best Animated Feature
    • Nomination: Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production (Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone)
    • Nomination: Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a Feature Production (Ron Tippe)
  • 1998 World Animation Celebration
    • Winner: Best Use of Animation in a Motion Picture Trailer

[edit] Notes

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The green Monstar (Bang) tells Jordan, "You heard of the Dream Team? Well we're the mean team!". Jordan and two players robbed of their talents in the film, Barkley and Ewing, were all members of the Olympic gold medal-winning 1992 United States team (Better Known as the Dream Team).
  • Daffy tells Bugs that they should name their basketball team with Jordan "the Ducks". Bugs replies with this potshot at WB rival Disney: "What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would call a team 'The Ducks'?" - a reference to Disney's The Mighty Ducks (who are also a real team), as well as Wayne Gretzky's comments concerning the New Jersey Devils in the 1980s. This also reminds viewers of Oregon's Oregon Ducks who's mascot (The Oregon Duck) is contracted out by Disney
  • Dan Castellaneta and Patricia Heaton make a cameo as Wife and Husband Fans at the New York game.
  • This film is Lola Bunny's debut.
  • One scene references Pulp Fiction, with Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam dressed as killers and "Misirlou" in the background.
  • The movie was inspired by Nike commercials featuring Michael and Bugs against Marvin and another alien. Another shoe commercial is referenced when Larry Johnson says that his grandmother can play better than him (he played his grandmother in an ad for Converse).
  • When sending Bugs and Daffy to pick up his basketball gear, Michael Jordan tells them that he wore his UNC basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform in every game he played. Jordan really did do this, as a good luck charm.
  • Bugs and the other Looney Tunes are shown to reside in Looney Tune Land, a realm located beneath Earth's surface. Only two known portals to Looney Tune Land exist, one lying beneath a Piggly Wiggly parking lot in suburban Birmingham, Alabama (also the home of Michael Jordan's minor-league baseball team the Birmingham Barons), the other accessible from a tunnel beneath an unspecified hole on a golf course in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Each portal consists of a membranous elastomer imprinted with the Warner Bros. studio shield (anywhere from 20-50 feet in diameter). The portal can be stretched and punctured by a projectile, admitting persons or vehicles into the skies of Looney Tune Land.
  • The song that Foghorn Leghorn was singing on the basketball court (oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton...) was "Dixie".
  • This was the first live-action/animated film ever to be based on various classic Warner Bros. animated cartoons.
  • A few pieces of animation made for this movie were reused in commercial bumpers on Kids' WB! in the late '90s.
  • A portrait of Bosko can be seen on the wall when Yosemite Sam remarks, "We ain't-a goin' nowheres!"
  • At one point, the Looney Tunes can be seen exercising while watching a Richard Simmons tape.
  • The character Stan makes this quote: "C'mon, Michael, it's game time. Slip on your Hanes, lace up your Nikes, take your Wheaties and your Gatorade, and we'll grab a Big Mac on the way to the ballpark", humorizing Jordan's sports product brand endorsement [2].
  • Excluding the events involving the Looney Tunes, the story loosely mirrors Jordan's real life. After the murder of his father James, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from basketball and later signed with the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team. Soon after posting lackluster numbers with the Barons, he returned to the Chicago Bulls for 3+ more seasons before retiring from active play a second time (in 2001, he would return to the Washington Wizards for two seasons before ending his playing career for good in 2003). James Jordan's death is not referenced in the film directly, but only implied in the retirement press conference.
  • All the Nerdlucks have names that mean, in one way or another, zero or nothing.
  • While Michael Jordan is playing golf Bugs Bunny used a magnet to lure the golf ball into the hole, this is a reference in "Bugsy and Mugsy".
  • When Bill Murray arrives at the game near the end of the movie to help Jordan and the Looney Tunes, he is mistaken for Dan Aykroyd by Mr Swackhammer. Shortly after, Daffy asks Murray about how he arrive, to which Murray replies how he's a friend of the producer and was dropped off. Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd both starred in the popular Ghostbusters franchise of the 80s that Ivan Reitman produced.
  • Despite SportsCenter's claims, the boy who played Michael Jordan's son was not Indiana University basketball player Eric Gordon.
  • The spaceship that Michael Jordan exits at the end of the film closely resembles a green version of the spaceship from the film "Earth Girls Are Easy" complete with car headlights and grill in the front and porthole windows along the side.
  • When the official novelization of the movie was released, it contained some differences from the film, omitting Bill Murray's role. Instead, the Road Runner became the fifth player after Stan was flattened and scored the penultimate goal of the game.

[edit] External links

The Looney Tunes films
Featurette
Adventures of the Road-Runner
Behind-the-scenes documentaries
Bugs Bunny: Superstar | Chuck Amuck: The Movie
Greatest Hits retrospectives
Centering on Bugs Bunny
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie | The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie | Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales
Centering on Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island | Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
Original cinematic material
Space Jam | Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Direct-to-video releases
Tweety's High-Flying Adventure | Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas
Cameos
Two Guys from Texas | My Dream Is Yours | It's a Great Feeling | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Gremlins 2: The New Batch
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