I have witnessed something truly amazing. I have seen a television commercial made into a feature-length movie.

The very thought rattles every anti-consumerist bone left in my body. How can they get away with elevating a television commercial to the near-legitimacy of the big screen? What kind of society will accept advertising as entertainment? How can a gimmicky 60-second spot provide 90+ minutes worthwhile viewing?

And -- most embarrassingly -- why did I come away kinda liking it?

Some of you may not know SPACE JAM's origin; some may have forgotten. Around five years ago, when the "Basketball Glory" commercial was still a young art form, Nike put out a commercial featuring their chief sneaker hawker, Michael Jordan, playing world-renowned carrot cruncher, Bugs Bunny. The match-up was called "Air Jordan vs. Hare Jordan." It was hilarious.

SPACE JAM takes place during the time that Michael Jordan left pro-basketball to pursue a baseball career. A bunch of tiny, bug-like aliens arrive in the Looney Tunes world with orders to capture all our favorite Warner Bros characters and force them to become the officially licensed property of Moron Mountain, their planet's theme park. The Tunes would be forced to perform the same jokes over and over for all eternity without any compensation. (Kinda ironic. Sounds like syndication.)

Bugs and the boys challenge the space mites to a game of basketball for their freedom, figuring a sure win. The aliens, however, go out into "3-D Land" and suck the talent out of the best players in the NBA. They leave Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and others unable to even catch a basketball and return to Looney Tune land as "the Monstars." Since Michael Jordan is ostensibly a baseball player, the aliens overlook him. Realizing this, the Looney Tunes pull Jordan down a golf hole and onto their team. Michael joins Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweety, the Tasmanian Devil, Lola Bunny (the new token female) and, of course, Bugs on a quest to beat the combined power of the NBA and save their world.

When I learned of SPACE JAM's concept, I wasn't enthused. It's really just a movie about a basketball game. What can you do with it? Well, you can have Michael insist for a while that he's no longer a basketball player. You can send Bugs and Daffy into 3-D World in search of Michael's lucky gym shorts. You can watch Charles Barkley and company try everything from doctor visits to seances to regain their powers. Most of this is funny, even if it does smell of filler. But SPACE JAM is so short and moves so fast, I really can't complain.

I can complain about the style of these Looney Tunes. These aren't your old-time Looney Tunes. These are cloned off of Steven Spielberg's "Tiny Toons." The animation is the loose, overblown, frenetic style that it seems every comedy cartoon made today must follow. In their glorification of the cartoon medium, they've exaggerated the visual lunacy and lost what made these characters great to begin with: clever gags, careful pacing and consummate craftsmanship. And they've also lost ... <sigh> it hurts, it still hurts ... the voice of Mel Blanc.

Fortunately for Warner Bros., SPACE JAM is targeted toward younger audiences who won't be quite so discriminating as I. And unlike most of the kids movies I've seen of late, I don't have any real reservations regarding SPACE JAM. It has cartoon violence and scary creatures, but nothing out of the ordinary. There's humor for big folks, too. The grown-ups in the audience laughed at Daffy asking Bugs, "You know all those lunchboxes and bookbags and toys that our likenesses are plastered on? Have you ever seen any money from that stuff?" They also laughed when a psychiatrist asks one of the NBA pros if basketball were the only area in which he was experiencing "lack of performance." It was amusing to note a couple times when a sight gag would make the kids in the audience cackle while the grown-ups remained silent.

A good portion of the humor the cartoon characters generate for SPACE JAM comes from serving up old gags. For example, the Roadrunner flees through a hole in the practice gym wall toward the sunset. Wile E. Coyote zips after him only to smack into sunset which rolls up like a window shade. Another hunk of humor comes from self-referential gags, like the bit about the royalties I mentioned or like Daffy displaying the "WB" on his butt, explaining that Looney Tunes are the wholly-owned intellectual property of Warner Bros. Inc., and then giving the WB a big ol' smooch. Usually the humor works, sometimes it doesn't. Occasionally, the movie rises above its precedents with original humor free of mimicry.

The basketball game that is the whole purpose of the movie actually was a hoot. I had a blast watching the Monstars slam the Looney Tunes six ways to Sunday with moves that would make the Crusher wince. I mean, picture a three-story demon launching a flying body slam from atop the backboard. And, even though it was totally predictable, I loved when the Tunes turned the game around by playing it *their* way.

Comparisons to WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT are inevitable. In fact, I strongly felt that a prime directive for the visual effects team was "to outdo Roger Rabbit." In some ways they did. The integration of live action and animation is better in SPACE JAM. The line between cartoons and real actors blurs when, for instance, the Monstars crush Michael into a ball and run the court with him. It's not THE MASK, but it's clearly a step beyond ROGER RABBIT. On the other hand, ROGER RABBIT had a more interesting plot, more detailed artwork and more originality than SPACE JAM. It also had Jessica Rabbit.

To be fair, this isn't the first time a movie has been based on a commercial. Remember the "Ernest" movies (ERNEST GOES TO CAMP, ERNEST GOES TO JAIL, etc.)? Those movies -- all six of them -- took root from commercials in which the goofy next-door neighbor would stick his face in the camera and say "Know what I mean, Verne?" Man. I can't even remember what he was selling. I think Ernest started off selling Sprite and then slid on down to vinyl windows. It seems the sheer licensing power of SPACE JAM puts it in a different class from Ernest. But how should I know? I've never seen a single Ernest movie.

SPACE JAM is going to make a great laser disc. The major characters (Bugs, Taz, Elmer, Porky) have prominent parts, but you can glimpse tons and tons of minor Warner Bros. characters on the streets and in the stadium of Looney Tune land. I found myself going, "Oh, look! It's the hairy monster with the sneakers! Oh wow, that mouse... which one was he in?" I wouldn't be surprised if they set out to fit in every character from every Warner Bros cartoon.

I know some of you might be wondering, "Can Michael Jordan act well enough to carry a feature length movie?" To which I ask, have you seen Jordan in any Nike, any Hanes, any McDonalds commercials ever? If so, you have witnessed the breadth and depth of his acting ability. Luckily, it's right on par with the film's requirements.

Ah, SPACE JAM. No, it's not your childhood Looney Tunes and, yes, the apotheosis of advertising chills the soul. But as the man said, "This is the world we live in, and this is the time we're given." If you're leaning toward SPACE JAM, go ahead. Acquiesce and enjoy.

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