Space Jam is a bad movie. Oh no, did I just kick over your nostalgia sand castle? Sorry, but as someone who grew up in the mania of that movie, it never clicked with me even as a kid. Watching it as an adult only solidifies how right I was back then in thinking this was a mediocre-to-bad movie that everyone else seemed to love. Meanwhile, I was still wearing out my recorded VHS of the actual best utilization of the Looney Tunes concept in the 1990s: Tiny Toon Adventures. Specifically, the feature-length film that was released straight to video, Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.
I wore the tape out on that flick and always remembered it fondly, but I wanted to revisit it as an adult and see if it still held up. Guess what? Not only does Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation hold up, I’m here to put it up against Space Jam and declare the straight-to-video movie the far superior Looney Tunes movie of its decade. Michael Jordan ain’t got half the juice of Buster and Babs Bunny (no relation).
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation Eats Space Jam’s Lunch
Space Jam tries to (appropriately) jam the familiar Looney Tunes characters into a warped sports movie made to spotlight its non-actor star, Michael Jordan. It’s an enormous case of “square peg, round hole” syndrome that simply doesn’t lock in with what makes the Looney Tunes such an effective comedy concept. On the other hand, Tiny Toon Adventures had already done a ton of great work on television in crafting a new generation of Looney Tunes, who were in-universe being educated by the classic Looney Tunes themselves. Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation was the culmination of that experiment after the end of its second season, and it deftly nailed transferring the Tiny Toons into a feature narrative.
Where Space Jam invents a whole bunch of sci-fi hooey for its plot, Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation feels like a natural extension of the show’s world and characters. We get a number of plotlines as the Tiny Toons attempt to achieve clear goals for their summer vacation. Buster and Babs have a water fight that leads to them going on river adventure through rural Acme Acres, Plucky Duck wants to tag along with best bud Hampton Pig’s family on their trip to Happy World Land, Fifi La Fume just wants an autograph from hunk skunk Johnny Pew, and a few other little sideplots and gags that all feel perfectly representative of the show.
A Legitimately Good Movie vs. Space Jam
Again, I’m sorry to pee in your nostalgia pool, but Space Jam is a weak script trying to prop itself up on its Looney Tunes attractions. Meanwhile, Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation has a solid script tying its many stories together in surprisingly satisfying ways. While some of the references will undoubtedly be dated, it’s also got so many laugh-out-loud moments that work to this day. There’s a good chance it might have the funniest Road Runner moment in cartoon history.
I’m tired of Space Jam getting so much love when it’s not a good movie. People only really love it because of their childhood attachment. Instead, I urge them to revisit both Tiny Toon Adventures as a show but especially their feature film effort. How I Spent My Vacation deserves the attention and adoration Space Jam got as the top-tier Looney Tunes effort of the 1990s.
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