8 Most Disappointing Movie Sequels & Remakes Of 2021
8. Space Jam 2
Shared universes are a big deal right now. Some are successful (MCU, obviously), some are just "there" (DCEU), and some are Universal's Dark Universe...
Space Jam: A New Legacy is not a film, it is an exercise in marketing. This is not something you watch and enjoy or be entertained by, but is instead an exercise in brand identity that the studio want to charge you for. It’s "Product!", not entertainment.
When people gush about parts from this film, they don't talk about how funny it was, or how good it was, what they mention is the references. It's basically a “hey, this has things I recognise, that means it’s good” attitude which led to things like Epic Movie being watched.
Yeah, it's a bit weird to be critical of a sequel to Space Jam for being too marketing based, but the original was a bit more subtle about its intentions, and it made sense. It didn't do what this did, which is get as many different characters from film properties the studio owns, and have them sit in the background of a crowd scene.
Animated fare like Shrek owes a large part of their audience to having jokes aimed at the adults in the audience, but there's a difference between that and putting the guys from Clockwork Orange in your wacky movie. Weirder than that is that it also has the nuns from The Devils in one scene - very strange as that isn't even available in America. So if you do get the reference you're just going to be annoyed that you are not allowed to watch that instead.