Looney Tunes meets Michael Jordan. What a concept. Does it work? Sort of. The gang at Warner Brothers decided to cash in on the popularity of their cartoon characters, used state of the art computer technology and got Michael Jordan to play himself in this family film. While the film has its moments, this certainly is not another "Roger Rabbit".

Michael Jordan has retired from basketball and is trying to make it in baseball. Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny and friends are threatened by evil space creatures who want to enslave them on their planet. They recruit Michael to help them, dragging him into Looneytune Land via a golf course. They challenge the aliens to a basketball game to decide their fate. In the meantime, the aliens have stolen the abilities of other great NBA players, like Charles Barkley, to make the match a bit more one sided. We follow the fates of the NBA players, as well as the Looneytunes team, known as the TuneSquad, through practice and the big game. Guest stars include Larry Bird and Bill Murray, in a pivotal role. Michael Jordan is no actor but he says his lines well. He should stick to basketball. He does get to show off his basketball skills during the film several times. His fictional family is barely woven into the plot, and Michael seems to live a modest house in a quaint all-American neighborhood. Hard to swallow for anyone over thirteen. Then there are the toons. Unfortunately, Bugs as straight man is not that funny. Daffy comes off as cynical, and the other toons are spread out so thin they have minimum lines and jokes. Seeing Elmer Fudd as a hyped up basketball player just doesn't fit his character. Lola Bunny is introduced, although I don't know why, other than to allow Bugs to run a few sight gags and give him motivation during the game. All in all, the kids will like the plot and gags, but the film won't hold up well with adults.

This special edition boasts a new transfer and for the most part is clean up well. The picture has always been less then sharp in scenes involving toons and human actors and this is no exception. Three dimensional shading on the toon characters is welcome but seems a bit pointless when the characters themselves refer to Michael's world as 3 D land. Sound is one of the best parts of the disc. Excellent 5. 1 surround is provided and the film has a good soundtrack, including Seal's Steve Miller remake "Fly Like An Eagle." The beginning of the game scene, with player intros shows off a surround sound system well.

Disc two contains a feature on the making of the film from 1996, and the disc also includes some cartoons from the mid 80's and 90's as Warner tries to revive the characters. Toon titles include Another Froggy Evening (not the original), Invasion Of The Bunny Snatchers, Night of the Living Duck and the Duxorcist. Two music videos include "Fly Like An Eagle" from Seal and "Monstars Anthem". Bugs and Daffy become battling VJ's using musical clips from classic toons, there is a game demo and trailer. One disc one commentary is provided by Bugs, Daffy and director JOe Pytka. I like this audio extra with the toons commentary as it utilizes a direct DVD feature not available on video tape.

Space Jam Special Edition offers more then the original DVD and has excellent sound. Picture quality is acceptable and clean; and kids will enjoy the film as their hero battles the Monstars. The classic characters created by Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Tex Avery are all here but deserved a better script. Looney Tune fans should pick up the Looney Tunes Golden Collection for wacky entertainment.