Coyote Vs. Acme
Warning: Spoilers and test subjects
Walking into this film, I honestly thought it was going to feel corporate with none of the classic Looney Tunes charm. The trailer, in my opinion didn’t give me a lot of confidence. However, after having a chance to watch it, I can humbly say that I was wrong. This film had me laughing and invested from start to finish. Despite having the court scenes and dealing with lawsuits regarding Acme and their products, it didn’t feel mean spirited or cold towards what they were trying to achieve. Despite this film not being my favorite as there have been better this year (e.g. Spiderman: Brand New Day) this is a film you should see.
The main star from this film was Wile Coyote. Despite Wile not having a voice, he is able to convey a lot. I love how the screenwriters/animators were able to so much energy/feelings that Wile is showing through body language and movement. Not often are animated characters limited to strictly body language and we see every thought/idea that’s rolling around in Wile’s head. I love how he is the mastermind behind this and taking his role as the plaintiff seriously. Despite his less than stellar intentions of wanting to finally catch Road Runner and makes up this whole trial to catch him, we do see him get justice on the products that have literally caused him so much hard. It also felt satisfying to see the Acme products not work with Road Runner. I love the speed he is able to maintain without it feeling gimmicky or overwhelming to the audience. Wile’s journey and how we get more glimpse into his inventions/mind is refreshing to see and how other characters besides Bugs Bunny get to be the star and it works! Overall, Wile is the right choice to be the star of this movie and the dynamics of him and RoadRunner feel true to the original cartoons.
Speaking of dynamics, every character radiates with personality/layers. I admit, Kevin takes a while to have his character come across as likable, however he eventually comes around. The human characters are able to interact with the animation characters naturally and they are able to embrace the zaniness in the world, which enhances the worldbuilding in which the screenwriters, directors, and animators are going for. Paige is someone that exudes confidence and likability. From the way she conducts herself to and the tone she embodies is consistent. While she has to learn the real world struggles of being a lawyer, we get to see her really embody the balance of real world struggles and the hope she holds out for getting justice for Wile and the other cartoons that fell victim to being test subjects for Acme’s products. The world building and characters are easy to relate to and the character development they go through is relatable and consistent with the pacing.
Two aspects of the film that I found interesting was the reveal of Acme’s products/Project Sisyphus and Bugs Bunny being the whistleblower. My jaw dropped when the project was revealed. Over the course, we see these products fail Wile and yes, he had every right to sue Acme, however there’s an underlying hurt and trauma these cartoons face, especially Daffy Duck. The way the testing has affected them mentally, driving them to the point where they don’t feel they can testify against Acme is sad. It does also show the cruelty in how dangerous testing people to products can be. We see on the surface that these products can improve there society, however, we don’t see the hurt/suffering these cartoons go through in order to make human inventions. There’s a sort of cynicism that they take with this and I respect it. I also love how Bugs is the one that tells Kevin, Paige, and Wile everything and while I wish we got to see more of Bugs Bunny, I understand why they sidelined him because his character is so big, it would’ve brought down the quality of the film. Also, I’m sorry but why was Granny and Kevin trying to determine who the caller was? It felt kind of out of place, especially since he used his signature phrase of “what’s up doc?” Overall, this section in the film was perfect. From the score to the set up, mwah!
The ending was satisfying. While I wish we got to see Acme humiliated at the congress meeting, I mean literally RoadRunner was a witness to Wile’s suffering, you could’ve given him a justified ending. Seeing how everything got built up to Foghorn and Buddy admitting to Project Sisyphus and their intentions was a great climatic scene. We see their true colors show and while we knew it all along, it was satisfying to see them admit it. The sad thing is a lot of companies are like this. As soon as something goes wrong, they quickly try to throw money at the problem to make it go away and often it works. It’s sad but reality in our society. So, to see Acme get what was coming to them was satisfying to see and how all of the cartoons impacted by Acme’s “experiments” touched me and was glad to see them come forward. I also love Granny getting a happy ending with being reunited with Tweety Bird and Dr. Lorre and the poor woman wanted justice for so long and her husband showed so much strength and was glad to see them reunited.
Overall, this is the film to watch if you are a fan of Looney Tunes! I was pleasantly surprised and everyone gives a great performance!