The Ten News Screen Report: Space Jam Review ☄️
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Episode 113 Description
🎥 It is Screen Report time! Correspondent Terri Peters joins The Ten News to give us the low down on the new movie Space Jam: A New Legacy 🏀 Have you seen the original Space Jam? Terri enlists her kids, to compare the original film with the new one. 🍿 Trivia on the Ten! What did Space Jam star and basketball great, LeBron James, gift to the film crew? 🧐
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TRANSCRIPT:
Various Voices 0:00
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:06
I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's July 24th. And this is no ordinary episode of The Ten News. You know what it is. This is The Ten News gets extra.
Bethany Van Delft 0:24
Grab your popcorn. In today's screen report, we're giving you an inside look at the latest games and movies that you can catch when you need some downtime from your summer fun.
Sound Bit 0:37
Looks like we're staying in today kid. Well, what are we gonna do? Who wants to play video games?
Bethany Van Delft 0:44
The summer hits keep on comin'. And now some of these blockbusters are even on the big screen as movie theaters reopen around the country. To celebrate, here's a movie roundup no matter if you're looking to snack on popcorn in front of the silver screen or on the couch this weekend. Black Widow, the latest action packed Marvel movie, focuses on the origin story of the famous Avenger played by Scarlett Johansson. The film broke pandemic box office records when it was released earlier this month. It also debuted simultaneously on Disney+ premium service and has led to a lot of conversations in the movie industry about movie theaters versus streaming, and what future releases might look like.
Bethany Van Delft 1:34
And in just a few days, Disney releases Jungle Cruise starring the Rock and Emily Blunt. The duo head out on an Indiana Jones-like adventure through the Amazon to find a legendary tree set to have special healing powers. The movie is actually based on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, which debuted in 1955. But, just last week ahead of the movie's release, the ride reopened after some much needed renovations. It removed offensive cultural stereotypes of Native people and now the ride is more focused on nature and what happens when people try to master it. Which, no spoilers, but that seems like a good theme for a movie.
Bethany Van Delft 2:21
Rather shoot hoops instead? The highly-anticipated, Space Jam: A New Legacy, recently unseeded Black Widow as the number one movie when it was released last weekend. The film is loosely based on the 1996 classic, a mix of cartoon CGI and live-action, it stars LeBron James who goes on an adventure with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes crew to escape a freaky digital world. The actor Cedric Joe, who plays LeBron's son, and was 14 when the movie was filmed, had been a LeBron fan since he was little. Starring in a movie with your hero seems like a slam dunk.
Sound Bit 3:01
Bethany Van Delft 3:07
Hollywood has been on a remake spree lately, and Space Jam is only the latest movie to get a glow-up. But how does it compare to the original? Our correspondent, Terry Peters, decided to have a family movie night and see which movie made the cut.
Terri Peters 3:23
It's been 25 years since Space Jam, a movie starring iconic cartoon characters from Looney Tunes like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and basketball legend Michael Jordan hit movie theaters. But as of July 16th, 2021, the Space Jam franchise is back and it's gotten a major upgrade. In Space Jam: A New Legacy, modern-day basketball icon LeBron James replaces Michael Jordan as the MVP of an out of control, virtual basketball game created by Al-G Rhythm, a villainous piece of artificial intelligence software played by Don Cheadle, who you may recognize as War Machine from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are obvious differences between the 1996 film and the 2021 sequel. Animation has come a long way in the last 25 years. In this version, CGI, or computer-generated imagery has been added to the classic animation. And, the bad guys aren't those quirky aliens, the Monstars. Instead, LeBron and the Looney Tunes go up against the Goon Squad, video game versions of NBA and WNBA stars with a sinister twist.
Terri Peters 4:35
I sat down with my 13-year-old son Bennett, and my 11-year-old daughter Kennedy to watch both the original Space Jam and Space Jam: A New Legacy on the film's opening weekend.
Sound Bit 4:47
Terri Peters 4:49
You both told me that you like Space Jam: A New Legacy a lot more than the original, and judging by the fact that the film was number one at the box office on its opening weekend, I don't think you're alone. What was it about the LeBron James version you liked more?
Bennett 5:06
Um, I really enjoyed all the pop culture references, and like, the animation style was very good. I liked it more than the first one. I liked, the like the different planets for all the franchises. Like, I liked the Harry Potter planet, and like the DC planet. I thought that was a cool touch to add.
Kennedy 5:25
I liked it more because there was less sports-things. Like, it was less what they did wrong. Like, you really had to pay attention to the laws of the game in the first one I felt, but in the second one it was just get the ball in the hoop. And, it was more like, the shows that I watch on, like Netflix.
Terri Peters 5:42
There was a much bigger emphasis on the importance of family in Space Jam: A New Legacy. In the movie, LeBron James and his son, Dom, butt heads about whether Dom should focus on basketball, like his dad, or follow his dream of designing video games. Kennedy, what did you think about seeing a parent portrayed as maybe not having all the answers?
Kennedy 6:08
I think it's cool. Because, in most TV shows and movies they always say that, like, the like the parents are always right and the kid has to learn. But, it was nice to see that sometimes the parents have to learn too.
Terri Peters 6:19
And Bennett, I know you love video games. What did you think about the movie’s message that video games can be a great way to express creativity, instead of the message that usually gets out there, that video games and screens take up too much of a kids’ time.
Bennett 6:36
I thought, I think it's really nice that they're showing that they can be a learning tool. And like, they can teach you stuff instead of just like it's mindless and you're just sitting there for hours at a time doing nothing.
Terri Peters 6:46
One of my favorite parts of the movie was Porky Pigs’ epic Rap Battle, which scored his team lots of points. How about you two? What were your favorite parts?
Bennett 6:57
I liked, like the massive crowd at the basketball game. I thought that was cool, like visually. I really enjoyed all like the, as I said, like the Warner Brothers like, pop culture stuff and all the references. I thought that was interesting.
Kennedy 7:13
My favorite part was probably, the like hearing Zendaya's voice because she voiced Lola Bunny. I thought that was pretty cool.
Terri Peters 7:20
Okay, time for your rating. Which one would you recommend to the Ten'ers listening? The original? Or the remake?
Kennedy 7:29
The remake.
Bennett 7:30
The remake, all the way.
Terri Peters 7:32
As you can see, whether you're team 1996, or you're cheering for the 2021 sequel. All Space Jam fans will find something they enjoy in Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Bethany Van Delft 7:48
Well, we have a verdict. Thanks, Terry, Kennedy, and Bennett for screening Space Jam for us. Up next, it's time for...
Sound Bit 7:59
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:03
Trivia on the Ten. On the set of Space Jam: A New Legacy, LeBron James made something personal for some of the actors and team members who worked on the movie. What was it? A) a secret handshake, B) special sneakers or C) a personalized basketball.
Bethany Van Delft 8:28
Did you guess it? The answer is... A) a secret handshake. On set, LeBron developed personalized handshakes with actor Cedric Joe, who plays LeBron's son, and director Malcolm Lee. Each move is pretty elaborate and means something special. How cool. LeBron, make me a secret handshake.
Bethany Van Delft 8:59
Time's up. But, before we sign off, we have more trivia for you. We've got 10 important questions for every Ten'er out there that we'd love your answers to. So, before the end of the month, grab a grown-up and click on the link in our show notes to participate in our listener survey. We want to hear about how you think we're doing and what you want to hear more of, and bonus, participants will be entered into a raffle to win an Amazon gift card. Maybe you could put it towards a ticket to space? I don't know. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and next chapter podcast and is distributed by IHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is working on their secret handshakes and includes Kate Hale, Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, and Andrew Hall. Terry Peters contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News.
Me and Lola Bunny are going to shoot some hoops now. Byeeee!
Sources for this episode:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/movies/black-widow-review.html
https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/07/17/why-black-widow-is-terrible-news-for-amc/
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-07-18/disneyland-jungle-cruise-changes-woke-culture-vs-necessary-change-american-culture
https://www.spacejam.com/
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/07/19/space-jam-a-new-legacy-lebron-james-behind-the-scenes
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/07/19/space-jam-a-new-legacy-lebron-james-behind-the-scenes
