This release comes with an impressive Dolby Atmos track and rightfully so. This film and its audio mix fully utilize the Dolby Atmos setup. Sound effects are turned up to eleven and have some excellent directionality. Explosions, spaceships, debris falling, and the physical brutality of player vs player is simply outstanding. Each of these big moments comes with a hefty had of bass that has a roaring rumble that never crosses into rocky territory.
The Golden State Warriors may have won 73 games last season, breaking a 20-year-old record, but their collapse in the NBA Finals after holding a 3 games to 1 lead seems to take them out of the greatest basketball team ever contention. For me, that title will forever be held by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won one fewer game in the regular season but lost six games fewer in the NBA Playoffs en route to the first of another three consecutive championships. Sure, I was younger then and a devout Bulls fan who had thought the glory days ended when Michael Jordan retired unexpectedly and unforgettably in October 1993. His return in March of 1995 was one of the highlights of my childhood, even if there was rust and Jordan would end up losing a playoff series for only the second (and final) time in the '90s.Jordan thrived on motivation, though. And the disappointments of his short 1995 season gave him plenty of fuel. But in the summer of '95, Jordan's schedule had one huge commitment more recreational than athletic. It was Space Jam, a feature film that would pair him with the animated characters of Looney Tunes, with whom he had already shared the screen in multiple Nike commercials. Jordan would spend the summer in Burbank making the movie. But when the cameras weren't rolling, he was taking advantage of the gym he insisted that Warner Bros. build for him. He wasn't just doing light shootarounds, either. Word came in to various NBA and college players that MJ was looking for some serious 5-on-5 off-season competition. That he would get and when the NBA season opened mere weeks after production wrapped, Jordan was ready to make history.That's right. Space Jam, that silly child-oriented '90s movie with the Looney Tunes, Bill Murray, and Newman from "Seinfeld" seems to have laid a crucial and rarely remembered foundation for Jordan and the Bulls' stunning and dominant second Three-Peat. Where is the recognition for that, Basketball Hall of Fame, National Film Registry, etc.?Fortunately, Space Jam doesn't need that kind of high-profile, serious recognition, because pretty much every kid who grew up with the film loves it. The patent leather Jordan XIs with Concord blue Jumpman. The soundtrack, chockfull of nostalgia-inducing sounds from R. Kelly, Quad City DJs, and an assortment of '90s rap icons. The cameos by NBA players then-present and past, plus the scene-stealing Bill Murray. There are '90s family films that I once enjoyed but I have gone back and failed to see the appeal in, like Free Willy. There are '90s family films that my contemporaries swear by, but leave me underwhelmed, like Hook and Hocus Pocus. But, Space Jam? Space Jam is my jam. Sure, growing up an NBA fan and basketball player made me inclined to like the movie. Having my favorite athlete (Jordan) and favorite actor (Murray) didn't hurt. And even if I've historically preferred Disney to Warner, I've always appreciated animation and continue to do so in adulthood.Twenty years ago this month, Space Jam opened in theaters. To celebrate the occasion, the film is returning to 450 theaters for three showings on tomorrow and Wednesday, the Space Jam Air Jordan XIs are being reissued, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment revisits the film in a 20th Anniversary Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Steelbook. What a time to be alive!The film opens in the summer of 1973 when, while shooting hoops after midnight with his father, a 10-year-old Michael Jordan dreams of playing in college and the pros. Then, what is probably the best opening title sequence in the history of cinema -- a lifetime of Jordan photos and highlights set to Quad City DJs' titular theme song -- covers the next twenty years. We then dissolve into a fairly realistic recreation of the shocking press conference at which Jordan announced his first of what would eventually be three retirements from the NBA. From there, we journey to outer space where a nasty, cigar smoking businessman named Swackhammer (voiced by Danny DeVito) enlists puny alien underlings known as Nerdlucks to get the Looney Tunes to revive his struggling, hellish galactic theme park Moron Mountain.The Nerdlucks track down Bugs Bunny and friends and try to force them into working Moron Mountain as prisoners. To avoid that, Bugs and the gang challenges the tiny, colorful aliens to a basketball game, which seems like an easy win for them. Needless to say, the Nerdlucks don't play fair. They track down some of the NBA's most uncommon players -- Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, 7'6" Shawn Bradley, and 5'3" Muggsy Bogues -- and then rob them of their talents, leaving them hollow shells of their athletic selves, while transforming themselves into giant Monstars.The Looney Tunes recruit the most obvious ally they can think of: Michael Jordan, the world's greatest basketball player, who at the moment is struggling as a minor league baseball player. They pull him through the hole of a golf game he's playing with Larry Bird, Bill Murray, and Jordan's fictional assistant Stan (the aforementioned Wayne Knight).Naturally, the movie sets up one big game -- Monstars vs. Tune Squad -- to determine the fate of the Looney Tunes and later, Jordan himself. It is one of the more entertaining "big games" ever committed to film, as the 'toons defy the laws of physics repeatedly and MJ even joins them in that on one crucial play.Unlike most other sports movies, Space Jam isn't out to inspire or do justice to real athletic achievement. Like The Sandlot and Major League, it only wants to treat you to a good time and it succeeds at that again and again, putting a smile on your face that stays there for its spry, gag-filled entirety. The blending of live-action and animation is smooth and inspired. Jordan proves to be unusually charismatic and compelling for a professional athlete trying to act.The movie knows and loves the Looney Tunes characters. It also knows and loves the NBA of the mid-'90s. And it knows and loves all-ages entertainment. You would need to be devoid of a sense of humor and in possession of a severe disdain for '90s music to not get any amusement out of this spirited and fast-witted joy ride.Grossing $90 million domestically (the equivalent of $175 M today, when adjusted for inflation) and a then-staggering unadjusted $140 million overseas, Space Jam was a major hit for Warner Bros. But that didn't encourage Jordan or the studio to make a sequel. In recent years, a sequel has been rumored to be in development as a vehicle for LeBron James. If it's anything like its star, it will think it's the greatest, but it won't be as good as the one that came before.
Space Jam Blu Ray 1080p
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