Space Jamis coming back, and this time it’s bringing some friends. Lots of friends. In fact, it’s bringing so many friends that curious fans will have to constantly pause the new trailer just to see them all, and even then, they’ll probably miss a few. But hey, theLooney Tunesnever do anything halfway, and this little teaser is nothing if not a perfect testament to that fact.
A new trailer forthe deceptively deepSpace Jam: A New Legacyjust dropped, and the absolute scope of the LeBron James-led adventure is nothing if not ambitious. Featuring the NBA legend himself playing a high-stakes basketball game with his friends theLooney Tunes(a sentence that would have sounded positively incredible 30 years ago), this is a movie that clearly wants the audience to just accept the absurdity for the sake of entertainment, just like its 1996 predecessor.
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But the real draw of this new trailer, aside from finally hearing Zendaya as the new voice of Lola Bunny (sounding excellent, by the way), is the collection of background cameos sprinkled throughout the audience, and they’re substantial to say the least. Some of them are expected, like classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters such as Rosey the robot fromThe Jetsonsand the big dinosaur from theFlintstonesintro. But then a closer look reveals less conventional picks like 1960s-era Batman and Robin, thealso newly revivedAnimaniacs, and even the yellow zoot-suited green-faced man himself fromThe Mask.
Space Jam: A New Legacywill follow James as he teams up with theLooney Tunesin order to rescue his family. Since this is aSpace Jamsequel, naturally the method of battle is via basketball game, and just like Michael Jordan before him, James will have to face down a team of monstrosities based on real life professional players. Tempers flare, toons get flattened, Granny gets drunk in the locker room, it’s a good time. Thecameos from obscure cartoon charactersare just the icing on the already weirdly-shaped cake.
These cameos all appear to be just blink-and-miss-it audience members, but even so, the paperwork involved to bring them all in even for a split second must have been a chore. Plus, the effort really adds that extra wow-factor to the whole experience. Seeing King Kong just sitting patiently in the middle of a crowded audience for a basketball game is as surreal as it is hilariously absurd, and it goes right in line with the zany vibetheLooney Tuneshave cultivated over their 90+ year history.
The existence of a newSpace Jammovie is oddly comforting. It’s the continuation of a beloved 90s crossover with modern production values meant to bring in an entirely new audience. If that isn’t the perfect representation of unity, then it’s at least a really rad idea that’ll make for a fun movie to watch with friends. In the end, isn’t that all that matters?
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