Review: Coyote vs. Acme – Cartoon chaos meets corporate America
Directed by Dave Green
Starring Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena
9/10
What if Wile E. Coyote finally stopped trying to catch the Road Runner and decided to sue the company responsible for supplying him with all those catastrophically defective products?
It is, frankly, an excellent premise. Coyote vs. Acme takes one of animation’s most enduring running jokes—a coyote repeatedly purchasing increasingly ridiculous contraptions from ACME, only to have them explode, malfunction, or spectacularly turn against him—and drops it into the real world. The result is a surprisingly charming blend of live-action courtroom comedy, cartoon physics, and Looney Tunes lunacy. And yes, there are still plenty of things going BOOM.
Gen Alpha kids who have never heard of Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck can still appreciate the timeless slapstick comedy of watching someone get flattened, blown up, launched into the sky or otherwise subjected to an astonishing amount of physical trauma. The Road Runner remains at the centre of things; however, Coyote’s attempts to capture the bird now have an additional purpose: he needs to deliver a subpoena to get the Road Runner to appear as a witness to his pain.
For parents, there is a second layer of nostalgic enjoyment as the film is stuffed with Looney Tunes inside jokes and old-school references to the classic cartoons. Spotting the callbacks provides an extra reward for anyone who grew up watching these characters turn anvils, dynamite, and household appliances into instruments of self-destruction.
Coyote is represented by his lawyer Kevin (Will Forte), a wonderfully reluctant hero, who initially seems to regard the case as an inconvenience rather than a crusade. Alongside him is Lana Condor (To All the Boys I Loved Before) as a young law graduate who still believes, rather dangerously in this world, that the legal system can actually be used to do some good. Their dynamic gives the film much of its heart, as idealism gradually infects cynicism. Then there is Buddy Crane (John Cena), ACME’s chief attorney. Having an enormous amount of fun, Cena overflows with corporate arrogance and Americana, making ACME’s chief lawyer feel like a cartoon villain who could nevertheless walk straight into a real Texan boardroom.
Because beneath the explosions, the film has some surprisingly pointed things to say about corporate America. ACME isn’t merely a company selling dangerous novelty products. It is a gigantic corporation with enormous resources, expensive lawyers, and the ability to bury a small plaintiff beneath mountains of paperwork and legal fees. The film takes aim at corporate monopolies, political influence, and the cosy relationship between powerful businesses and the people supposedly responsible for holding them accountable.
It is hardly subtle, but subtlety has never exactly been Wile E. Coyote’s strong suit.
And then there is the rather extraordinary story of the film itself. Warner Bros. shelved the completed film rather than releasing it, treating it as a tax write-off, a decision that was met with considerable backlash, until the film eventually found a path to audiences through small distributor Ketchup Entertainment—an ironic ending for a film whose entire premise is about a little guy taking on a corporate giant.
In that respect, the movie’s real-life journey almost feels like an accidental sequel to its own story. A film about a tiny underdog fighting an enormous corporation was itself nearly swallowed by an enormous corporation. Fortunately for us, it escaped to become the perfect school holiday film for everyone in the family to enjoy.
MELISSA MANN