THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE:
LOONEY HIJINKS GALORE IN THE ABSOLUTE BEST WAY!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
KETCHUP ENTERTAINMENT AND WARNER BROS. ANIMATION
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
The Looney Tunes (Well, Porky and Daffy at least!) are back on the big screen for the first time since the 2021 flawless masterpiece that everyone loves, Space Jam: A New Legacy in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, the first fully-animated theatrical Looney Tunes films made up of 100% new animation and zero old cartoon footage or live-action. Despite disappointing box-office performances of previous theatrical Looney Tunes movies such as 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the already mentioned, Space Jam: A New Legacy, this movie was hyped up like mad at animation festivals with many people hailing it as one of the best Looney Tunes projects ever.
Given how long these cartoons and characters have been around, that is quite a statement and it’s one of the rare Looney Tunes projects to not be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures with Ketchup Entertainment being the film’s distributor (Hey, any chance you guys could get a hold of that scrapped Coyote VS ACME movie from WB and release it? Just asking!). I was going to see this movie regardless of the hype as Looney Tunes was a big part of my childhood (Actually, I think the 1996 Space Jam might have been the first piece of Looney Tunes media I saw as a little kid before checking out the original cartoons) and…yeah, I enjoyed this film a lot.
I don’t think this is a cinematic game-changer like what much of the hype is making it seem like, but it is genuinely very funny throughout and the animation is some of the best the Looney Tunes have ever looked. It is also undoubtedly the best theatrical Looney Tunes movie by far as it isn’t a basketball or spy movie that just happens to involve them, it is a Looney Tunes movie through and through with zany slapstick, silly animation, and clever jokes reminiscent of the classic cartoons that inspired it.
The film follows Porky Pig and Daffy Duck (Both voiced by Eric Bauza-The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Muppet Babies (2018), Star Trek: Lower Decks; who has been voicing many of the characters since 2020’s Looney Tunes Cartoons) who have been best buddies for as long as they can remember. But when an alien UFO arrives and contaminates a bunch of chewing gum thus turning people into mindless zombies when they chew it, Porky and Daffy will have to become something they never thought they’d be, heroes and with the help of quirky scientist, Petunia Pig (voiced by Candi Milo-Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Loonatics Unleashed) may be Earth’s last hope.
The film also features the voices of Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Tangled: The Series) as The Invader, Fred Tatasciore (Ben 10, Robot Chicken, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) as Farmer Jim and the Scientist, Laraine Newman (As Told by Ginger, Metalocalypse, Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia) as Ms. Grecht, Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Xiaolin Showdown; who previously appeared in the original Space Jam) as the Mayor, Keith Ferguson (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Robot Chicken, Gravity Falls) as Chewy, Carlos Alazraqui (Spyro the Dragon, The Fairly OddParents, ¡Mucha Lucha!) as the News Anchor and Gary, and the film’s director Peter Browngardt (Chowder, Uncle Grandpa, Looney Tunes Cartoons) as Roofer Joe.
Overall, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie brings Looney Tunes cinema back to its Looney ways with an insanely funny, beautifully animated, and even heartfelt adventure with Porky and Daffy. I was howling at some of these jokes and many of them take on different forms whether it’s cartoon slapstick, dialogue jokes said by the characters, references, visual gags, montages, and 4th wall breaks, there’s even an entire joke dedicated to showing how Porky got his stutter which I found incredibly funny.
What I especially love about the film’s plot is how it starts off small and escalates as it goes on with Porky and Daffy trying to fix a giant hole in their roof and getting jobs, but then one thing leads to another and now they’re battling an evil alien in space. It very much is a movie that acknowledges how absurd its premise is and just rolls with it, it’s like if Beavis and Butt-Head Do America ended with them going to space (And Mike Judge better get on that if he hasn’t already, he’s done the multiverse now we just need Beavis and Butt-Head in space!), it’s completely ridiculous and I love it.
The animation is dazzling and shows that 2D animation still has a place in cinema during this modern 3D animation craze. It feels like a modern version of a classic Looney Tunes cartoon and the characters’ movements are so vibrant and timed with the comedic slapstick, I’ll go on record and say it can rival the opening cartoon from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (And I cannot believe I’m saying this!).
However, with all the anarchy and looney chaos, the movie does have its share of heartfelt moments particularly with the brotherly friendship of Porky and Daffy (BTW this is the wacky “WOOHOO, WOOHOO, WOOHOO!” Daffy and less like the backstabbing, egotistical Daffy from the Bugs Bunny cartoons!). Daffy is known to going overboard with his looney antics and is often reckless, but he does show to care for his best friend and does what he can to assist in the sticky situation they’re in.
The romantic flirting between Porky and Petunia is very adorable and also funny in its own right. Their dynamic isn’t quite as strong as Porky and Daffy’s, but it was some added cuteness with a dash of silly.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the best Looney Tunes movie by far and effectively captures the spirit of the original cartoons without using any old footage or pairing them up with real people like Michael Jordan, Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman, or LeBron James. It’s Looney goodness from start to finish and hopefully this will lead to other theatrical Looney Tunes movies with this sort of tone and style because leave it to Porky and Daffy to show what a Looney Tunes movie SHOULD be like.
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