Superman in Review

Review – Superman in “Space Jam: A New Legacy”
July 22, 2021
A review on Superman’s scene in the movie “Space Jam: A New Legacy”

By Michael Moreno
For those who would like to see this scene without being spoiled, I ask that you
please stop reading now. I will be talking about some spoilers, and I would hate
to think that I had spoiled a film for anyone. Believe me, I know the feeling of
being spoiled, and it’s not fun. For those of you who have seen this film, or who
don’t mind any spoilers, here I go…
The movie is a fictional story involving real life basketball star LeBron James
and his adventure to the world of Looney Tunes. There, he meets the legendary
cartoon rabbit Bugs Bunny in hopes of forming a Looney Tunes basketball
team. His reason for forming a team is to face off against an AI program (played
by actor Don Cheadle) and its basketball team known as the “Goon Squad”.
LeBron’s goal is to save his son, the rest of his family, and thousands of other
people from being abducted and placed into a virtual world. The only way to
free his family and everyone else is to play a virtual basketball game against the
AI program, the Goon Squad, and his own son Dom.
During his quest, LeBron and Bugs travel to the Bruce Timm Superman
animated universe, in hopes of recruiting Tim Daly’s Superman. While there,
Bugs and LeBron (dressed as Batman and Robin) chase a runaway train in the
Batmobile. The cause of the train going wild is Daffy Duck’s hijacking it. Having
tied up the driver in order to have Porky Pig film his “saving” the train while
dressed as Superman, Daffy’s attempt at “rescuing” goes horribly wrong, when
the train’s brake leaver breaks off. With no way to stop the train, danger ensues
on a collision course with an orphanage. LeBron and Bugs manage to get on
top of the train, but fail to enter it, leaving them stuck holding on. As the train
speeds by, it dramatically passes by Metropolis and its citizens (including Clark
Kent and Jimmy Olsen), zipping past the Daily Planet and breaking its top
globe. From there the train passes by Gotham City, causing the Bat Signal to
spin until it’s shown upside down.
Daffy
The train then somehow manages to pass by the underwater city of Atlantis,
breaking a few statues, and then zooms by the North Pole, breaking the
Fortress of Solitude. The train then speeds back to Metropolis, where it would
have hit the orphanage if it weren’t for Superman, who saves the orphaned
children and the passengers on the train. Note, the train passengers now
include Bugs, LeBron, Daffy, Porky, the train conductor, Lois Lane, Alfred
Pennyworth, and a passenger whose identity I’m uncertain of. [It’s been a while
since I’ve seen the Superman and Batman Animated Series.] As Daffy tries to
take credit for the “rescue” (trouble) that he caused, a stern Superman as well
as the Justice League stare at him, causing Daffy to try and shift the blame to
Porky. As the Daily Planet’s globe falls and hits the ground, and sirens soar
from the mayhem that was caused, LeBron asks Superman and the Justice
League if any of them play basketball. The next scene that follows is of LeBron
leaving that universe with only Bugs, Daffy and Porky on their ship.
I have to give this scene a 3-out-of-5 star rating, while I give the movie as a
whole a 4-out-of-5 star rating. It just missed a lot of marks when it came to
Superman. I will give my reasons why below.
3Plot – 3: The plot I felt was a bit odd in this scene. In particular Daffy Duck’s
and Superman’s characters. It’s Daffy, and I get that he would do this but, if this
had happened in an episode of “Superman: The Animated Series,” I think that
Superman would’ve acted a lot sooner. The train literally travels throughout all
of planet Earth before Superman does anything to stop it. And letting Daffy and
Porky leave freely without facing the consequences of their actions seems way
out of character. Had this whole scene actually happened on an episode of
“Superman: The Animated Series,” both Daffy and Porky would’ve had to face
the consequences of their actions. That’s not to say that the scene wasn’t
amusing. Plus, we are able to see for the first time in animation both Superman
and Bugs Bunny on screen together. Unfortunately, they shared no dialogue
with each other, and their shared scene is very brief.
3Animation – 3: The animation for this film is very impressive. That said, the
specific scenes where the animators chose to use it made little sense to me. In
particular, the placement of it in Bruce Timm’s universe I found problematic. It
was established that LeBron and Bugs had to travel to various worlds to recruit
their team. Having left Looney Tunes world to travel to Superman’s, it would
have made more sense if the looney-ness of Looney Tunes world had stayed
there instead of it being present in Superman’s world as well. The winding rail
tracks – that somehow take a train from Metropolis to Gotham, Atlantis, the
Fortress of Solitude, and then back again – just doesn’t fit in Timm’s
Superman’s world.
Superman
4Music – 4: The “Superman Theme” that was used in this film was credited as
being from “Superman Returns” “composed by John Williams. Courtesy of
Warner Bros. Entertainment. INC.” The Superman theme is always a joy to
hear, and it is arguably the greatest – if not one of the best – Superman theme
songs ever created. However, in this film, it wasn’t used for Superman. It was
used for Daffy, who was dressed up as Superman. And when Superman
actually did show up, the theme song wasn’t played. For me, this was a big
letdown. Superman and this iconic theme song go hand-in-hand, like peanut
butter and jelly. And yet while they had both Superman and his theme song
available for this film, I can’t help but wonder why they wouldn’t use it for
Superman himself? In contrast, I will say that the “Batman Theme Reprise” and
“Batwing Flies to Gotham” from BATMAN (1988) “Written by Danny Elfman.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment INC.” as well as the BATMAN THEME
from “BATMAN:THE MOVIE (1966)” “written By Neal Hefti. Courtesy of 20th
Century Studios” as stated in the film, were appropriately used for Bugs and
LeBron’s Batman and Robin rescue scene.
3Dialogue – 3: I just want to stress that this rating is not meant for the whole
film, but only for this one scene. If I were rating the dialogue for the whole
movie, believe me I would give it a higher rating. That being said, the reason for
this grade is because Superman had no dialogue. In fact, no one from his world
had any dialogue. Superman just gave a stern look with his arms crossed. In
contrast, Wonder Woman, who shows up later in a separate world, had a few
lines of dialogue, while Superman had nothing to say. At the very least,
Superman should have been able to offer some advice to LeBron about finding
a team, given the fact that his Justice League team was behind him. I will say
though, that LeBron’s, Bugs’s, Porky’s and Daffy’s dialogue were entertaining,
especially Daffy’s. His boasting of his misdeeds and then shifting the blame to
Porky is classic Daffy behavior. And the interaction between LeBron and Bugs
right after he realizes that he’s dress up as Robin while Bugs is dressed as
Batman, was fun to watch. So I give points to LeBron and the Looney Tunes
characters for their dialogue.
Daffy
3Overall – 3: In conclusion, I am glad to see that this film gave Superman at
least some respect. I’m happy that they showed him saving people, and that
they did not let him be just a passerby (as Clark Kent) while Bugs or Daffy
saved the day and took credit for saving a part of Metropolis. Also, through
various parts of the film, Superman’s name is mentioned, which, as a Superman
fan, I appreciate. The movie, as a whole, I give a 4 out of 5 rating. It has really
good acting, great special effects, and the story and plot would entertain any
family. Not to mention there are also tons of pop culture references, probably as
many as in the movie “Ready Player One.” For anyone who wants to see the
1990’s animated Superman make a return – even if only for a brief few seconds
– I highly recommend seeing this film, if only for its one Superman scene. It may
be a brief scene, but it’s worth the watch.

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Review – Superman in “Space Jam: A New Legacy”

July 22, 2021

A review on Superman’s scene in the movie “Space Jam: A New Legacy”

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