Space Jam’s original director says it took him five attempts to watch LeBron James in A New Legacy

‘A New Legacy’ has been a hit with fans, but critics aren’t so impressed

Joe Pytka, the director of the original 1997 film Space Jam, has confessed that it took him five attempts to get through this year’s standalone movie A New Legacy.

According to TMZ, Pytka called the movie, which stars NBA champion LeBron James, as “an uninteresting mess”. He also reportedly branded the star-studded soundtrack featuring John Legend, Chance the Rapper and Jonas Brothers as “insignificant”.

"The truth is that LeBron ain’t Michael,” he apparently claimed, referring to the original film’s star, Michael Jordan. He also suggested that A New Legacy doesn’t have the same personal connection as the original, which used Jordan’s brief move to baseball as a plot point.

Pytka wasn’t a fan of the new Bugs Bunny design, either: “He looked like one of those fluffy dolls you buy at an airport gift shop to bring your kid when your business trip has taken too long."

Representatives for Joe Pytka have been contacted for comment.

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Space Jam: A New Legacy has been a hit with audiences but less so with critics. The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey calling it “exhausting” in a two-star review.

“Are they laughing at us?” the review asked. “Is this a taunting reminder that art is now so confined and commercialised that even the work of Ken Russell can’t escape that of easter eggs and Funko Pops? No one expectedSpace Jam: A New Legacy, considering its origins, to be anything other than cynical. But at its weakest, it can’t even function as effective marketing material.”

Despite the poor reviews, a sequel to A New Legacy is reportedly already on the cards.