Coyote vs. Acme is zany to a fault, teetering on the edge of overload, but it fundamentally loves and understands the cartoon formula it’s building on, delivering sturdy entertainment.
It’s been a difficult road to release for Dave Green’s Coyote vs. Acme. Initially scheduled for 2023, it was one of several projects shelved by Warner Bros. in favour of tax write-offs. Such cynical practices are a slap in the face to filmmakers and feel deeply disgusting in light of Warner Bros.’ CEO David Zaslav giving himself hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses. Avaricious doesn’t begin to describe it. Thankfully, the public outcry was vocal and persistent. Ketchup Entertainment eventually bought the rights, finally allowing this film to see the light of day.
As needlessly frustrating as this whole saga has undoubtedly been, there is something oddly poetic to it all when one considers the film itself. Underneath the slapstick and hijinks is a surprising ode to perseverance, as well as a rejection of corporate greed and monopolisation. The film is zany to a fault, teetering on the edge of overload, but it fundamentally loves and understands the cartoon formula it’s building on, delivering sturdy entertainment.
On paper, the premise is gold: start with the timeless Looney Tunes setup of Wile E Coyote trying to catch the Road Runner. One failure too many and he finally snaps. He decides to sue the Acme Corporation, the company behind multiple gadgets and gizmos that have contributed to his inability to catch his nemesis. The comedic potential writes itself.
The film warmly champions the eccentric chaos of its cartoon origins. Coyote’s disastrous efforts to catch the Road Runner blow up in his face (often literally) time and time again. The aftermath of this genuinely looks painful even without animation’s inherent exaggeration – his home has a cup that he deposits destroyed teeth into – adding to the comedic suffering. By inserting footage of past Looney Tunes shorts into the film, we get a sense of how much the Coyote has endured, allowing us to both laugh at his failures and sympathise with his frustration. It’s clever editing that endears us to a character who is traditionally antagonistic.
Utilising the same animation/live-action hybridisation that has defined pictures like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and even other Looney Tunes films like Back in Action, Coyote sets off to Albuquerque to find a lawyer to represent him. Instead of Saul Goodman, Coyote finds himself saddled with Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a down-on-his-luck attorney who’s grown accustomed to winning trivial cases and not even trying for big ones for fear of failure. With Coyote’s determination, plus the enthusiasm of Kevin’s niece and intern Paige (Lana Condor), Kevin finds himself with the impossible task of proving Acme’s culpability in Coyote’s misery.
The storyline proves touching because of the affection Samy Burch’s script shows for the characters. Coyote is as devious as ever – naturally, there’s an ulterior, Road Runner-shaped motive to his lawsuit – but Burch, Green and team frame him as a paragon of tenacity; someone who never gives up no matter how many times he fails. What’s usually portrayed as foolhardy in the cartoons is depicted with a certain dignity here, a doubly compelling choice since Coyote’s a single entity going up against an all-powerful corporation. It’s an aspirational quality that aids Kevin’s character arc of gaining self-worth, creating an odd couple pairing that one gradually finds themselves enamoured with.
It’s an underdog story that still allows room for strong laughs. The film is not above exploiting the idiosyncrasies of its characters for humour, with Coyote’s obsessive determination undermined by how often his plans backfire. By incorporating animation into the aesthetic, the picture is allowed to exaggerate character reactions as well as the cause-and-effect of punchlines and setpieces. The wacky movements and colourful rendering stay true to the spirit of the source material. Slapstick, irony, wordplay, and forced interactions all make up the film’s comedic language to great effect. This includes a gleeful number of blink-and-you-miss-it gags; a personal favourite involves Coyote waiting for Kevin to spot him, hiding from the lawyer by reading a book titled “How to Wait Around Dramatically”.
The film has an unfortunate habit of sabotaging the less-is-more approach that made so many Road Runner/Coyote cartoons so effective. The slapstick is frequently hilarious, but many of the dialogue-based jokes run for too long, thus deflating potential laughs. Nevertheless, the cast are good sports and play into the giddy nature of their roles. Forte portrays Kevin with a hapless sincerity, and the gradual transformation from complacent to confident feels earnest. Lana Condor’s straight woman act is a good foil to Kevin, both comedically and narratively, making her a bubbly presence onscreen. John Cena might be the standout as Acme’s top lawyer, Buddy Crane, a walking, talking caricature whose suave smugness is a funny but damning indictment of corporate rapacity.
Other Looney Tunes characters appear as cameos, and even important supporting players. Some portrayals are amusing – Foghorn Leghorn being an egotistical CEO, and Daffy Duck in a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest environment due to his dealings with Acme are notably chucklesome. But others feel included purely for the sake of it, whether it’s Tweety Bird as an unwilling Acme accomplice, or Bugs Bunny doing his best Humphrey Bogart impression. It’s a picture that feels overstuffed, which is a pity since the simplicity of its premise and wholeheartedness of its themes are more than enough to sustain the film.
Yet it’s these themes and setup that win in the end, creating a film that’s mostly funny and charming. Coyote vs. Acme embraces, and reconfigures, the fundamentals of its cartoon source material, delivering an imperfect but often colourful and humorous defence of perseverance – a fitting value given its history. Kids will enjoy the lively visuals and jokes, but even adults may find themselves moved by the deeper sentiments. If nothing else, this critic is happy for the crew that their film has at last gotten the justice and release it always deserved.
Coyote vs. Acme is previewing in cinemas from August 21, and playing nationwide from August 28.
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