Director: Joe Pytka
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Duration: 87 minutes
Space Jam (1996) (4K UHD) – Movie Review
It feels like yesterday that Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, and Bill Murray crossed over into the world of the Looney Tunes, who desperately needed help in an all-star basketball match. While the movie itself was somewhat a novelty at the time, somewhat luring in fans of movies such as Roger Rabbit, it created many pleasant everlasting memories for children in the 90s. Now, coinciding with the release of the sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy, we get to relive our childhood with the 4K UHD release of Space Jam. As always, with older rereleases, we won’t be fully reviewing the title, but rather discuss the relevancy and quality of this high-priced 4K release.
Space Jam tells the story of Michael Jordan, who decided to retire from the NBA, to become a professional baseball player. Sadly, it seems things are not really going his way in the baseball circuit. Nonetheless, this only seems to be a small distraction from getting back into basketball. The iconic Looney Tunes are in fact real, and they require the aid of Michael, making sure they don’t end up becoming slaves for Swackhammer’s (Danny DeVito) amusement park, Moron Mountain. Swackhammer sends his minions to collect the Tunes, but Bugs Bunny (Billy West) and his fellow animated friends challenge the dastardly Swackhammer’s tiny henchmen to a match of basketball. Little did the Tunes know they would steal the power of some of the best NBA players in the world, turning them into the ‘Monstars’.
If you’re wondering if the 1996 rendition of Space Jam is still worth watching and relevant, we can easily say yes. The movie still utilizes popular characters and does still evoke the feeling of when you were a kid and loved to watch your favorite cartoons. This is also still the case for many children (and teenagers), albeit on their own personal tablets nowadays. That being said, the upscaling has been done splendidly and is most noticeable when looking at the animated characters. These have received a new lick of paint and lost the overall ‘fuzzy’ image quality that was common in the VHS era. The live footage also received a proper rehash, but the contrast between the very crisp animations and the real-life footage is a lot bigger than it used to be. In the past, the different types of footage would just blend together nicely thanks to the aforementioned fuzziness. Now, not so much. However, with the significant quality increase, this is no real issue.
For a 4K UHD release, we were very disappointed with the lack of special features present on the disc. You’ll basically get nothing, outside of a commentary for the movie itself. While this by itself is not a bad feature, we would have loved to see more. Even snippets of the upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy would have been nice. We reckon there would also be some behind-the-scenes footage for this 1996 epic family film.
Conclusion
Even 25 years later, Space Jam still manages to entertain. While the movie doesn’t really have that much content, it’s a fun pastime for young and old. The Looney Tunes crossing over with the human world still remains an amusing concept, and even though the 4K upscaling does create a bigger contrast between both types of footage, this movie has aged really well. In preparation for the second movie, this one might be a nice addition to your collection.
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