Space Jam might have been my very first guilty pleasure cartoon. Even when I first saw it
at 4 I could recognize on some level how threadbare and random the writing could be and how…
professional athlete Michael Jordan’s acting was – even at 4 I’d seen better films,
and better Looney Tunes things. But still, something kept me coming back to it, wearing
that VHS even thinner than a goofy movie. Maybe it was just the high energy editing
exciting my young mind, maybe it was the… stylistic differences in how Lola Bunny was
drawn compared to the other tunes, which I found… oddly interesting for a reason that
it would take me several more years to finally put my fingers on.
I think the most likely answer, though, is the same one that explains all my guilty pleasures
that aren’t related to that one other reason: I’m natural-born grass-o-phobic anime weirdo,
and Space Jam is an Isekai. Space Jam might have been my first Isekai,
actually. It definitely beat Digimon to the punch, and I don’t remember how early I
got into Narnia, Wizard of OZ, or Alice in Wonderland… wait, does Fraggle Rock count?
Anyway, while it’s obviously indisputable that this flim is an Isekai, I have started
to wonder… how god of an Isekai is it, really, when held to the standards set by modern anime?
How does In Another Space With My Jam compare to the likes of Yashahime, That Time I Got
Reincarnated as Yamcha, and Sword Art Online? Should it be considered essential viewing
for Isekai Completionists? Today, we’re going to find out, with OBJECTIVE
SCIENTIFIC CERTAINTY, by rating the film on a ten-point scale in ten categories that I
have determined, with my expert credentials to be the most essential to the overall Isekai
experience. Which will give us a final percentage score measuring the precise Isekocity of Michael
Jordan’s Magnum Opus. Those categories are, in rough order of importance:
ONE: Opening and Ending Quality: The first thing we look at when judging any
anime is its Opening Credits Sequence. Obviously, because the first thing we see of any anime,
unless you’re a filthy OP skipper, in which case human teeth sonic will crawl out from
under your bed at night and hot glue your figurines.
The banger intro – or at least an attempt at one - is an essential part of what separates
proper anime, like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Cory in the House, from plain ol’ cartoons.
Thus, by tossing a bunch of random Michael Jordan highlights in an aftereffects blender
and calling it a day, Our last Jam, Or The Rise of a New Space has definitively disqualified
itself from ever being called anime. It’s not all bad. The song backing these
credits is a Jam that absolutely Slams, and there is an attempt made to chart Michael
Jordan’s career trajectory in between all the gratuitous digital filter vomit. As was
the style at the time! But it’s just barely passable for a 90s feature film, and that’s
not a low bar to clear. I give it 2 out of a possible seven points. The other three will,
of course, come from the ending credits, or they would, if its ending credits were worth
even one. Sadly, they’re literally just default font text over random screenshots
from the movie. And not even good screenshots. Like, why, out of all the frames of the two
leads together that you possibly could have used, would you pick the one where Mike is
staring directly into the camera and not reacting to Bugs on his lap at all?
Two outta ten
TWO: Fanservice Level: No Space No Jam picks up some much-needed
points in this second-most-important category, for what I believe are obvious reasons But
fanservice isn’t just sakuga’d up sexy stuff. It’s also all the nods and references
to important and obscure franchise lore upon which only the truly hardcore will pick up,
as well as broader nods to adjacent pop culture that make all viewers feel urbane and well-read
for having understood that reference. The film covers the latter category quite
effectively when Bill Murray shows up and says “hey, I’m Bill Murray, I wanna do
a pro basketball as my career now because I’m so zany.” And then perfects it when
Danny DeVito – whose voice was… simply made for cartoons - says
“I didn’t know Dan Ackroyd was in this Picture!”
As for the former, I mean, just about every single character ever animated by the Warner
Brothers Classic Animation team gets at least a background cameo here, if not a speaking
one. It’s a shame that none of the then newly-iconic Animaniacs or Tiny Toons were
given such a tribute, but still, it’s hard to be disappointed with all these legacy deep
cuts. Also… sorry, there’s no getting around
this – putting jokes aside with that other kind of fanservice, while Lola might not be
quite as over the top as the internet remembers, there’s no denying she was brought to life
with some very anime “these artists haven’t seen another human in six months of crunch”
energy, and while we could ask a lot of very valid questions about whether that’s appropriate
for a children’s movie or might have had some long-term effects on the kids who grew
up with it, what’s done is done and I wanna wrap this video so I can go watch the new
season of Beastars, so let’s not and say we did.
Eight outta ten
THREE: Escapist Appeal: While they’re not exactly relatable, the
problems our hero wants to escape from in Spacerous Jammer Jordan are actually pretty
interesting – a nice change from the genre’s default lonely gamer boy. After losing his
father – in the worst way possible IRL – Mike feels lost, and seeks to find himself and
a connection to his dad through the sport they both loved: Baseball. But it’s just
not his game – and the simpering yes men who surround him are only making it harder
for Jordan to see that. When Bugs yanks him down the rabbit hole into
the other world, he’s given a chance to get away from those concerns, worry about
something bigger than himself, and rediscover the natural-born godly talent that made him
an unrivalled superstar. Perhaps not a relatable basis for a hero, but certainly a fun one.
For the average 90s moviegoer, Jordan’s celebrity lifestyle and the luxuriant locations
to which it often takes him provide as much of a pleasant break from reality as the wacky
world below – the only time we really spend in every day reality happens before the credits.
And in not-nedry’s car, I guess. As for the film’s deeper fantasy, while
there is a lot of potential horror in meeting your favourite cartoons on their turf, allowing
looney tunes logic to apply to the human body defangs much of that, leaving a fun and pleasant
playground of zany possibilities for our hero to explore. Unfortunately, the film makes
it clear that for anyone who’s not a human Adonis, that potential mostly manifests as
being able to survive excruciating physical trauma, so I don’t know if this is providing
any sort of wish fulfilment to anyone besides his Airness.
All in all, Six outta Ten
FOUR: Isekai Town Utilization: The Fourth most important thing that every
good isekai needs to have is this town. Chivalry of a Jammed Space does not contain this town,
or anything remotely resembling This Town. Zero out of ten.
It’s a shame, really, that The Jamming of the Space Hero was made back in the dark ages,
before the internet, because in modern times, the looney tunes could have stolen at least
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FIVE: Worldbuilding Integrity: The land of the Looney Tunes is a fascinating
setting on a conceptual level, made all the moreso by the unique Isekai cosmology this
film adds to the mix. Instead of the usually parallel reality schtick, much like Vision
of Escaflowne, My Space Can’t Possibly Be This Jammed metaphysically connects its real
and Fantasy worlds, with both Toon outer Space and a Toon underworld existing above and below
and earthbound sliver of meat space in which presumably all of Warner Brothers’ Live
Action movies take place. The exact nature of these adjacent realities
isn’t fully explained, but that show don’t tell approach to exposition only increases
the film’s potential for isekai immersion. On that note, though, Now, as our hero is
getting isekai’d into an established setting, it’s also important to consider how faithful
A Certain Jammed Space is to the Looney Tunes’ brand identity.
In terms of how the characters talk and move, I’d say it’s pretty well right on the
money. However, their dynamics as a group don’t quite feel right. The way the characters
constantly break the fourth wall and crack wise about Hollywood as a business is more
reminiscent of the Muppets than, say, Duck Amuck. Especially with Lola filling the same
basic role as Miss Piggy, and all the gratuitous celebrity cameos.
There’s nothing wrong with that – Muppets are the highest form of art there is, and
their style of ensemble humor maps well enough to the Looney Tunes, so cribbing some notes
from Jim Henson’s just smart screenwriting. But in terms of making me feel like I’ve
stepped into the classic cartoons, it leaves a bit to be desired.
Six out of Ten
SIX: Power System Engineering: Power and magic systems go part and Parcel
with worldbuilding in isekai. And on those grounds, Space Jam Another Jam: The Los Angeles
Bugs Bunny Murder Cases stands a little stronger. Looney Tunes logic, which allows perception
itslf to alter reality as characters both take and dish out insanely lethal hits with
amusing regularity, has a lot of potential as a basis for action – as anyone who’s
read one piece will know. It’s designed to be instantaneously understandable without
exposition, with hard rules that can be exploited in very creative fashion.
Unfortunately, the supplementary Nerdluck power system invented for this film isn’t
nearly as well thought out, and demands far more explanation than it’s given. By what
mechanism do these fugly sneaker slugs turn into ghost goo and suck the talent out of
human brains? Why is that talent stored in a basketball? It’s all quite confusing,
and muddles what’s otherwise an elegant system,
Worse still, while the Looney Tunes Logic system does have a lot of potential, the film
doesn’t really take advantage of it – or let its isekai’d hero play around with it
– until the dramatic down to the wire climax. Which is a creative decision I respected in
Re:Zero and can respect here, but still, it feels like some potential fun was left on
the table. Seven out of Ten.
SEVEN: Fight Hype: Along with a good power system, a good isekai’s
gotta have good fights. Or at least a good substitute for good fights. I’ll take lavishly
animated food, if you’re offering. In terms of animation – for both physical and beam
attacks – Slamjamonogatari definitely has THE STUFF. However, there’s not a lot of
strategy in either the basketball or combat aspects of the story – all that beautifully
rendered cartoon violence is used in service of gag comedy. Which is fine – it’s what
I come to Looney Tunes for – but it’s not what I come to superpowered isekai for.
And this category’s requirements are pretty specific.
Unless you bribe me with anime food… So, even accounting for that one genuinely
hype moment where Mike takes the magic system into account and goes all body horror on us
to beat the odds at the last second, the best I can give this film for how its fights excite
is a four out of ten.
EIGHT: Can He Beat Goku Tho: On a related note, what’s even the point
of making an escapist portal fantasy these days if you can’t mathematically quantify
how close the protagonists are to beating up Goku?
In grand internet death battle tradition, the way we measure this is by looking at the
most impressive feat or flex performed by a character within the film or show and weighing
it against Goku’s known strengths and weaknesses. In Grimgar of Space and Jam’s case, that
would be when, through a brilliant exploitation of fair use exemptions for parody and colloquialisms,
Bugs Bunny was able to sneak this line “What kinda Mickey Mouse Organization would
name their team The Ducks?” Past both Warner Bros. and Disney’s lawyers.
Bugs COMPLETELY OWNED Mickey there, and as the film rights to Dragon Ball are currently
owned by Disney after the Fox Merger, by transitive property, Ipso Facto QED, Bugs Bunny could
totally own Goku, and since Mike’s canonically stronger than Bugs, so could he. Ten outta
ten.
NINE: Sakuga Craftsmanship: On the Subject of Flexin’, while many successful
ones more or less go without it, it never hurts an Isekai to let its animators flex
their skills a bit over the course of production, with the kind of high quality animation that
we Anime scholars call Sakuga. Which – and I mean this with zero irony
– is an aspect of Is It Wrong to Try to Jam in Space more people need to appreciate.
I’ve seen this movie catch some flack for its visuals, and a lot of the gripes are valid:
it overuses closeups to an uncomfortable degree, the cgi is… very dreamcast, and the digital
pillow shading effect that gives the Tunes their depth looks a little crappy. It does
work in the composite to make them look like they’re sharing space with the physical
actors, though. And the line art underneath that wonky shader is something to see, especially
in motion While the dialogue in Space & Jam is… inconsistent
at best, the Looney Tune’s animation is at the most fluid and expressive it’s ever
been in 2D. From subtle things, like Bugs and Lola exchanging furtive glances across
the final huddle in the last seconds of the game, to much more obvious visual gags, like
the nerdlucks literally licking Swackhammer’s boots, and everything Taz does, every motion
these toons make is in-character, and full of character. And they make a lot of motions,
as their simple designs allow for every body in a crowd shot to be animated independently.
There’s so much great slapstick in the backgrounds of this movie alone.
The crowds do get simpler and stiffer in the big showdown with the Monstars, as they’ve
gotta be composited into the 3D stadium like the roadside characters and trees in Initial
D. But to make up for that, the hand-animated action in the foreground gets way more dynamic,
with 3D camera movement wildly ambitious enough to make UFOTable Blink, 2D to 3D compositing
better than most modern anime (look at the reflections in the floorboards!) – and a
live action human character in the mix on top of that.
On that note,let’s not forget the smooth, single shot transition from live action cityscape
to CGI cartoon space to the traditionally animated theme park interior of Moron Mountain.
That was a hell of a flex. It may not be Roger Rabbit. It may have paved
the way for the plague of Smurfs and Chipmunks and Toms and Jerries that are perpetually
taking Manhattan today. But this film contains many impressive feats of animation and technical
innovation, especially for 1996, and it deserves some damn respect. Even if some of the CGI
is straight nightmare fuel. 9 outta 10!
TEN: Hero Progression: It’s also important for isekai to consider
the effect that their magical journeys will have on their protagonists in the long term
– the lessons they’ll learn and growth they’ll undergo as a result of their struggles
and victories. Michael Jordan doesn’t really struggle much
KonoSpeJa: God’s Jamming on This Wonderful Space, and he doesn’t grow much either,
except physically, right at the end. He’s a monster on the court from minute one and
all the tension in the big game really comes from wondering if his teammates will get their
butts in gear and pick up the slack. I’d go so far as to say he struggles more BEFORE
he gets isekai’d, with the growing doubt that he made the wrong call moving into professional
baseball. Ultimately, the events of the film only help him make his mind up about a thing
he was already considering. Charles Barkley arguably has more of an arc
in that one scene where he’s wistfully watching kids play basketball than Mike does in this
entire movie! So, it goes without saying that, when judged
by the standards of character development set by other Isekai Heroes, Space Jam gets
a solid 7 out of 10! Good work, Mike, you’re exactly as interesting as Kirito!
Which brings the film’s final total on the Isekai scale to a respectable, if unimpressive
59%. Better than I expected, honestly, given its unconventional subject matter, lack of
gamer cred, and the fact that it came out a decade and a half before anything that set
these standards! At any rate, it’s over the halfway mark, meaning His Airness Does
not Dream of Bugs Bunny Girl Senpai IS required reading for anyone who wants to say they’ve
seen every true Isekai in existence. I don’t know why someone would want to do that, but
if you do, there ya go. I’m Geoff Thew, Professional Shitbag, Signing
out from my mother’s basement