Title: Coyote vs. Acme
Describe This Movie In One Jurassic Park Quote:
JOHN HAMMOND: I don’t believe it! You’re meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I’ve got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!
DONALD GENNARO: Thank you.
Brief Plot Synopsis: Road Runner, the Coyote’s after you.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3 Hungrii flea-baggius out of 5.
Tagline: “The Movie ACME Didn’t Want You To See.”
Better Tagline: “Or Warner Bros., for that matter.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: After decades of failing to catch that elusive Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote sees a commercial for the personal injury law firm that specializes in claims against Acme, the company that’s provided the Coyote with contraptions lo these many years. The firm’s senior partner, Kevin Avery (Will Forte), is keen to settle as usual, but Coyote don’t play that. His insistence on going to trial puts him and Avery on a collision course with Acme’s counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and CEO Foghorn Leghorn.
“Critical” Analysis: If you’re over 40, Looney Tunes were probably a big part of your upbringing. A staple of Saturday morning cartoons for decades, anyone born prior to 1990 already has the antics of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, and yes the Road Runner and Wile E. tattooed on their brains.
They never went away, of course. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner/Tweety etc. show aired on Saturdays until 1999. Meanwhile, cable/satellite TV and streaming ensured you could still find both the old cartoons and newer (perhaps ill-advised) versions. You can still find the classic cartoons on Prime and Apple TV+, but Warner Bros. still owns them.
That company is the reason for the tortured release history of Coyote vs. Acme. That it’s hitting theaters at all is something of a minor miracle, considering one of its main themes is an indictment of corporate consolidation in general, and WB/Discovery’s potential sale to Paramount Skydance in particular.
This might all be academic if the movie wasn’t good, actually. The closest (and most obvious) analog is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. That movie deftly combined live action and animation while delivering a not-so-subtle message about the dangers of unchecked development. Coyote vs. Acme, on the other hand, focuses more on quasi-real world issues (there’s no Toontown, for instance) while delivering roughly the same amount of mayhem.
CvsA also makes Wile E. Coyote a surprisingly complex character. As he told us himself, he’s a super genius. But he’s far from a hapless antagonist here. And as his agenda is both laid bare and outflanked, you appreciate how well director Dave Green and screenwriter Samy Burch have brought him to life. More importantly, they force you to empathize with him.
It also doesn’t hurt that, as in Roger Rabbit, the cast is all-in on the concept. Green and Burch, perhaps reminded of the failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, don’t spare the mayhem. Much of Coyote vs. Acme’s charm — if you want to call it that — comes from watching humans getting similar treatment as Wile E. for so many years.
Avery’s firm ekes their way along with meager settlements brought by cartoons, never mind the collateral damage. Acme plays along because it’s a pittance that won’t have an impact. More to the point, it helps further their nefarious (and aptly named) plan.
Cena’s both arrogant (as Avery’s old Harvard classmate) and amusingly deferential to CEO Leghorn (it doesn’t hurt that the rooster improbably towers over Buddy Crane). Lana Condor represents the (futile?) optimism of youth playing Avery’s niece/intern Page. On the toon side, all your favorites are here: Daffy in an uncharacteristically sedate role, Bugs mostly behind the scenes, Elmer Fudd as a Senator (which is less startling here than it would be in a world not gone mad).
The gags are inspired and nonstop, but not mean-spirited. That’s left for Acme’s actions, which — while satirical — nevertheless aren’t very disentangled from reality. Green and Burch have given us an underdog story, a mystery, and an unexpectedly moving look at friendship all at once. And also a satisfactory Better Call Saul shout-out. Or maybe all law offices in Albuquerque just look that way.
They’ve also unintentionally exposed how boneheaded Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav really is.
Because without original pulling the movie from release (for “tax purposes”), Coyote vs. Acme likely would’ve done … fine. It would’ve earned decent box office and decent reviews. Some highlighting the “corporations are bad” message, sure. But all the subsequent turmoil around its shelving and eventual sale to Ketchup Entertainment has simply highlighted how much an alleged entertainment executive Zaslav doesn’t know about his industry.
Anyway, go see Coyote vs. Acme. Wins for the little guy are rarer than ever these days.
*As in Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Michael Maltese.
