Coyote VS ACME review

COYOTE VS ACME: 

AN ABSOLUTELY CHAOTIC AND “LOONEY” COURT CASE IN THE BEST WAY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

KETCHUP ENTERTAINMENT AND WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Wile E. Coyote has had enough in Coyote VS ACME

 

            After so many failed attempts to catch the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote teams up with Will Forte (Saturday Night Live, Nebraska, Strays) to take the ACME Corporation down in Coyote VS ACME, the latest film from director Dave Green (Earth to Echo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) based on the Looney Tunes and the second to be distributed by Ketchup Entertainment after last year’s The Day the Earth Blew Up. The Looney Tunes have had a pretty interesting few years with Warner Bros. shelving and canceling projects for tax write-offs; 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy was a massive critical and commercial disaster, and hardly any new Looney Tunes projects are being made these days. 

            But then, independent studio Ketchup Entertainment acquired the distribution rights for this and The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie and let them see the light of day after being neglected by their once-respected owners. At this point, WB should just give Ketchup the rights to the entire Looney Tunes franchise because clearly, they don’t know what they’re doing with the property. 

            As someone who has defended Looney Tunes: Back in Action (Their second live-action/animated hybrid film after the original Space Jam) for years, I gotta say, Coyote VS ACME completely trumps it and especially both Space Jam movies. This is such a good movie with consistent laughs, surprisingly ingenious storytelling, and even some genuine heart. There’s no basketball with Michael Jordan or LeBron James or a magic diamond that turns people into monkeys; it’s the Looney Tunes doing their looney things in the real world, and it is fun. 

            The film follows Wile E. Coyote, who has been trying to catch the Road Runner for years with ACME products constantly blowing up in his face (Literally!). But when he sees an ad on TV for a personal injury law firm that specializes in cartoon violence, Avery, Jones, and Maltese (A cute little nod to cartoonists Tex Avery and Chuck Jones and screenwriter Michael Maltese), Wile E. takes the left turn to Albuquerque and joins forces with down and out billboard attorney, Kevin Avery (Forte) and take the ACME Corporation to court. 

            However, they soon learn that ACME is hiding a terrible secret that will make this case explode in biblical proportions. 

            The film also stars John Cena (Bumblebee, Fast & Furious franchise, Peacemaker) as ACME lawyer Buddy Crane, Lana Condor (X-Men: Apocalypse, Alita: Battle Angel, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken) as Paige Avery, Tone Bell (Dog Days, Little, Trigger Warning) as Sal Maltese, Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights, Traffic, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie) as Judge Troppogrosso, Martha Kelly (Baskets, Euphoria, Marriage Story) as Dottie Jones, P.J. Byrne (The Wolf of Wall Street, A Complete Unknown, The End of Oak Street) as Bill Pellicano, Kenneth Choi (Sons of Anarchy, The People v. O.J. Simpson, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as Oscar Jeon, and John Early (30 Rock, Search Party, Eternity) as news anchor Henry Heslop; and features the voices of Eric Bauza (The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Muppet Babies, Rick and Morty), Candi Milo (Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, ¡Mucha Lucha!), and Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Star Wars franchise) as various Looney Tunes characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Granny, Witch Hazel, and the Tasmanian Devil. 

            Overall, Coyote VS ACME may not dethrone Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the new standard for live-action/cartoon animation hybrids, but it is easily the best since that film and a great big love letter to the Looney Tunes. I was laughing constantly and smiling every time a character I recognized appeared or a reference to a previous cartoon that I understood was made. 

            I’m serious, if you love the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, especially if you grew up with them, a lot of the fun of this movie is catching all the characters and references because there is so much in here; I felt like I was going looney myself while watching it. My only big complaint with the references is that they did not have a cameo by Steve Martin, who played the evil ACME chairman in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, or the monkey version of him; that was a missed opportunity. 

            I was sold on the premise alone: Wile E. Coyote suing ACME after years of their products failing on him during his pursuits of the Road Runner, and it does not disappoint. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds,s and the actors fully embrace the wackiness of this id; between this and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2, it begs the question of why Joker 2 was the most important courthouse-themed movie to Warner Bros.

            John Cena in particular is having a ball as ACME’s lawyer, who plays this role that requires interacting with non-existent cartoon characters completely straight, which makes his scenes even funnier. He knows exactly what kind of character he’s playing,g and he has fun with it: a stern, no-nonsense lawyer who threatens Tweety over what he “Tawt” he “Taw”; forget Peacemaker, this is Cena’s best performance. 

            Will Forte is a good straight man to Wile E. Coyote’s zaniness, almost like a Bob Hoskins Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit relationship (Minus the toon racism and alcoholism), and both of them actually have really strong chemistry with each other. It’s fun to see and hear Forte react to Wile E.’s schemes and shenanigans, but he also shows he cares for both this cartoon coyote and the case. 

            The animation is really good,d though it is technically 3D animation made to look like 2D cartoon animation. I personally would have preferred a style similar to the original Space Jam and Looney Tunes: Back in Action, where the characters are hand-drawn with enhancements made to blend them into the live-action environments, but it is very fluid and energetic animation that fits perfectly with the Looney Tunes’ silly and wacky hijinks. 

            Coyote VS ACME is the most glorious middle finger to current Warner Bros. and a darn entertaining Looney Tunes movie that deserves to be seen in theaters. It’s funny, charming, and filled with homages to the Tunes’ glory days. Wile E. Coyote may fail at catching the Road Runner, but he certainly succeeded with this film.