Coyote Vs. Acme

Currently only in theaters

Runtime: 1 Hour and 43 Minutes

Rated PG

"Have you been horribly injured by a product made by the Acme Corporation? ... There's probably someone to blame."

‍ After years of falling off cliffs, being blown up, run over, smashed, and otherwise surviving the countless failures of Acme products, Wile E. Coyote hears an injury lawyer commercial and hatches a new plan: sue the Acme Corporation.

He enlists the help of lazy, down-on-his-luck attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) and his intern to take on Acme and its slick, powerful lawyer, Buddy Crane (John Cena). What begins as a simple attempt to squeeze a settlement out of the company soon spirals out of control like one of Wile E.’s malfunctioning Acme rockets, uncovering possible crimes, corporate cover-ups, and even murder.

Can Kevin and Wile E. prove that Acme is up to no good? Will they survive long enough to tell the tale? And, perhaps most importantly, is Wile E. Coyote capable of investing his time in anything that doesn’t involve catching the Road Runner?

Themes:‍ ‍

Wile. E. Coyote, Acme, corporate greed, hunger, failure, lawyers, helping people, clients, lawsuits, interns, the underdog, injuries, faulty products, evidence, pain to bring about progress, legal vs. illegal product testing, cartoons, failure, what constitutes success, the justice system, murder, evidence, David vs. Goliath situations, cover-ups, and the Looney Tunes.

Language:

D*mn - 1 Friggin -1 Hell - 4 Piss - 1 Sucks - 1 Religious Exclamation - 4

One sign that Wile holds up says, “Oh *#@!”

At the beginning, in traditional Looney Tunes fashion, there are humorous scientific names under the coyote and the roadrunner. Under the roadrunner, the title reads, “Fastus Hellis.”

Stuff to be aware of: (Some of this is considered spoiler territory, but I try to keep things ambiguous)

Alcohol and Drugs - A character picks up a bottle that reads “xxxx” on it.

• A man sniffs a big bucket of glue and acts crazy after.

• Characters celebrating, pop open a bottle and its contents in wine glasses.

‍ Gross - There is a joke made about if Wile pees on the rug, the motel will charge him. Another character jokes about motels housing plenty of people who pee on the floor.

• A cartoon spider is seen trying to eat a cartoon bug.

‍ ‍LGBTQ - None

‍ ‍Scary - During one scene, characters walk into a dark tunnel. You can probably guess what ends up being in the tunnel.

‍ ‍Sexual - There is nothing overly sexual, but as with the old Looney Tunes, there are some innuendos.

• In two different scenes, Daffy loses his feathers and Wile loses his fur. In both scenes, butt cheeks can be seen.

• After a female chicken hears John Cena’s character give a speech, she says, “I think I just laid an egg.”

• There is a character painting and asks a male and female character to “de-robe” and “take your pants off” so he can paint a nude model.

  • A cartoon character shows up and mentions, “I’m here for the pantsless modeling gig.”

• A character mentions that she was told her husband “ran off with his secretary.”

‍ ‍Violence/Gore - Many Looney Tunes are harmed in the making of this film.

• Expect all the explosions, piano drops, cliff falls, anvils dropping on characters’ heads, and tunes being hit by cars in true Looney Tunes fashion.

• A few characters, after getting hurt, lose their teeth.

‍ ‍Religion - None

‍ ‍Other - John Cena holds up his hand, which the camera blurs it insinuating he is flipping the audience off.

Overall:‍ ‍

Seeing It With Your Family

If your kids have watched the old Looney Tunes cartoons, Space Jam, or Looney Tunes: Back in Action, you’ll find much of the same cartoon chaos and over-the-top antics here. My twelve-year-old and I both enjoyed it, though I could see younger kids getting a little bored in places.

While there is plenty of action and classic Looney Tunes-style humor, the movie also has a legal side to the story. There are several courtroom scenes, and stretches focused more on the lawsuit than on Wile E. getting smashed, blown up, or falling off a cliff. Older kids will probably appreciate the mix more than very young viewers.

What I Thought

Disclaimer: I grew up with and love the Looney Tunes. I watched the cartoons, saw Space Jam in theaters, and still have my original Wile E. Coyote mug that my parents bought me from KFC when I was a kid. I love the whole Looney Tunes gang, but Wile E. has always been one of my favorites.

With that being said, this is the first movie in a while that I can remember smiling through from beginning to end. It isn’t always laugh-out-loud funny, though there were definitely moments that got me, but it consistently made me smile.

The writers clearly understand Wile E. Coyote and the larger Looney Tunes world. There are some great deep cuts involving more obscure characters, along with appearances from plenty of familiar fan favorites. But make no mistake: this is Wile E.’s story, and the writers absolutely nail him. They understand what makes the character funny without trying to reinvent him into something he isn’t.

In my opinion, Coyote vs. Acme does Looney Tunes right. It takes these classic characters and throws them into a ridiculous, over-the-top legal battle that feels perfectly at home in their world. Somehow, amid all the cartoon chaos, it even manages to work in some surprisingly heartfelt ideas about friendship, corporate greed, and the simple truth that everyone, human or Toon, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

It still boggles my mind that Warner Bros. could look at this movie and decide to write it off for tax purposes rather than release it. I’m glad audiences finally have the opportunity to see it. I hope it does well enough that we get more creative Looney Tunes movies in the future or, even better, another adventure with Wile E. Coyote and his lawyer friends.