Space Jam directors, Tony Cervone and Bruce Smith, Co-Directors of Animation. © Warner Bros.

The only cartoon character that really comes off is Daffy Duck, here portrayed as a real loony in a melange of how he was seen in his earlier films. And it is Daffy rather than Bugs that is the real star of the film. (After playing second banana to Bugs Bunny all these years, I think Daffy really deserved star billing for his effort; but he obviously does not have the high powered representation that Bugs has.)

Michael Jordan is not really called upon to do much other than being Michael Jordan. There is some gentle mockery of his failed minor league baseball career, but he is otherwise there mostly as a foil for the cartoon action.

The blend of animation and live-action is generally rather seamless, though I must admit to being rather bothered by the set piece scene where Daffy and Bugs go to Jordan's house to retrieve his basketball outfit. As they walk through the house, the two at times seem more like some weightless, oversized balloons, rather than real, living cartoon characters. This is something that I've noticed before with some of the CGI animation in films such as The Mask and Casper. (I realize most people don't notice it, but I do and it annoys me and destroys a character's credibility.)

Space Jam producer, Ivan Reitman. © Warner Bros.

The gorgeous Lola Bunny of the Tune Squad in Space Jam. © Warner Bros.

Despite my feelings about the film as a film, I am delighted that the film is doing so well. Besides showing that someone other than Disney can play at the animation game, it destroys the illusion that musicals are the only commercially viable genre for animated features. Like Toy Story, Space Jam is a straight comedy, and thus might induce some producers to realize that they have choices in the type of film they make when they venture into theatrical animation.

Finally, the film should also give a solid boost to the careers of its animation directors, Bruce Smith and Tony Cervone. Smith directed the delightful Bebe's Kids a few years back and was responsible for a number of shows in the first season of the HBO fine series, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child. Cervone recently worked as an animator on Warner Bros.' Carrotblanca short, as well as a number of Steven Spielberg-Warner Bros. TV series, from Tiny Toon Adventures to Animaniacs.

P.S. If you really want to see a real feature-length tribute to Warner Bros. cartoons in the best sense of the word, try and see (if you can) Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece, The Thief and the Cobbler (briefly released last year in the US in a bastardized version entitled Arabian Knight). While it does not use one single Looney Tune, it is perhaps the ultimate Roadrunner cartoon, with the Thief standing in for Wile E. Coyote. Of course, the film had the luxury of having Ken Harris, one of Chuck Jones' ace animators, on the job. But that's another story.