What do you get when you mix Michael Jordan and five other NBA superstars with the entire Looney Tunes gang and a half-dozen meddling aliens? You guessed it: the big-budget, blockbuster kiddie movie Space Jam.

Anyone who has been orbiting in Pop-Culture Land recently has probably already seen the commercials, posters and merchandise heralding the arrival of Space Jam ’s unique blend of NBA action and cartoon craziness. But is it really that unique? We’ve all seen our fair share of movies combining live action and animation (from Mary Poppins to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? ), and the similarities are rather obvious. Remember the soccer game in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks ?

I have no doubt that basketball- and cartoon-lovers will go crazy about Space Jam, but no one can deny that the movie is really aimed at the wee ones. Almost all of the jokes have been recycled from the Looney Tunes vaults, and the “new material” looks remarkably similar to scenes from recent Disney movies. Then again, it’s easy to forgive the screenwriters since they are less likely to upset the die-hard Looney Tunes fans by reusing the classic jokes.

So what does the movie have to offer? Plenty. It’s most noticeable achievements are three-dimensional looking cartoon characters and impressive computerized backgrounds. While Michael Jordan tried to make his lines sound convincing in front of a green screen, animators and computer graphic specialists were busy transforming the flat Looney Tune characters into shadow-casting, round-bodied cartoons that can compete with more modern kiddie-flic stars like Buzz Lightyear. When the story starts to bore you (and believe me, it will), you’ll find yourself marveling at how much cooler Bugs Bunny looks now than he ever did before.

If you grew up watching Looney Tunes, you know exactly how important the character’s voices are. I’m still amazed that Mel Blanc was able to do the voices of so many different characters. Unfortunately for the makers of Space Jam, Mel Blanc died of heart disease in 1989, taking the voices of the most memorable Looney Tunes characters with him. Even though the creators of Space Jam were able to make the Looney Tunes look better, they weren’t able to make them sound better. It took more than half a dozen voices to perform what Mel Blanc could do by himself, and none of them can deliver a convincing “What’s up, doc?”

Space Jam is nothing like a real basketball game. Instead, the on-court scenes of the movie seem more similar to watching a Globetrotters game. The players can do anything they want because they’re animated and there are no rules. Even Michael Jordan can make a slam dunk from the half-court line on a cartoon court.

If you’re asking yourself why Michael Jordan would team up with the Looney Tunes crew to play basketball against a bunch of aliens, you’re probably ignoring the reason that together Bugs and Michael can make box-office gold. When a handful of pip-squeak aliens come to Earth to kidnap the Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny challenges them to a game of basketball. If the Looney Tunes win, they get to stay on Earth, but if they lose, they will be carted away to Moron Mountain, the Nerdlucks’ intergalactic amusement park, where they will become the new attraction. The puny Nerdlucks rob five of the NBA’s best players for their basketball skills (one of the movie’s best scenes shows Charles Barkley, unable to catch a basketball after the aliens steal his talent).

The Nerdlucks use the players’ abilities to transform themselves into the Monstars, huge basketball pros whose footsteps split the cartoon ground beneath their feet. What else could the Looney Tunes do but grab Michael Jordan from his pathetic life of golf and baseball? It doesn’t take much to convince Michael that he should forget all that mushy stuff about his father dying and start playing basketball again.

Like most recent cartoons, Space Jam tries to introduce another animated babe in hopes of outdoing Jessica Rabbit. Unfortunately, Lola Bunny isn’t even a close second. Nevertheless, it sure is nice to see Bugs Bunny kissing a female after all those years of smooching Elmer Fudd.

As a whole, Space Jam puts a new look on a lot of old jokes, but still manages to come up with enough original ideas to keep the audience happy. Best of all, it gives the “real” reason behind Michael Jordan’s decision to start playing in the NBA again, something that’s confused all of us for a long time. Do your good deed and take your little cousins to see this one; you won’t be as disappointed when you hear them laughing. Besides, isn’t it the perfect excuse you need to see it? You know you want to.