Movie Review: Coyote vs. ACME

Ha! Vindication with a side of schadenfreude! (As always, spoiler alert, just in case!)

Coyote vs. ACME would have been just the latest Looney Tunes movie had it not had its tumultuous existence. It would have been the latest attempt at Roger Rabbit-ing the Tunes into our world, albeit with a focus we've never had before. It doesn't sound like this production directed by Dave Green ran into many issues; its life after completion, however, is a different story. Warner Bros. and its CEO David Zaslav originally shelved the finished and ready film, planning to use it as a 30M$ tax write-off for the deeply indebted studio.

This was not the only movie to suffer this fate, with the other most-cited feature being Batgirl, which DC fans were piiiiissed to learn about. This only shed further light on WB's shady practices regarding finished products, as well as their complete disregard for existing products and properties. Like, say, that time they were seen filling dumpsters with pieces of physical movie history, studio assets, and other elements of marketing.

Through some goddamned miracle, the movie I'll talk about managed to escape this grim fate. Its distribution rights were purchased by Ketchup Entertainment, who also released The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie last year (I saw it, it's good too). And it was released to North American theaters on August 28th. I'm told not every theater could get it, and it may have a limited run considering Ketchup is an indie company, so it may not even stick around a full month, even in theaters where it did get released. Still, that it saw a wide release at all is cause for celebration.

Coyote vs. ACME currently sits at over 90% in both critic and audience scores on RottenTomatoes. To think we almost could have never seen this. I think it is funny that, between my review of Space Jam: A New Legacy (where I made one joke at his expense) and this feature's release, Zaslav announced his retirement from the role of CEO at Warner Bros. Good riddance. I should've been a lot nastier to the guy. However he is apparently coming out of it close to a fucking billion dollars richer, while WB has accumulated so much debt that it keeps trying to get re-bought by new companies, and then putting THOSE in debt by association! How much goddamn sense does THAT make?? Fucking golden parachutes, I swear.

So, uh, if you hate Zaslav and everything he stands for, maybe help by going out to see this movie in theaters and help it make way beyond the 30 mil$ it was supposed to give WB back? No, seriously. Even putting aside my upcoming review. I want it to make fuckin' BANK. That would be a statement.

This film is inspired by a 1990 short story from The New Yorker, an epistolary (look at me today with the big words) tale told entirely through a reprinted court document detailing the proceedings of a lawsuit. In said document, Wile E. Coyote, the forever Road Runner-hungry supergenius, takes ACME to court over the repeated and demonstrable failures of their toony products. This being a 100-minute movie, you can imagine it takes things a fair bit further!

The story

After another disastrous attempt at catching the Road Runner that involves rocket shoes and a magnetic glove, a dejected Wile E. Coyote returns home to his grotto. Sitting among piles of defective products, he is about to pull out the blueprints to design another hair-brained scheme... Until he hears an ad on TV. An ad from lawyer office Avery, Jones & Maltese, who specialize in reparations for cartoon characters who get hurt - most often, through cartoon ACME products.

Our famished desert canine gets a lightbulb moment and pulls up a brand new blueprint.

Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, Kevin Avery (Will Forte), head of the aforementioned lawyer's office, has been perfectly content taking cases of harm done to cartoons by ACME's zany tools, and settling out of court for pittances. Each time resulting in payouts under 500$ for their clients. This is where Wile E.  shows up, with a mountain of broken cartoon weapons and items, to seek compensation for decades of failures. Kevin doesn't want to tackle something this big, but his niece Paige (Lana Condor), who works as an intern at the office, attempts to convince him to take this case.

He refuses, but bureaucracy (and some clever trickery from Wile E.) ends up doing the agreeing in his place. So there Kevin is, completely unprepared for the sheer scope of what awaits him. This trial could make or break his office. This lawsuit cites every single item the ACME cartoon catalogs have ever contained!

ACME, which manufactures just about everything humans use, on top of their items for cartoon people, is taking this threat seriously. Their lawyer, Buddy Crane (John Cena), isn't too worried about the outcome. Neither is the company's CEO, Foghorn Leghorn (voiced by Eric Bauza, who also voices Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird and Porky Pig, among others). They have all the money and all the backing, after all. What's the worst that could happen? That, through their meddling and searching for evidence, Kevin, Paige and Wile E. end up uncovering some deeply-hidden conspiracy about Tune abuse? Come on now, that's crazy...

The review

I've seen comments that compare this movie to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which is obvious, but it feels closer to it than any other previous movie of this type. Coyote vs. ACME builds a world where the coexistence of humans and cartoons makes sense, where not all cartoons are in the entertainment industry. And it explores in part how society would be impacted by having an entire class of toony citizens that cannot stay hurt for long coexist alongside normal people. Aside from Bugs Bunny getting the full 2D treatment, all the Tunes are given a cel-shaded CGI style that homages their 2D roots nigh-perfectly.

I see this movie as a labor of love towards these characters; despite the focus on Wile E., all the most famous Looney Tunes have either a cameo, or a minor or major role. And tons of less-famous Tunes get cameos of their own. Despite being so far removed from the coyote's usual antics, this movie dutifully follows the rules of his cartoons, as set long ago by Chuck Jones. He can never catch the Road Runner, no matter how hard he tries, and the bird must never directly fight back.

Story-wise, what we have here feels like a well thought-out spoof of court procedural movies of the '80s and '90s. A big chunk of that is changed by the presence of the Tunes. Kevin and Paige follow along, coming across as normal compared to the surrounding zaniness, even if it does impact them quite often.  Let's just say Kevin Avery ends up at the receiving end of an ACME product or a Rube Goldberg device/trap a couple times. It's particularly funny to see Will Forte play the serious guy when he's mostly known for comedy-focused roles. Eh, the comically serious is an archetype for a reason.

Every Tune trope gets its sendoff in one way or another, especially if Wile E. Coyote is known for using it. As one example, the paint that creates a tunnel, though I won't spoil that one further. The toony stuff and the court prodcedural are completely intertwined, so you have to be up for that mixture, and not expect just slapstick antics (though there's plenty of that to go around!).

And yet, through that, we've got tons of heartfelt moments, like when Wile E.'s knuckleheaded determination rubs off on the defeatist lawyer. To give just one example. Then, there's a strong anti-corporation message to this film, painting ACME as this company too large to fail, reaching too wide to be escapable, yet very much capable of horrors it keeps under wraps. I've seen it compared online to Nestlé, which is basically impossible to avoid when it comes to foods, in spite of the humanitarian crises it has caused. Hey, maybe Zaslav was trying to silence this film because it criticized exactly his type. To top it off, part of this message centers around harmful product testings, which has its parallels to real-life practices from large companies that abuse animals in the name of "innovation". James Gunn helped think up this film's story, and this form of injustice is a pet theme of his (It's also in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), so it's hard not to see part of his thumbprint there.

Like I said, this film is getting praised to Hell and back on aggregators, and it deserves it all. It's absolutely worth watching. Go while you can. Find some time this week. Go see it more than once if you can. We have to prove that it was a mistake ever trying to shelf this film away from audiences forever.