Coyote vs. ACME

4 outta 5

After being stuck in a tax hole void for a few years, Coyote vs. ACME has finally been released and it is a very fun time with the Looney Tunes gang in a live-action and animation hybrid with smart meta-commentary about the eternal struggle of Wile E Coyote and commerce. Battling a big corporate interest mega-corporation fortuitously makes for a decent commentary on what happened to the film, but it is also a surprisingly sweet character piece between the lawyer and his silent client. It also about addiction and how people are used by corporations. Overall this is a funny and smart return of the Looney Tunes that is a hellova lot better than most of their recent efforts.

Wile E Coyote has perpetually been trying to capture the speedy Roadrunner but his ACME instruments always fail him. One day, Wile sees an ad for a lawyer, Kevin (Will Forte), who promises big cash settlements if cartoons have been injured by ACME products. The complaints of cartoons are dismissed offhandedly because they immediately bounce back with no apparent injury, but the amount of products Wile brings is cause for concern with ACME. CEO Foghorn Leghorn (Eric Bauza) wants this settled quickly and sends hot-shot lawyer, Buddy (John Cena) to end it. But Wile won’t take a payout and as Kevin looks deeper, he finds a conspiracy of faulty ACME products using cartoons as guinea pigs. Even worse, the entire trial may just be an excuse for the Coyote to finally catch the Roadrunner.

There were a few cartoons where Wile E Coyote talked, like when confronting Bugs he would introduce himself as a “genius.” Wile is appropriately mute here but there’s a reference to his talking when Wile’s business card has “genius” on it. There’s a fun bit with Wile only communicating with writing and signs, and he at one point holds up a sign that says, “There’s a limited amount of signs”. That sign is used effectively again when Wile tries to convey to Kevin that he cares for him.

Wile seems like a sympathetic coyote who has been taken advantage of by the system but there is a great twist where the case is a way to get the Roadrunner on the witness stand so the Coyote can finally catch him. Wile’s obsession reveals itself and makes Kevin feel taken advantage of. He says that Wile is designated as a high volume user of ACME products which kinda makes the whole thing a parable about addiction. The climax of the film involves the Roadrunner being called to the stand and can only communicate with “Beep beep” (this film is officially “beep beep” not “meep meep”). By using one or two beeps system and some slight eyebrow movement, it conveys a lot of feeling from the bird.

Forte is a great performer, he has a bundle of crazy characters like MacGruber but he can also do emotional and cynical. He immediately wants to throw Wile’s initial complaint of faulty rocket skates in a return box for a $300 dollar payout, but Wile’s pile of faulty gear could be a huge payout. The first settlement is for $50,000 which Kevin immediately wants to sign but Wile burns the contract. Cena plays his lawyer as a conceited jerk which he is very good at and Buddy is confident Kevin is going to settle, because Kevin always settles. So when Kevin and his office dig deep into ACME history, they in are over their heads. Martha Kelly plays Dottie the secretary and she has a bunch of really funny lines about how they can’t solve the case. They even have every lead tied together on a corkboard with string and it looks like incomprehensible nonsense. Kevin’s assistant and intern is his idealistic niece, Paige (Lana Condor), who compels Kevin to keep going.

The conspiracy is presented like something out of a corporate thriller, with mysterious voices over the phone and meetings with shadowy figures in trench coats. A scene where Kevin is getting information from Daffy Duck has him delivering information like the thriller stock character of the crazy guy who has been driven mad by the truth of the conspiracy. Foghorn Leghorn is the indomitable bad guy who lords over the little guy how powerful he is. The way the Looney Tunes characters are integrated into the film has a lot of funny moments. The big giant red monster guy stomps in and serves someone with a court summons. When Kevin and crew have to serve the Roadrunner with a summons they have an idea involving a giant pile of birdseed. There’s even a great reference to Pepe Le Pew being turned away for being problematic. The scene when the Tasmanian Devil is on the witness stand is crazy as he keeps speaking in his crazy spit language. Seeing Tweety Bird acting as a hired goon for ACME is just really twisted. And the reveal of the informant is a great choice to save the day.

The integration of live action and animation is smooth and makes the movie pop. Coyote vs. ACME is a goofy premise that is a lot deeper than it first seems. Great to have this movie released from the vault and delivering the craziness audiences expect from the Looney Tunes.