Space Jam 2 Secretly Criticizes 3D Looney Tunes – Theory & Issues Explained

Does Space Jam: A New Legacy secretly criticize how Hollywood keeps turning cartoons into CGI characters? A theory suggests so. Let’s take a look.

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Space Jam: A New Legacy gave the Looney Tunes a makeover by turning them into 3D/CGI versions, but was the movie secretly criticizing the use of CGI through the Looney Tunes? The Looney Tunes have gone through a variety of adventures since their debut in 1930, but in 1996 they went through a one-of-a-kind adventure in space in Joe Pytka’s Space Jam. The movie brought together two different worlds unlikely to cross paths in the real world: the Looney Tunes and professional basketball, this by having Michael Jordan leading the Tune Squad in a life-changing basketball game.

Space Jam told a fictionalized version of what happened during Michael Jordan’s initial retirement in 1993 and his return in 1995, during which he was recruited by Bugs Bunny to help the squad win a basketball game against a team of aliens known as Monstars, who wanted to enslave them and turn them into the entertainment of their amusement park. Space Jam mixed live-action and traditional animation, with the Looney Tunes keeping their 2D looks (though slightly more stylized, of course), which made way for a lot of fun visual gags. Now, over two decades later, a sequel titled Space Jam: A New Legacy was released with Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James leading the team, and while the movie kept the first one’s basic premise, it made a lot of changes that have been heavily criticized.

The biggest, most noticeable change that has sparked a lot of debate among critics and viewers is how Space Jam 2 digitized the Looney Tunes and gave them a 3D/CGI look, which was justified in the story. The Looney Tunes spend the first two acts in their traditional looks, but when the time comes for the big game to start, the villain of the story and leader of the opposing team, Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), gives them a makeover to fit with the digital look of everything else. Bugs Bunny and company are understandably horrified when they see themselves in 3D form, but could this be a sneaky way from the writers of Space Jam 2 to criticize the use of CGI in recent years?

Space Jam 2 is not the first (nor will it be the last) movie to give a CGI look to characters known for their 2D style, but the way the Looney Tunes are transformed against their will and the looks on their faces as they suddenly get a new shape with different textures has made way for a theory or interpretation of what the movie is truly doing through this: criticizing the overuse of this technology. Inverse suggests so and explains that the way the Looney Tunes are transformed is unnatural and takes away their essence as they are automatically given a “photorealist” style that doesn’t allow them to be their frantic, silly selves. The author explains that cartoons can “get away with whatever they want since the two-dimensional drawings instantly trigger our suspension of disbelief”, which is completely lost once the Tune Squad goes full CGI. Space Jam 2, then, could be secretly criticizing the (most times) pointless use of CGI on cartoon characters and shows exactly why it doesn’t work well.

However, given a big issue surrounding the animation crew behind Space Jam 2, this theory now seems unlikely. In an unexpected (and unprofessional) movie from Warner Bros., the studio didn’t credit the whole 2D animation team, and this issue was quickly pointed out by some of the animators, most notably Dave Alvarez. In response to this, and in a failed attempt to make up for the “mistake”, Warner Bros. shared the names of the whole 2D animation crew and their “gratitude” to them via the official Space Jam 2 Twitter and Instagram accounts, which only drew more backlash. If the studio didn’t show any respect to their 2D animators, more so as half the movie was done in traditional 2D style (including an animated version of LeBron James, in contrast to a live-action Michael Jordan in a cartoon environment), it’s unlikely they were criticizing CGI by turning the Looney Tunes into 3D versions, and actually shows the contrary.

Whether Warner Bros. was truly trying to make a point about cartoon characters getting the 3D/CGI treatment in recent years or not will be up to every viewer and their own interpretation of the story and events, but it seems more like a change needed to fit the digital theme of Space Jam: A New Legacy rather than the studio firing shots. As “horrifying” as the CGI transformation was to the Looney Tunes and some viewers, the real issue is not how cartoons lose their essence when turned into 3D versions, but how the studio didn’t show respect to its team of animators, and any type of criticism they might have tried to do through the Looney Tunes ultimately won’t matter.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/space-jam-2-looney-tunes-3d-animation-criticism/