Space Jam

Written 15 June 2003

Warning: This film review reveals some of the plot of the movie.

I am not by any means a basketball fan. I don't understand the game and I've disliked it ever since Junior High school (perhaps because I wanted to play, but since I wasn't any good at it the couch kept me on the bench). Before Space Jam, I'd heard the name Michael Jordan and, of course, I knew he was a great basketball player - and not much else.

If anything, my wife disliked basketball even more than I do. Thus, I had absolutely no enthusiasm about this movie at all. I had no desire to see it and no plans to purchase the video for my collection.

Until one day my wife was very ill and I felt she needed something to cheer her up. I went over to the local video store and looked for something fun, something which would make her laugh. As I wandered around, looking at the video covers, I watched a trailer for Space Jam out of the corner of my eye. My video store had a television mounted in the ceiling and they played movie trailers over and over on it.

Within a few minutes I'd decided that perhaps this movie would be good after all. The trailer was hilarious, and it looked like just the thing to cheer up my wife. I purchased the movie and brought it home.

The wife flat refused to watch it. She had no interest in that "stupid game" and didn't think the movie would be fun at all. After quite a bit of "discussion" I put the movie on and we both sat back to watch. Claudia was watching just to make me happy - she just wanted the movie to be over so she could go back to whatever she was doing.

I've never seen this woman laugh so much and so hard in my entire life. I think she didn't stop laughing once during the entire length of the feature. Once it was over, she rewound the film and watched it again, then after I went to bed she watched it again.

As the days went by, whenever I want to get Claudia to smile I pulled out this movie (or one of her other favorites: Dennis the Menace and Cats and Dogs).

Okay, that being said, what happens? Well, Looney Tunes has been attacked by the cutest aliens that you've ever seen. They come from Moron Mountain with death rays which totally cows the tunes - even though the aliens are only a few inches high. Bugs and his gang turn to Michael Jordan for help. Michael comes to the cartoon land and teaches the tunes how to play basketball. If Bugs and Jordan's team wins, then the aliens go home. Otherwise, the tunes become slaves to Moron mountain.

The characters are delightful, Michael comes off as a really nice father-image-type guy, and the aliens are adorable. This film is highly recommended for viewers of all ages.