Shaq May Have Ruined ‘Space Jam’ For Me By Comparing Charles Barkley’s Performance In It To That Of His In ‘Kazaam’

I was a pretty big Space Jam guy growing up. I can admit that. Granted, the first time I saw it I was about four, so the real allure of it was seeing Bugs Bunny hang out with a real person instead of just other cartoons. It wasn’t until like my third or fourth time seeing the movie that I knew who Micheal Jordan was and figured out why he of all people was the one who was lucky enough to help Bugs save ToonTown. I don’t even know how many more times it took to piece together who all of the other basketball players were that the aliens stole their talents were. I still don’t fully understand the Bill Murray inclusion.

So, after seeing the movie I don’t know how many times, I can admit that the movie has it’s faults. Oddly enough, Shaq agrees with me, as he pointed out during NBA on TNT last night.

First of all: bold statement to say that Space Jam is worse that Kazaam. Shaq’s turn as a genie is up there as one of the most egregious cinematic sins of all time. Nothing is worse than Kazaam. Probably the only thing that could be worse than Kazaam would be Kazaam II. That being said, the Space Jam people could have well just gotten a cardboard cutout of Charles Barkley and thrown him around the room to symbolize movement for all the good he did in this movie. I guess the argument could be made that maybe the Nerdlucks stole Barkley’s acting talent as well as his ball skills, but that’s getting a little more meta than I think a film that contains a wisecracking duck making romantic advances on sexy she-rabbit has the ability to be. Maybe some of these questions in the upcoming sequel starring LeBron James. Maybe not. I can say I hope that they don’t add Shaq’s impression of Barkley’s performance in the original.