Space Jam: A New Legacy movie review (2021)

And there is a lot going on in front of that Sgt. Pepper album cover-style collection. As in the 1996 “Space Jam” starring Michael Jordan, “A New Legacy” is the story of a real-life basketball superstar transported into a cartoon world for a high-stakes game. This time, it’s LeBron James as a slightly fictionalized version of himself (that’s not really his family, but the barbs about his switching teams are totally legit). For the two or three people in the audience who might not fully appreciate who LeBron James is, there is an opening sequence showing some of the highlights of his basketball career. There’s also a flashback to him as the child (played by Stephen Kankole) of a single mom in 1998 Akron, being taught by his coach that if he wants to have the opportunities that basketball can make possible for him, he has to get his head in the game before he sets foot on the court. This lesson about focus and total commitment will come up again later.

In the present day, we zoom in on his lavish residence and see his two sons on the basketball court. The younger one, Dom (Cedric Joe) is struggling to tell his father that he’s less interested in playing basketball than he is in creating computer games about basketball. He has almost finished one that incorporates some moves from the pros with some gamer upgrades like style points and power-ups. 

James then brings his son to a pitch meeting at Warner Bros. about a content-creation algorithm that would insert him into various properties in the “Warner Server-verse.” He turns them down, but he and Dom are then captured by that algorithm, personified by Don Cheadle as the power-mad Al G. Rhythm. Al gives Dom the appreciation he wanted from his dad. Dom thinks they speak the same digital language. What he doesn’t know is that Al has told James he cannot get his son back unless he can beat Al’s team in a basketball match based on Dom’s game.

James has to round up a team, and this is where the Looney Tunes-verse shows up, including Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, Granny, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, complete with an Acme arsenal of gadgets and his handy signs to hold up for his commentary. Zendaya provides the voice for returning cartoon basketball star Lola Bunny, and the commentators are real-life sportscaster Ernie Johnson and real-life utility comic relief Lil Rel Howery. Sonequa Martin-Green, so good earlier this year in “The Outside Story,” makes the most of a small role as James’ wife and Dom’s mother. And it was good to see the real-life basketball stars on Al’s team include two players from the WNBA, Nneka Ogwumike and Diana Taurasi. 

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