The good thing about watching movies years after they come out is that you can form a nuanced opinion without the influence of the cultural reception at the time. Watching Kazaam taught me that there's nothing nuanced about how terrible this movie is. You heard it was bad. I heard it was bad. We can now agree that there's nothing clouding our judgment.This movie reeks of the decade it was made in. Physically-incapable-of-acting basketball star Shaq is the title character, a genie that lives in a boombox. The protagonist of the movie is Max, a bratty kid that finds Kazaam in an abandoned building. We're supposed to sympathize with Max because he's bullied, but he's such a little jerk that it's actually cathartic to watch him get bullied. Kazaam and Max make an unlikely pair, not just because a 7 foot tall black man follows a little white boy around New York like a lost puppy, but also because Kazaam wants to go through the three wishes to gain his freedom (and hopefully get far, far away from this kid), and Max, in a completely realistic and tightly written portrayal of the selfish child that he is, decides that he doesn't want to use any of the magic wishes his genie is begging him to make. The "plot" of the film revolves around Max learning that his mother lied to him all these years and that his father actually lives in the city, so he goes off to see his father for the first time in however many years (Kazaam is along for the ride). He's crushed to find out that his dad is a total sleazebag (like father like son) music executive and eventually it's up to Kazaam to use his miraculous powers not to end poverty, war or world hunger but to mend this broken white family. There's another sleazebag that figures out Kazaam is a genie and plots to steal him out from under Max.If you found Shaq's non-acting to be distressing, prepare yourself for the trauma that is his rapping. This movie fails in just about every conceivable way. A story about a kid and his genie should be pretty straightforward but somehow, most of the characters are unlikable, the plot is dull and predictable, and I'll sound like a broken record if I keep talking about the acting. Space Jam, this is not.

"Let's green egg and ham it." I was only seven years old when Kazaam was released into theaters, starring Shaquille O'Neal as the eponymous enchanter. And to this day I am truly grateful that my parents never took me to see this magical mishap of a motion picture two decades later. Back in the 90s when Shaq was at the height (no pun intended) of his professional career with the NBA, Los Angels Lakers and doing several Reebok or Pepsi commercials, his film appearances, especially as a main character, proved to be disastrous. The tag line on the VHS and DVD cover or what have you reads: "He's a rappin' genie-with-an-attitude...and he's ready for slam-dunk fun!" I as the viewer greatly disapproved. Even the Los Angeles Daily News didn't know what to say, so they just slapped "FUN!" on the cover in big capitalized yellow letters. Nonetheless, I would taken away the 'N'. With a budget of $20 million, only earning back $18.9 million in return, it also obtained a six percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on thirty-three reviews, and a twenty-four out of one hundred on Metacritic. So why did this family fantasy flop so hard? Let's take a look.The film promptly opens on a swinging wrecking ball knocking down a dilapidated building in New York City; a perfect metaphor. A final swing knocks Kazaam's lamp in slow motion onto a boombox that just happens to be there as we hear him screaming. And how fitting to see director Paul M. Glaser's (David Starsky from the Starsky & Hutch TV show) name appearing over the sound of breaking pottery. That sound effect alone sums up the rest of the movie indefinitely. We then meet Max Connor (Francis Capra), a twelve-year-old kid on the run from a local gang of bullies, who chase him into the said building being demolished. Max accidentally kicks the boombox and unknowingly awakens the 5,000 year-old genie just as the bullies find him. Kazaam scares them away with his so-called rapping. Max later goes home to Alice (Ally Walker). She is a single Mom of whom she and her son don't exactly see eye to eye, especially since she's seeing a fireman named Travis (John Costelloe, of whom was an actual FDNY firefighter in real life and played Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski on The Sopranos). Kazaam later explains to the troubled youth, of whom at first wants nothing to do with him, that he can grant him three wishes. From telling Max that he doesn't "believe in fairy tales" to even taking a shower in front of Max in his own bedroom singing an almost unrecognizable rendition of Stayin' Alive...its just a mess.Eventually the tough Max warms up to Kazaam and starts to believe what he says when he causes mountains of junk food to rain down from the heavens. He also realizes that he owns the towering turban-wearing thaumaturge until he makes his last two wishes. Of course what Max really wants is to get to know his estranged father (James Acheson), of whom left him when he was two. He sets out to find him, only to discover that he is a musical talent producer of which the cause of his success is specializing in unauthorized music. Kazaam forgets about Max once the boy's father takes a liking to him as a new possible rap talent as he tries his hand at a music career at his nightclub. But the sleazy villainous club owner Malik (Marshell Manesh), wants Kazaam for his own, and it is only the final wish, from the heart, that Max wishes that his Dad would be given a second chance at life as Kazaam personally deals with the Malik and his cronies. Hereafter, Max then accepts Travis as a new father figure. Kazaam is really one of those good/bad movies that emerged in the 90s. It was good because it was and still is a fairly harmless family film, but bad because it has over time gained attention since its release for its absurd concept and Shaquille O'Neal's performance, making it a critical and financial failure. It also caused Paul M. Glaser to never direct another film since due to negative reviews on his work. Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 stars, writing: "Shaq has already proved he can act (in Blue Chips, the 1994 movie about college basketball). Here he shows he can be likable in a children's movie. What he does not show is good judgment in his choice of material. [...] the filmmakers didn't care to extend themselves beyond the obvious commercial possibilities of their first dim idea." In a 2012 interview with GQ magazine, O'Neal said, "I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, 'Hey, here's $7 million, come in and do this genie movie.' What am I going to say, no? So I did it." Though more suited in appearing as a film cameo, Shaq's last leading role would be in the following year as John Henry Irons/Steel in the critically-acclaimed box office bomb 'Steel', nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actor.If Kazaam is wishful thinking in the power to begin anew, than it should have stayed bottled up and lost for one-thousand and one nights deep beneath the sands of the Arabian desert. The film is innocuous but its demise is that it is solely based on and crafted from a mix of genre clichés. Kazaam lacks imaginative stamina and, compared with Shaq's larger-than-life charisma, the film does not know what it wants to be either due to stifled, routine filmmaking and terrible rapping. Nowadays the movie is just a guilty pleasure for millennials to riff or poke fun at. My wish for you is that you never buy or rent Kazaam and see this jolly black giant on your television screen anytime soon.

Boy, this is one of the worst films I've seen. No wonder it's on IMDb's Bottom 100 list.I'll start off with the good parts: It did have some funny moments like the scene with the flying french toasts and the scene where Max and Kazaam are having a bicycle race.The bad parts: Everything else in this movie was boring and bad.Shaq as a genie is just plain awful. Beside's he can't even rap. In one scene, he's singing, "Let's Green Eggs and Ham it". Seriously? That's kinda like a 5-year old doing a rap song.The other character's weren't even that good. Max is annoying. The villain is not even that evil. Literally.Also, wasn't this suppose to be a family film? In one scene, Max say's, "So after my 2 last wishes, I own you?", then Kazaam say's, "Technically". Is it me, or is this film about slavery?Overall, "Kazaam", is an awful movie that's not even worth watching. But compare it to, "Batman and Robin", "Son of the Mask", or "Battlefield Earth", it's not that bad. So if you're looking for a good movie with a Genie in it, watch the Disney movie, "Aladdin". That film has a Genie that can sing and make you laugh. He is also voiced by Robin Williams. A "GOOD" actor.

The movie Kazaam featuring the multi-talented Shaquille O'Neal should be the standard which all movies are held to. Since originally viewing this wonderful work of cinema 15 years ago, I can say it has definitely held up to the test of time. I've yet to see a movie that even comes close to achieving the depth of character, raw emotion, and beauty that Kazaam portrays. Shaq is definitely a triple threat -- basketball, acting, and singing, what's next!? I can't wait to see more from this truly awe-inspiring man. This film has definitely slid under the radar of Hollywood critics, which I see as a blessing. I'd hate for this movie to get wildly popular and lose its innocence. Once I have children of my own, this will be one of the few movies I allow them to watch since it preaches such good morals & values. If you're debating whether to watch this film or not -- DO IT! Your life will never be the same in the best way possible.