Space Jam 2

I think that is also bare minimum, it was relegated to a very short segment that, as you say, had no bearing on the rest of the movie.

Well they also showed off an animated Wonder Woman. This movie showed off a lot of WB properties for better or worse.

Also given they had Lola back and they had Zendaya voicing her, it did make sense that they had a scene to have her show off in. Can't say it was totally unwarranted. Can't say it had that much relevance either though I'll agree.

The original also was definitely a commercial, but also just knew to show you Michael Jordan and the Looney Times playing basketball and that was enough. This one's definitely way more in your face about it and while it was clearly doing it on purpose, definitely can't say it worked every time though certainly.

None of the wacky things they find the Looney Tunes in affects the rest of the plot. Like Daffy and Porky being the DC Animated Universe is never brought up again.

Do you feel that is an argument for or against mine? I think that is the bigger problem, actually: the WB segments just don't matter at all to the rest of the movie. It is basically trailer footage with no real bearing to the movie overall.

I am not sure. It wasn't really an argument or agreement. Just a note to be added on to it.

However, I do agree that the WB don't really matter and that is indeed a problem.

One of its many problems, really. Lola is just the most frustrating one, at least from a progressive standpoint.

I think its actual biggest problem is that the rival team is only created in the third act, has no characterization beyond a quip and a style, and gets erased from existence immediately after the match is over.

Contrast that to the first movie, where the villain team was there from the start, personally instigated the conflict, had actual characterization, had actual agency in the plot, and even got a happy ending to boot.

Every movie needs a good villain, and SJ 2 just doesn't have one. And no, the evil manager guy does not count. That's not the villain in a basketball game.

The problem with bringing DC's superheroes into a plot like Space Jam's is that you are asked to accept that they are heroic as usual in their world, but then when a 'cosmic' villain like the algorythm tries to destroy the Looney Tunes through a game of basketball, those heroes are perfectly okay with just standing at the sidelines of said game.

Superman being in the same universe as a world destroying villain and not doing anything to even try to stop them is... like, the least anti-Superman thing ever? It's not like Superman can't go to where the villain is, everyone went to the game, and Superman doesn't care about how powerful the villain is, he won't quit because of it either.

It'd be another thing if the plot showed the inhabitants of the other worlds defeated with the Looney Tunes being the only ones left standing to stop the villain, or a Kingdom Hearts-type law of 'you can't meddle into other worlds' but Space Jam doesn't even try either. The latter doesn't apply anyway since the emigrated Looney Tunes ARE meddling in the lives of the other universes.

"But it's just a comedy starring the Looney Tunes" would work as a reason if the DC heroes and the like were strictly portrayed in a Teen Titans Go fashion where they basically are as much of a bunch of ocassionally sociopathic cartoons as the Looney Tunes themselves can be, but from the Wonder Woman/Lola scene alone, that's not the case.

So... eh, what worked fine enough in the first movie becomes an Idiot Plot when you reel those other characters into it.

Good point. Note that the first movie exclusively draws from Looney Tunes characters for its audience, to great effect I should add.

I don't think they were. They were just the audience, nothing more.

@TomWithoutJerry I think you're applying too much logic to a movie whose premise is the Looney Tunes teaming up with an NBA star.

All the logic it really needed was for the villain to set up a barrier around the arena, and for Supes to get zapped by it, Looney Tunes style, when he tries to interfere. That would answer the question of why no one is helping, and it would also be very funny.

Yeah, it's pretty funny how for all the commercialized focus the first movie was, it was still pretty much well constructed for its plot.

Indeed, I have rewatched it several times, and it stays fun. Not sure if the same will hold for 2.

What the movie really needed to do was have the Monstars have more than just a one-off cameo and have Michael Jordan come in at the end to help win the game and have a sentimental moment with the Tunes—and a little instrumental of For You I Will and/or I Turn to You wouldn't have hurt either. Those things would've not only been crowd-pleasing, but really tugged at the heartstrings too.