Coyote_vs._Acme_Coyote_vs.jpg
I suppose by now everyone is famliiar with the convoluted journey this film took to the theatrical realm, but if not, here's a small recap: Warner Bros. made the film, then decided to shelve and delete it (along with two other less-than-likely-hits) as a tax writeoff. Word of this got to the cast and crew, and then to the world at large, causing a big outcry. This led Warners to shop the film around, only to turn down offers from various streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and such. Ultimately they sold the film for $50 million to Ketchup Entertainment, the same company that distributed the Looney Tunes film "The Day The Earth Blew Up" a couple of years ago, and Ketchup gave the film a proper theatrical release. As of today it's grossed just over $50 mil worldwide, so it has a way to go to be profitable, but it's having strong legs, so who knows?
The movie is a hybrid live-action/animation project, with all the Looney Tunes characters being their animated selves and living side-by-side with people in the real world. The obvious comparison is to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which I've never seen all the way through, but from all the reviews, this movie does an even better job of combining the animated characters with live-action than Roger Rabbit did.
The story involves Wile E. Coyote finally getting his fill of all of the Acme products backfiring on him, and hiring a somewhat sleazy "billboard law firm" to help him sue the company. This leads to a story involving Acme making faulty products on purpose to 'test" them, since cartoon characters are indestructible. There's a bunch of other courtroom stuff too, but the upshot is (skip to the next paragraph if you don't want spoilers) that the Coyote sees his constant pursuit of the Road Runner as his life's work, whether he is successful or not, and the Road Runner actually considers Wile E. to be his friend and enjoys the constant pursuit they engage in. And, of course, corporate America is seen as the bad guy at the root of all the problems. The whole thing winds up with a genuinely moving ending, and carries a nice message of "never giving up, even if the odds are stacked against you" and demonstrates the respect that's earned by hard work even if you don't always reach your goal. "This is one of the hardest working people I've ever met," one lawyer says of Wile E. "He wouldn't even think of stopping."
The story is about a billion times better than the stupid narrative of "The Day the Earth Blew Up," and the Looney Tunes characters are used here to way, WAY better effect than they were in that film. For one thing, there are a ton more characters present this time around. You see everyone from the superstars all the way down to people like Granny, Gossamer, and Miss Prissy. Some of the appearances are just fleeting; for example, in one scene Tweety (in a semi-bad-guy role) gets clunked on the head, and a bunch of little tiny Sylvester the Cats are shown scampering around him, in a reversal of the usual birds gag from many past cartoons.
The animation and style of the Looney characters hews closer to the older Tex Avery style, with extreme exaggerations and lightning-fast action being the norm. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. Bugs Bunny, in a surprisingly small role, is the only one who doesn't follow this convention -- he's drawn the way he was in his later appearances directed by Chuck Jones. Wile E. Coyote looks exactly like he did in the classic toons, and just like the classics, he doesn't speak -- he communicates with facial expressions, along with a "limited number of signs." This last fact provides a genuine lump-in-the-throat moment late in the movie.
A lot of the action is, of course, created with CGI, which is blended nicely with the animated work. There was obviously a lot of care put into the way the film looks (and sounds -- the sound mix was terrific, I thought.)
In the old days, the TV shows really leaned into the "fact" that the various toon characters are just actors, playing roles, so the notion of them living side-by-side in the real world with humans really makes sense. I'm surprised they didn't play this notion up more in the movie, but they don't -- it's just a matter of fact that all these people and characters are living around each other.
The human actors are just okay, but it doesn't matter all that much, since most people are there to see Wile E. and the other toons do their thing anyway.
There was one thing that drove me up the wall and I do NOT understand why they did it. The Road Runner appears briefly throughout the movie, complete with his usual signature "beep beep" sounds from the original toons. In one scene toward the end of the movie, he's asked to answer questions with "two beeps for yes, one beep for no," and instead of using the original beeps, they have some other guy doing the beeps. This would be OK if the new voice sounded correct, but it sounds way different, and just fouled the whole thing up for me. Considering the studio has used the exact same recordings of the Road Runner's sounds from day one, this was a complete mystery as to why they thought this substitute would be a good idea.
I also felt like they missed a great opportunity for a good joke regarding the Coyote's voice. Looney Tunes fans will remember that he never talked (beyond saying "Ouch" once) in the Road Runner cartoons, but had a distinguished-sounding voice in most of his appearances with Bugs Bunny. I thought sure he was going to speak up for some reason at the end of the movie, but he never did.
These quibbles aside, though, I thought the movie was really good. It lives up to the hype that surrounded it, and Looney Tunes fans will have a great time picking up on various Easter Eggs scattered throughout the proceedings. I'm giving it 3.5 stars out of five. If you are a Looney Tunes fan at all, I'd recommend it, and also if you like courtroom movies.
I suppose by now everyone is famliiar with the convoluted journey this film took to the theatrical realm, but if not, here's a small recap: Warner Bros. made the film, then decided to shelve and delete it (along with two other less-than-likely-hits) as a tax writeoff. Word of this got to the cast and crew, and then to the world at large, causing a big outcry. This led Warners to shop the film around, only to turn down offers from various streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and such. Ultimately they sold the film for $50 million to Ketchup Entertainment, the same company that distributed the Looney Tunes film "The Day The Earth Blew Up" a couple of years ago, and Ketchup gave the film a proper theatrical release. As of today it's grossed just over $50 mil worldwide, so it has a way to go to be profitable, but it's having strong legs, so who knows?
The movie is a hybrid live-action/animation project, with all the Looney Tunes characters being their animated selves and living side-by-side with people in the real world. The obvious comparison is to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which I've never seen all the way through, but from all the reviews, this movie does an even better job of combining the animated characters with live-action than Roger Rabbit did.
The story involves Wile E. Coyote finally getting his fill of all of the Acme products backfiring on him, and hiring a somewhat sleazy "billboard law firm" to help him sue the company. This leads to a story involving Acme making faulty products on purpose to 'test" them, since cartoon characters are indestructible. There's a bunch of other courtroom stuff too, but the upshot is (skip to the next paragraph if you don't want spoilers) that the Coyote sees his constant pursuit of the Road Runner as his life's work, whether he is successful or not, and the Road Runner actually considers Wile E. to be his friend and enjoys the constant pursuit they engage in. And, of course, corporate America is seen as the bad guy at the root of all the problems. The whole thing winds up with a genuinely moving ending, and carries a nice message of "never giving up, even if the odds are stacked against you" and demonstrates the respect that's earned by hard work even if you don't always reach your goal. "This is one of the hardest working people I've ever met," one lawyer says of Wile E. "He wouldn't even think of stopping."
The story is about a billion times better than the stupid narrative of "The Day the Earth Blew Up," and the Looney Tunes characters are used here to way, WAY better effect than they were in that film. For one thing, there are a ton more characters present this time around. You see everyone from the superstars all the way down to people like Granny, Gossamer, and Miss Prissy. Some of the appearances are just fleeting; for example, in one scene Tweety (in a semi-bad-guy role) gets clunked on the head, and a bunch of little tiny Sylvester the Cats are shown scampering around him, in a reversal of the usual birds gag from many past cartoons.
The animation and style of the Looney characters hews closer to the older Tex Avery style, with extreme exaggerations and lightning-fast action being the norm. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. Bugs Bunny, in a surprisingly small role, is the only one who doesn't follow this convention -- he's drawn the way he was in his later appearances directed by Chuck Jones. Wile E. Coyote looks exactly like he did in the classic toons, and just like the classics, he doesn't speak -- he communicates with facial expressions, along with a "limited number of signs." This last fact provides a genuine lump-in-the-throat moment late in the movie.
A lot of the action is, of course, created with CGI, which is blended nicely with the animated work. There was obviously a lot of care put into the way the film looks (and sounds -- the sound mix was terrific, I thought.)
In the old days, the TV shows really leaned into the "fact" that the various toon characters are just actors, playing roles, so the notion of them living side-by-side in the real world with humans really makes sense. I'm surprised they didn't play this notion up more in the movie, but they don't -- it's just a matter of fact that all these people and characters are living around each other.
The human actors are just okay, but it doesn't matter all that much, since most people are there to see Wile E. and the other toons do their thing anyway.
There was one thing that drove me up the wall and I do NOT understand why they did it. The Road Runner appears briefly throughout the movie, complete with his usual signature "beep beep" sounds from the original toons. In one scene toward the end of the movie, he's asked to answer questions with "two beeps for yes, one beep for no," and instead of using the original beeps, they have some other guy doing the beeps. This would be OK if the new voice sounded correct, but it sounds way different, and just fouled the whole thing up for me. Considering the studio has used the exact same recordings of the Road Runner's sounds from day one, this was a complete mystery as to why they thought this substitute would be a good idea.
I also felt like they missed a great opportunity for a good joke regarding the Coyote's voice. Looney Tunes fans will remember that he never talked (beyond saying "Ouch" once) in the Road Runner cartoons, but had a distinguished-sounding voice in most of his appearances with Bugs Bunny. I thought sure he was going to speak up for some reason at the end of the movie, but he never did.
These quibbles aside, though, I thought the movie was really good. It lives up to the hype that surrounded it, and Looney Tunes fans will have a great time picking up on various Easter Eggs scattered throughout the proceedings. I'm giving it 3.5 stars out of five. If you are a Looney Tunes fan at all, I'd recommend it, and also if you like courtroom movies.
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