Space Jam
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Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated film starring Michael Jordan opposite Bugs Bunny (voiced by Billy West) and the rest of the Looney Tunes characters. It was produced by Ivan Reitman, and directed by Joe Pytka (live-action) and Tony Cervone & Bruce W. Smith (animation). This film was released to movie theatres by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment on November 15, 1996.
Other voices included Bob Bergen as Porky, Tweety, Hubie and Bertie and Marvin the Martian, Bill Farmer as Sylvester and Dee Bradley Baker as Daffy and Taz. The Looney Tunes crew did not return to movie status afterwards until 2003 in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Space Jam was also converted in a pinball and a video game by Acclaim Entertainment for PC-DOS, Sega Saturn and PlayStation.
[edit] Plot
In the summer of 1973, a young Michael Jordan plays basketball outside his home, telling his father that he wants to one day go to college and play in the NBA. Fast-forward twenty years, and Michael Jordan has not only fulfilled his dream of playing college and professional basketball, but has become a bona fide NBA superstar. After winning his third championship with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan announces his retirement from basketball and declares his intention to play baseball. Signed to the minor league Birmingham Barons, Jordan is a major draw for the team, but only a fair to mediocre player.
Deep in space, on another planet, five tiny aliens called Nerdlucks (Pound, Bupkus, Nawt, Bang and Blanko) have been sent to Earth to go to Looney Tune Land and capture the Looney Tunes characters and take them back to Moron Mountain, an outer space theme park belonging to their boss, Mr. Swackhammer (voiced by Danny DeVito). The Looney Tunes call a meeting to find a way to escape slavery on Moron Mountain. Bugs Bunny convinces the Nerdlucks that the Looney Tunes must be allowed to defend themselves and, after consulting with his fellow Tunes, challenges the Nerdlucks to a basketball game, cockily expecting a blowout victory in light of the Nerdlucks' small size.
The Nerdlucks then use their strange powers to cheat by stealing the talent of five NBA stars (Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Shawn Bradley) and transforming themselves into the tall and muscular MonSTARs, right before the Tunes eyes. Faced with this unsettling new development, the Tunes relize they need help big time and decide to fetch Jordan to coach them.
Bugs Bunny snatches Jordan from his recreational golf game with Stan Podolak (Wayne Knight) the Barons' new publisist, and his friends Larry Bird and Bill Murray and bring him to Looney Tune Land. The Tunes try to convince him to take up the position of "player-coach" and train them for their game with the Monstars. Jordan is somewhat reluctant at first, as he wishes to focus on his baseball career. However, when the Monstars show up, and start bullying the Tunes and Jordan himself (including scrunching Jordan into a ball and dribbling him around like one) he changes his mind, to the Tunes delight.
Jordan quickly finds his work is cut out for him, for none of the Looney Tunes knows just how to play basketball, except for newcomer Lola Bunny, to whom Bugs takes an immediate shine. Jordan also finds himself dressed incorrectly for playing basketball, so he dispatches Bugs and Daffy to go to his home in the real world to retrieve his sneakers and lucky shorts. After a close call with Charles, the Jordans' pet bulldog, Bugs and Daffy are able to fetch Jordan's gear with the assistance of the Jordan children. Bugs and Daffy walk to the golf course and return to Looney Tune Land via the same golf hole they pulled Jordan down into. Unknown to them, Stan, who had being digging up the course looking for Jordan, sees them and follows them. He finds Jordan, and convinces him to let him be part of the team.
Meanwhile, in the real world, due to the NBA Stars loss of skills being misinterpreted as an epidimic and with doctors unable to diagnose it or the cause, HAZMAT teams close down NBA arenas all around America for the people's protection. To make things worse, the NBA commissioner calls the current NBA season off.
Back in Looney Tune Land, the game starts disastrously for the TuneSquad, whose numbers are rapidly being whittled down by the injurious play of the Monstars. Come halftime, the Monstars lead by an overwhelming score of 66-18. As the teams go to their respective locker rooms to wait for the next half, Stan sneaks into the Monstar's room, hides in a locker, and while the Monstars meet with Swackhammer, he manages to overhear how they got their powers. However, they discover him thanks to his body odor and rough him up some. He manages to escape to the Looney Tunes locker room and tells them and Jordan what he heard, causing the team to become even more upset, and some of the players to suggest that the team forfeit the game. Jordan tries to fire up the team with a pep talk, but they are unresponsive. Bugs fills a sport bottle with water and pastes a label on it that reads, "Michael's Secret Stuff." Giving Jordan a knowing look, he manages to convince the team that a dose of "Michael's Secret Stuff" will give them the strength and dexterity they need to win. The TuneSquad eagerly gulp down the "Secret Stuff," and in the first part of the second half, they mount a comeback, using crazy strategies and props to baffle the Monstars.
The TuneSquad has rallied to within two points of the Monstars when Swackhammer calls for a time out. He confronts Jordan, who decides to raise the stakes: if the Looney Tunes win, the Monstars have to return the stolen skills to the NBA players they stole them from. If the Monstars win, Swackhammer gets Jordan, along with the Looney Tunes.
As the game resumes, Swackhammer tells the Monstars to "Crush 'em", which they do, literally. Throughout the second part of the second half, they brutally foul and injure almost every player on the TuneSquad, until only Jordan, Bugs, Lola, Stan and Daffy are left standing. Stan is literally flattened by the Monstars, but manages to bring the TuneSquad within one point of the Monstars. Marvin the Martian, the referee, warns the TuneSquad that if they cannot find a fifth player soon, they will have to forfeit the game. Bill Murray, who has somehow made his way to Looney Tune Land, suddenly makes the scene to offer assistance, and the game continues.
The TuneSquad manages to steal the ball and pass it to Jordan. He makes a leap to the basket from half-court, but is snagged in mid-air by two Monstars. Exploiting the unique physics of Looney Tune Land, Jordan stretches his arm towards the basket as his body is restrained. Jordan's arm grows almost 16 feet long, and he drops the ball into the basket as time expires. With that, the TuneSquad wins the game and their freedom.
Swackhammer berates the Monstars for losing, and orders them to get in their spaceship to return to Moron Mountain. Jordan asks them why they put up with Swackhammer, and they reply that he's bigger-then they used to be. At that moment, the Monstars finally realize that they are physically bigger than Swackhammer is, turn on him, and shoot him into outer space. Jordan convinces the Monstars return the skills to the players, making them Nerdlucks again. The aliens beg the Looney Tunes to let them stay in Looney Tune Land; Bugs agrees if they can prove that they're "looney enough". Stan, having recovered from his injures, reminds Jordan of his baseball game. After saying good-bye to the Tunes, the two then borrow the aliens' spaceship to return to the real world for Jordan to join the Barons at their home stadium, to the amazement of Jordan's family and fans.
Jordan and Stan then find his still-talentless NBA friends mopeing around in a gym. Jordan takes the Ultimate Games' ball filled with the superstars' talent and tells them to touch it. They hesistate at first, but eventually do it and recieve their skills back. After showing their newly regained skills off to each other, Jordan's rivals begin to tease him, saying that he doesn't have the skills to play basketball anymore. This motivates Jordan to later return to the NBA, mirroring his real life comeback.
