Yeah, exactly; the Roger Ebert Caustic Critic trope is overexaggerated IRL. Most critics nowadays are fairly normal people with a fairly significant background in media and writing, not teenagers who churn out garbage for Buzzfeed or out-of-touch, retiree old geezers who haven't seen a cartoon in 20 years. A good critic should be able to explain a work's strength and failings without just laying it on thick. I'm reminded of the hollowness I felt after Raya and the Last Dragon that I wasn't able to articulate, but I read a very good review that made it click. (Also why hiring diverse critics is important, as the critic, like me, was Southeast Asian.)
Back to the topic at hand: what turned me off from the trailers wasn't the Looney Tunes, because I do love them, but the whole hollow, Ready Player One "let's just stuff it full of IP we own :-)" of it all. So maybe that says more about WB than it does about the Looney Tunes.
It's so weird that Ebert would be hit with that trope when he was arguably pretty "soft" compared to his contemporaries. Reading over his review of the original Space Jam, I can actually see why he rated it positively. It sets out to be exactly what it wanted (Michael Jordan meets Looney Tunes) and does it successfully.
The main criticisms with the original Space Jam was the overcommercialization of Jordan as an Athlete-God and the deference the Looney Tunes give to him to save them. Neither of which would be things Ebert would have cared much about. He is one of those seminal figures that the modern film criticism owes a lot to, he had the clout to be elitist but would freely admit to liking stupid comedies, his review of The Mummy (1999) is emblematic of that.
With the original Space Jam, it isn't nearly as clever and innovative as Who Framed Roger Rabbit but does have its funny and subversive moments. The catcher telling Jordan what every pitch was going to be because he is star struck is a funny scene poking at the premise of the movie.
Edited by EmeraldSource on Jul 14th 2021 at 7:15:09 AM
Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.These meh-bad reviews are exactly what I expected. Making a sequel to a movie that is so dated it's impossible to improve on it was always going to split people.
What's sad about this is that the Looney Tunes could be put back on the shelf for another 20 years should it not do well.
Edited by Mario1995 on Jul 14th 2021 at 10:24:47 AM
"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam GallagherAnd in-between that, we had Loonatics Unleashed, Duck Dodgers, the Looney Tunes Show, New Looney Tunes, Wabbit, a host of direct-to-video movies and a bunch of other content I'm probably forgetting.
I don't think we've gone a single decade without some Looney Tunes content and I doubt this movie's reception, good or bad, will affect that.
Edited by windleopard on Jul 15th 2021 at 12:18:34 PM
It's impossible for a franchise to maintain the same level of notoriety, acclaim and popularity with no dips or downfalls. Looney Tunes has a new big budget movie, that's a win no matter what if you love these characters.
Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.The original Space Jam also had "meh-bad" professional reviews. A 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, I believe. I expected this would be the same.
"I like girls, but now, it's about justice."Yeah, I'm not exactly going into this expecting an Oscar-caliber film. Hell, I hate most "Oscar-caliber" films, anyway.
Edited by lbssb on Jul 15th 2021 at 5:49:23 AM
Disney100 Marathon | DreamWorks MarathonCritics are human, in essence. Calling them useless snobs is just being anti-intellectual to a tee and not understanding the concept of art criticism, but at the same time they have their biases like everyone else and their word is not gospel.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."How the heck are people already seeing the new Space Jam movie? I know it got an early release in... Australia, I think? But isn't the film not supposed to be released until the 16th?
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EDIT: Pagetopper. Uhhh...Maybe someone will find a Space Jam collectible years later! XD
Edited by lalalei2001 on Jul 14th 2021 at 7:30:18 AM
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