James goes Looney Tunes in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’

Above : LeBron James and a bunch of Looney Tunes cartoon characters star in “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” (Photo/Warner Bros.)

It’s been a quarter century since Michael Jordan made a movie with a bunch of cartoon characters.

“Space Jam” it was called. And it featured the great Jordan as the only man – make that human – capable of saving the Looney Tunes crew from forced labor. To do so, he and the Looneys had to play a cartoon team comprising the animated talents of other NBA stars, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley among them.

Guess who wins?

Never one to let an idea (notice I didn’t say whether it was bad or good) go to waste, Hollywood has decided to remake the movie with the only human today who could vie for the featured role: LeBron James.

The film is titled “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” and it opens on Friday.

Oh, differences there are: This time the message, so to speak, involves the importance of father-son relationships. James’s screen son (played by Cedric Joe ) is more interested in computer games than actual basketball.

Then a rogue AI program, called AI-G Rhythm (voice by Don Cheadle ) who wants to each his own share of respect. So along with a museum tour of Warner Bros. films and their characters, the inevitable occurs – which leads to a basketball/videogame mashup. Or something.

Anyway, the film isn’t winning a whole lot of critical fans. But it is ranking (as of this writing) a few points higher on Rotten Tomatoes than did its predecessor, 56 percent to 44 percent.

Some comments:

Graeme Tuckett, Stuff.co.nz: “There is a very real sense that ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ is a love-letter to the movies and to the people who make them.”

Peter Gray, The AU Review: “Mostly child-friendly fare that proves a colourful, inexplicable distraction that’s unlikely to retain, ironically, any type of legacy for itself.”

The film will open at most mainstream theaters and, believe it or not, the Magic Lantern. No need to bring basketballs.

It’s only a movie.