Kazaam



The 1996 film where basketball star Shaquille O'Neal plays a rapping genie.

...No, really.

The alleged story is about a kid named Maxwell "Max" Connor (Francis Capra) stumbles into an abandoned building and finds a magic boombox containing Kazaam (Shaquille O'Neal): an actual genie. Naturally, the kid doesn't believe what he sees but Kazaam eventually manages to convince him that he's a legitimate genie that will grant him three wishes. Meanwhile, Alice Connor (Ally Walker) Max's mother is about to remarry and decided to confess that his real father actually lives in the same city as them so Max decides to find him. It turns out his father Nick Matteo (James Acheson) is a musical talent agent who later "discovers" Kazaam. His evil boss finds out Kazaam is a genie and tries to figure out how to claim this power for himself.

The film gained $18,937,262 in the United States market, the 87th most successful film of its year. Critically however, it did nowhere near as well.

Not to be confused with Shazzan which was a cartoon about an heroic genie, or with the similar-sounding Shazam.

Tropes included:

 * Benevolent Genie
 * Be the Ball: During the climax when Shaq's character uses his genie magic to turn the villain into a ball and slam dunks him into a garbage chute, since, you know, he's a basketball player.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: The villain, Malik.
 * Disappeared Dad: Subverted because Max later finds him. Too bad he's sort of a Jerkass.
 * Disney Death:
 * Dull Surprise: Shaq. When he's not the Large Ham, of course.
 * Flat Earth Atheist: The genie doesn't believe in fairy tales.
 * Genie in a Bottle: In Kazaam's case, a boombox. Because, you know, he likes to rap.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: At one point in his "rap", Kazaam says "Let's Green Egg and HAM it!"
 * Jerkass: Malik, Max's dad (at first, anyway)
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Max's dad.
 * Large Ham: Shaq, when he's not being the Dull Surprise.
 * "Let's green egg and ham it!"
 * Magical Negro: Kazaam. Literally.
 * Parental Abandonment: Max's Dad, at least.
 * Product Placement: At one point, Kazaam makes it rain candy and snacks. All of which are brandname products.