A One Mann’s Movies review of “Coyote vs. Acme”. (2026, 4*, PG).
Along with the original Fred Quimby “Tom and Jerry” cartoons the short animations that really hit my comedy buttons as a kid was Wile E. Coyote’s ludicrous battles with the Roadrunner. Yes, Bugs and Daffy were all very well (we even named a child after a Bugs Bunny cartoon*!) but that Coyote plummeting off a cliff, again and again, each time generating a distant cloud of dust, was just hilarious. This is the basis for this loooooonnnng awaited release of Coyote vs. Acme: a film originally shelved by Warner Bros. in November 2023 (along with Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt) to claim a financial tax write-down. (I’ll never understand tax decisions!)
But it was worth the wait. I think Ketchup Entertainment, who were the brave one’s to acquire the rights from Warner’s, will get a handsome return on their investment through the final weeks of the summer holidays.
* My son George… after the Abominable Snow Rabbit (“Just what I always wanted. My own little bunny rabbit. I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him“)
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Wile E. Coyote has invested in thousands of Acme products in order to catch the uncatchable Roadrunner. But in each case, the Acme products have resulted him being sliced, diced, blown-up, dropped from a great height or otherwise mangled. Finally seeing the light, he takes legal advice in the form of Kevin Avery (Will Forte) from an Albuquerque law firm specialising in getting small-potato pay-outs for cartoon characters injured as a result of the monstrously huge Acme Corporation.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC website: “Mild bad language, threat, injury detail.”)
Talent:
Starring: Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, Luis Guzmán, P.J. Byrne.
Directed by: Dave Green.
Written by: Samy Burch. (From a story by James Gunn, Jeremy Slater & Samy Burch and based on a ‘New Yorker’ article by Ian Frazier.)
Running Time: 1h 41m.
Review:
Positives:
- Mixing of animation and live-action came together in spectacular fashion in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and although others have been and gone (1996’s Space Jam and 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action, for example) they never really managed to achieve that same level of manic cartoon energy or nudge-nudge-wink-wink comedy (Jessica Rabbit’s “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way”) of the Robert Zemeckis classic. Clearly driven by the creative mind of James Gunn, Coyote vs. Acme isn’t quite at Roger Rabbit level. But it comes pretty close. It really knows that the live action characters are secondary foils to the animated stars who manage to really deliver the laughs. And deliver the laughs they do. Peter Lorre, beloved as the mad scientist of Looney Tunes originals, even makes a guest appearance! There are so many comic prat-falls and sight-gags in this that it almost requires a second watch to catch them all.
- Although (as below) it might demarcate the ideal audience age-range, there are wonderful call-backs in here to some classic (and some lesser-known) Looney Tunes characters that gave this 65-year old some chuckles. Some of these are quite sly: our dishevelled legal hero, for example, is called Avery, clearly after Looney Tunes pioneer Tex Avery.
- The human cast do a good job in generating the giggles, acting against (probably) tennis balls on green sticks! Will Forte and Lana Condor make a likeable pairing as the uncle and niece team and John Cena is clearly having a lot of fun as the villain of the piece.
Negatives:
- Young kids will, I think, lap this up. And older adults, like me, who grew up on a constant supply of Looney Tunes cartoons will love all of the nostalgic references and in-jokes. Perhaps failing to get some of it will be those inbetweeners: the teens to 30 age band, who might still enjoy the slapstick but miss some of the nuance in the humour.
- The story towards the end becomes absurd from a legal point of view with innocence and guilt being metered out based on exactly the same presented evidence!
Summary Thoughts:
This is a really, really funny film that made me laugh a lot. Sometimes ‘clever’ is over-rated. With the weeks of the UK summer holidays running late, and no doubt parental patience wearing mighty thin, you would do worse than to get yourself into the air-conditioned darkness with your kids to have fun with this. And for any silver surfers out there: this one is also well worth your time for a good-old-fashioned guffaw or ten.
But for now, that’s all folks!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMsiD1Nky5I.
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