A funny kids movie that adults can enjoy too

"Space Jam" is like a short movie they incorporate with thrill rides at big amusement parks. It's not big on plot and it’s really just a long advertisement. However, this film is funny and enjoyable and I can respect that.

The Looney Toons characters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, etc.) have entertained us in the form of animated shorts for years, and this film proves their gags and routines can still work in the form of feature films. We seem to have forgotten cartoons were designed to make us laugh (not to be overly dramatic musicals), and this film not only re-establishes that concept, but does it through an original, humorous manner.

On the planet Moron Mountain (now there's a cartoon name if I ever heard one!), a fat, greedy, cigar-smoking alien (voiced by Danny DeVito), who runs a fledging amusement park, sends five scouts to Earth to kidnap the Looney Tunes characters to enslave them as novelty acts for his show.

Back on the "real" Earth, former basketball star Michael Jordan is struggling with his baseball career and finds himself annoyed by his new bumbling assistant Stan (Wayne Knight, the only fictional real-life character in the film). The initial atmosphere is a bit choppy as Jordan is upstaged by the professionalism of Knight and Bill Murray (as himself), but he isn't bad and I couldn't help but be curious.

The five-inch tall aliens arrive in the land of the Looney Toons packing powerful weapons and attempt to kidnap the 'toons. Using cartoon logic, Bugs Bunny (voiced by Billy West) convinces them the only way they can be kidnapped is if they beat them in a game of basketball. The aliens make their way to the "real" world and steal the talents from some top NBA players through some very funny scenes, which causes them to morph into gigantic monsters. So Bugs travels to the "real" world and brings back Michael Jordan, hoping he can help them win.

An interesting subplot begins to develop regarding the players (Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Mugsy Bouges, Patrick Ewing, and Larry Johnson) who were robbed of their talents and essentially become zombies. We get some slapstick jokes, but it keeps with the cartoony nature of the film. When the players go to strange means to get their talents back, the comedy works for both kids and adults: childish in the delivery, but mature in the witty content. Throughout the film are parodies children wouldn't understand, but are still good anyway (including a hilarious "Pulp Fiction" spoof).

Describing the final act would be pointless wouldn't it? It's as cliche and cartoony as they come, but I didn't mind.

"Space Jam" isn't anything genius, but it's a good, decent movie. Mixing animation with live action is a difficult process to synthesize, especially when the comedy is cartoony in nature (and using people who aren't really actors), but this film has a lot of wit and cleverness that more than makes up for its rough edges.