Josh Reviews Coyote vs. Acme!
Coyote vs. Acme depicts a delightfully playful notion: after years upon years of having his efforts to catch the Roadrunner foiled by faulty Acme products, Wile E. Coyote decides to sue the Acme company. To do so, he enlists the aid of down-on-his-luck lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), who reluctantly agrees to this David vs. Goliath of a legal case that pits him up against his old rival, the suave and successful Buddy Crane (John Cena).
It’s a major victory that this film is being seen by anyone, let alone that it got a theatrical release. As I suspect most readers of this site are probably aware, back in 2022, Warner Brothers Discovery under David Zaslov shelved this movie, deciding to take a tax write-off instead. They also shelved Batgirl and the animated Scoob Holiday Haunt! films. The act was a slap in the face to all the hard-working creative people who’d worked on those movies, but the burying of Coyote vs. Acme felt like the most egregious crime, because unlike the other two films, Coyote vs. Acme had been fully completed and was ready for release. Thankfully, after an outcry in the press (and apparently among some Hollywood names), the studio reversed course. Well, sort-of. They still refused to release the film, but they allowed director Dave Green to shop the film around. But a year and a half later, in 2024, things still looked grim; I assumed, at that point, the film would never see the light of day. But then, in 2025, Ketchup Entertainment rode to the rescue and acquired the film, and now here we are!
After all this hullabaloo, it’s a relief and a pleasure to say that Coyote vs. Acme is good! It’s really good!!
Going into seeing the movie, I was afraid that after all this drama, the film itself wouldn’t be able to live up to my expectations and hopes. It’d be a great story to say that David Zaslov & co. had idiotically tried to bury a masterpiece. But I feared that the more likely scenario was that they’d recognized that the film was mediocre.
But that’s not the case at all! Is the film a masterpiece? No. A film like this that mixes live-action actors and animated characters is of course going to be compared to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a film which IS a stone cold masterpiece. (It still is, even after all these years.) Coyote vs. Acme does not achieve those heights. But it’s still pretty terrific!
The story is very clever. (The script was written by Samy Burch, from a story by Mr. Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater, and it’s based on the 1990 New Yorker article “Coyote v. Acme” by Ian Frazier.) (As an aside: when I saw that note about the New Yorker article in the film’s end credits, I thought it was a hilarious joke! The movie opens with a “based on a true story” title card, so I thought that was a follow-up joke hidden in the credits, which I thought was brilliant. But, lo and behold, I later discovered that, in fact, that humorous New Yorker article was actually real!) The idea of Wile E. Coyote finally getting fed up after all those defective Acme products had caused him so much bodily hard in all those classic Looney Tunes cartoons, and deciding to sue them, is a terrific idea! It’s a great launching point for a movie that combines animation and live-action (just like Roger Rabbit did).
The film strikes a good balance between respecting and loving all those classic Looney Tunes shorts, while also striking a more modern, meta attitude. It’s the right choice that Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner actually exist as characters in the world of this film, pretty much exactly like they did in all those classic cartoons. (The film doesn’t go the Roger Rabbit route of presenting the ‘toons as entirely different characters when not “on screen” in a cartoon, which was the correct approach here, in my opinion.) Many Looney Tunes characters who are mixed up in this story similarly appear mostly like their classic selves from those old cartoons, including Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, and Porky Pig. Others are cast in different roles, such as Foghorn Leghorn as the menacing one-percenter who owns Acme, or Elmer Fudd as the Senator helming a congressional inquiry into Acme. That’s also fun to see. The film does a good job in deploying the various Looney Tunes characters. There are lots of the less-famous characters woven throughout the film. (For instance, I myself really smiled to see Gossamer serving papers for Avery’s law firm.)
Will Forte is solid in the lead role as Kevin Avery. (I assume he’s named after master animator Tex Avery.) He lends believability to all the crazy goings-on. Kevin’s Blasé attitude to this wild world in which humans and cartoons co-exist is a fun approach for the movie to take. John Cena steals the film as the evil Buddy Crane. Talk about believability — Mr. Cena is all in, diving into the world of this silly movie. He modulates his performance perfectly. He’s chewing the scenery as a villain, but also keeping himself reined in, in a way I found to be very funny. His “tawt I taw” scene with Tweety Bird is a highlight of the movie. Lana Condor brings a sweet sincerity to her role as Kevin’s hope-filled niece, Paige. Martha Kelly’s deadpan delivery is well-employed to great comedic effect as Dottie, who works with Kevin. Tone Bell is good as Sal, another of Kevin’s co-workers, though he doesn’t get to be as funny as Ms. Kelly. It’s always great to see Luis Guzmán, who has a small role as a judge. (I wish he had more to do in the film!)
Eric Bauza does incredible work voicing most of the Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, and more. He’s amazing; sounding pretty much perfect as each of these characters (many of whom were originally voiced by Mel Blanc). (If you want to experience more of Mr. Bauza’s great work, watch this fantastic live-reading of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, in which Mr. Bauza plays Jar-Jar Binks as Daffy Duck. He’s spectacular.) Mr. Bauza also is wonderful voicing Dr. Lorre, a somewhat obscure Looney Tunes character based on Peter Lorre. (I was surprised to see this character have such a major role in the film! But he’s fun to see.) Props also to Candi Milo, who voices Granny and other characters.
As I noted above, it feels automatic to think about Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when watching this movie, and unfortunately Coyote vs. Acme doesn’t come off too well in that comparison. Roger Rabbit is cleverer, funnier, and the drama lands far better. (When Coyote vs. Acme tries to get too serious, such as a moment late in the movie in which Paige expresses disappointment in Kevin, I didn’t think the film quite achieved the level of feeling it was reaching for.)
The film looks great, and the animation on the Looney Tunes characters is terrific. Overall, the integration of live-action and animation works very well, looking smooth and completely believable. (There are a few moments that I bumped on, such as a quick gag in which all of Wile E. Coyote’s hair has blown onto a security guard, and Wile E. has to scoop it back up. It’s just a quick shot, but I noticed that there’s almost no interaction between the live-action guard and all the animated hair.) I’m sure that combining animation and live-action is far easier today than it was for the craftspeople who made Roger Rabbit, which was done in the pre-computer world. But that’s not to undersell the work done by all the craftspeople who created Coyote vs. Acme! There are a LOT of shots that integrate animation and live-action throughout the film; almost every shot in the whole movie! (Far more shots, I think, than there were in Roger Rabbit.) It’s done very well and represents what was clearly a mountain of hard work, but the film makes it all look effortless.
It’s a great victory that Coyote vs. Acme exists and can be seen out in the world. I’m so glad to have seen it. I had a lot of fun.
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