SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY

Yes, and gladly. This is a modern update of a family favorite that actually earns its nostalgia instead of just borrowing it. The animation is great, the CGI-and-live-action blend is handled with real craft, and the Warner Bros. self-referencing humor lands more often than it doesn't — expect plenty of laugh-out-loud moments for basketball fans and movie fans alike.

What matters more is what the movie is actually about: a father who will do anything to get his son back, and a story that keeps insisting family matters more than fame, talent, or a trophy. There's a light "follow your dream" thread running alongside that message, and one passing comment about basketball as a path to providing for your family — neither is worth losing sleep over.

Parents of younger kids should know there's some cartoon slapstick violence — heads bonked, characters flattened, that kind of thing — but nothing that should trouble most families. This one's a genuine keeper for movie night.

LeBron James and his son Dom don't want the same things. LeBron lives basketball; Dom lives technology, and has even built his own video game. When a trip to Warner Bros. Studios turns into something stranger than a business meeting, father and son find themselves pulled into the "Serververse" — a digital world run by a character with a grudge against LeBron. To get his son back, LeBron will need a team. Enter Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes.

Four stars means this one delivers on nearly every level it's aiming for. The animation is genuinely strong, and the way the film weaves CGI into live action — while actually explaining why it needs to — shows real craft rather than gimmick. The script is self-aware in a way that's charming rather than smug, poking gentle fun at Hollywood studio culture in moments that will land best with older viewers.

Pulling in other Warner Bros. properties — The Matrix, King Kong, The Wizard of Oz — to populate the Serververse gives the film a nostalgic texture beyond just the Looney Tunes reunion. It's a sequel that understands what made the original fun and updates it without losing the laughs.

This is, at its core, a movie about a father who will cross an entire digital universe to bring his son home — and that instinct is worth celebrating. The film's moral center is genuinely pro-family: rescuing your child matters more than winning, and encouraging the next generation to pursue excellence is treated as a good and worthy thing, not an obligation to be resented.

There's a light Romantic-era undertone here too — the emphasis on "following your dream" for its own sake — and one passing pro-capitalist comment, when a coach frames basketball success as a means of providing for one's family through hard work. Neither is a serious departure from a biblical view of work and calling; they're minor seasoning, not the main dish. The film's use of other Warner Bros. properties as set dressing — including a glimpse of the Wicked Witch of the West and a few Harry Potter elements, plus one supporting character calling LeBron "the chosen one" — is playful nostalgia rather than anything doctrinal, though discerning families may want to note it.

An earthly father moving heaven and earth — or at least a server farm — to save his son is a small echo of a much larger love: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16).

This is exactly the kind of sequel Movieguide loves to recommend: funny enough for the grown-ups, sweet enough for the kids, and built around a father's love for his son rather than a cynical cash grab. A little slapstick, a little mild language, one throwaway line about capitalism — none of it should keep your family away. Our answer stands: worth the trip.