History Film / SpaceJam

** The dunk that wins the game for the Toon Squad is a reference to Michael Jordan's [[{{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9QPMy__xKQ&feature=related }}famous buzzer beaters.]]

* AwardBaitSong: "I Believe I Can Fly" by {{R Kelly}}.

* AwardBaitSong: "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly.

* ActorAllusion: When BillMurray appears in the game, Swachkhammer confuses him with DanAykroyd. Murray and Aykroyd did the ''{{Ghostbusters}}'' movies together, which were directed by producer IvanReitman. Murray also mentions that HaroldRamis gave him a ride to the portal. Murray and Ramis also did ''Ghostbusters'' together, along with ''{{Stripes}}'' (also directed by Reitman) and ''Film/GroundhogDay''.

-->"Hey! I didn't know {{Dan|Aykroyd}} [[{{Ghostbusters}} Aykroyd]] [[ActorAllusion was in]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall this picture]]!"

* HeAlsoDid: Korey Coleman, founder of the award winning animated movie review site {{Spill}}, was an assistant animator for Space Jam; he animated Tweety's shadows.

* AMinorKidroduction: The ColdOpening takes place during Jordan's childhood, then for the main titles shifts to StockFootage of his basketball career.

* [[AssKickingPose Ass-Kicking Pose]]: Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam do this during the second half slapstick montage. It's a direct ShoutOut to ''PulpFiction'', in fact.

* [[BewareTheNiceOnes Beware the Nice Ones]]: Tweety Bird is surprisingly hostile and mean when not "on set".
* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted by Stan, played straight by Bill Murray in a spectacular DeusExMachina fashion. The latter is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] hilariously by Swackhammer.

* BullSeeingRed: Used at one point when Daffy paints one of the mon-stars butts with red paint, which attracts the attention of the Bull from ''Bully For Bugs'', who was sitting in the crowd at the time. Cue him ramming said mon-star in the gluteus maximus, sending him into the air screaming.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mr. Swackhammer

* CrossDressingVoices: The Nerdlucks are all voiced by women.

** TheEvilGenius: Nawt (red) (seems to be the smartest, though that's not saying much with this group)

* [[GRatedDrug G-Rated Drug]][=/=]MagicFeather: Michael's Secret Stuff, which is really water, but the toons treat it as steroids. Daffy notes this is wrong. Using the basketball player's talent is made to look like this on the alien's side.

* IBelieveICanFly: This trope doesn't appear in the film, but R. Kelly's hit song from the movie is the TropeNamer.

* IResembleThatRemark: Said by Foghorn Leghorn (the TropeNamer) when the Monstars visit the Toons' gym to meet and taunt Michael.

* ShoutOut: The beginning of Bugs's meeting with the other Looney Tune characters on how to deal with the Nerdlucks is visually right out of ''{{Patton}}''.

** The ImageSong "Buggin'" has a similar one: "What kind of Mickey Mouse organization goes to [[DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]]?"

* TransformationSequence: Nerdlucks becoming the Monstars. Also, [[NightmareFuel it's scary]].
* [[ThatsAllFolks That's All, Folks!]]: Bugs comes up and says it when the credits end, but then Porky shows up to say it himself. Daffy interrupts and tries to say it, but the Nerdlucks knock him down and say it. Michael Jordan then appears in his Toon Squad jersey, asking, "Can I go home, now?"

The film was met with mixed reaction by critics, but was successful at the box office, with $230 million worldwide. It's not to be confused with ''LooneyTunesBackInAction'', which is officially a RetCon (read, an attempt from WarnerBros to fix its BrokenBase, which didn't work out so well financially; this is a polite way of saying it bombed massively).

!!''Film/SpaceJam'' uses the following tropes:

This 1996 live-action/animated film is what happens when you base a feature-length film upon ''a sneaker commercial''. Really. Nike had ordered a few commercials featuring MichaelJordan and an animated BugsBunny facing off against alien cartoon characters. This campaign performed so well that [[TheMovie a movie]] was the [[InsaneTrollLogic next logical (?) step.]]

This backfires when it turns out that the Nerdlucks can [[LiquidAssets steal the "talent" from athletes]] (they do this to NBA players Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson and Shawn Bradley in one of the movie's many, many subplots). This transforms them into [[OneWingedAngel the Monstars]] ([=aka=] --wait for it-- [[IncrediblyLamePun The Mean Team]]). This is where Michael Jordan comes in, but during the time period the film is set in, he had retired to play baseball. Thankfully, he wasn't drained of his skills and had actually just ''un''retired at the time the film was made. [[hottip:*:In fact, part of the deal was for Jordan to be provided with state of the art training facilities between takes.]] According to this film, saving the Looney Tunes is [[HistoricalInJoke the reason why he returned to basketball]]. Yeah.

[[LoveItOrHateIt The movie divides opinions to date.]] As you may imagine, fans of the classic Looney Tunes shorts to this day have... problems... with it. Generally, it is the first Looney Tunes feature film that is not a compilation of shorts, it features the best integration of animation and live-action since ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' with some truly spectacular moments, a lot of great humor and spot-on Looney Tunes gags (including a lot of [[ProductPlacement jokes]] at Jordan's expense), and a few legitimate [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming moving moments]], particularly the autobiographical opening concerning Jordan's father.

One problem is that it is widely regarded as the beginning of WarnerBros animation's DorkAge. The classic characters have their vague personality but nothing that really highlights what makes them so memorable. BugsBunny and DaffyDuck are shown as close friends with little interpersonal conflict. Another major point of contention is the character [[TheScrappy Lola Bunny]], who was introduced in the movie. She is still treated by the studio as if she was always part of the Looney gang, yet in the film, she is a ''very'' obvious attempt to avert TheSmurfettePrinciple. Jordan himself is revered as a near god-like figure, when he was already oversaturated as the god of basketball in the media.

Still, [[NostalgiaFilter no matter how bad the film may be, '90s kids will defend it TO THE DEATH]].

** ...or maybe not. There's a long-running AlternateCharacterInterpretation that says that Tweety is a sadist who delights in tormenting Sylvester, and in his early cartoons he was quite vicious.
** Still all the years of stalking abuse from Sylvester, as well as the monstar hitting him probably snaped his "poor wittle Cwanium"

* IndecisiveParody: When looking at the very serious scenes and the comedic ones, one gets a strong feeling that the movie was planned a serious drama about basketball feauturing Michael Jordan at one point, was later changed to a live action/cartoon crossover comedy, but because they needed movie filler they kept most of the serious material in, which results in a comedic movie with some oddly serious scenes that should have been in a different movie.

* RogerRabbitEffect: Just with a different rabbit. Or tow.

* RogerRabbitEffect: Just with a different rabbit. Or two.

-->''MichaelJordan:'' Can I go home now?

No, this is not related to the jam used in ''SpaceBalls'' to block out a radar.

* BreakawayPopHit: Many songs in the soundtrack.

* MediumBlending
* MemeticMutation: The theme song is both extremely catchy and extremely remixable. [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/slam-remix-vs-quad-city-djs The internet has had a field day with this.]]

* CanonForeigner[=/=]CanonImmigrant: Oddly averted with the Nerdlucks, who haven't appeared in any Looney Tunes media since the movie even though the ending seems to suggest they are taken in by the Tunes and though they are arguably much better suited to be Looney Tunes characters than Lola is. Lola, on the other hand, is played straight for both, as she'd later appear in ''BabyLooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow''.

In the film, the LooneyTunes must recruit NBA superstar Michael Jordan to play on their basketball team. They need Jordan's help because these [[AlienScrappy aliens called Nerdlucks]] intend to kidnap them and make them the new attractions for their evil boss Swackhammer's evil theme park. Bugs, noting how tiny the Nerdlucks are, decides to challenge them to a basketball game.

* CanonForeigner[=/=]CanonImmigrant: Oddly averted with the Nerdlucks, who haven't appeared in any Looney Tunes media since the movie even though the ending seems to suggest they are taken in by the Tunes and though they are arguably much better suited to be Looney Tunes characters than Lola is. Lola, on the other hand, is played straight for both, as she'd later appear in ''BabyLooneyTunes'' and ''TheLooneyTunesShow''.
* TheCameo: Most of the crowd in the arena are secondary characters from LooneyTunes shorts.

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: As usual for the LooneyTunes.

-->'''Porky Pig:''' Ah bu- bu- bu- correction, we're LooneyTunes.

* ToonTown: The LooneyTunes have their own in the center of the earth. No, really.

* CanonForeigner[=/=]CanonImmigrant: Oddly averted with the Nerdlucks, who haven't appeared in any Looney Tunes media since the movie even though the ending seems to suggest they are taken in by the Tunes and though they are arguably much better suited to be Looney Tunes characters than Lola is.

!!''SpaceJam'' uses the following tropes:

** This is {{lampshaded}} when Michael Jordan gets his golf cleats stuck to the floorboards and asks if the toons have a pair of basketball shoes he could borrow--cut to a few shots of the toons' feet.

* BarefootFunnyAnimals: Lola Bunny, as well as the other furry characters in their Tune Squad uniforms.
** This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when Michael Jordan gets his golf cleats stuck to the floorboards and asks if the toons have a pair of basketball shoes he could borrow--cut to a few shots of the toons' feet.

-->'''Bugs:''' You ever seen any money from all that stuff?

* MythologyGags: There aren't very many direct references to the cartoon plots, but there are a few. For example, when falls into Looney Tunes land, Daffy shows up dressed as a doctor and gives him a very madcap checkup. This is a reference to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ2_-R80luI The Daffy Doc,]] which at the time went over the heads of many as that and many other Clampett Era cartoons were rarely rerun when the movie was released.

** Jordan has a few of these: Don't call him wussy man, don't call him chicken, don't call him washed up, don't especially call him baldy. If you think his head blew there get ready for the big one: Don't hit Tweety in front of him.