After decades of seeing his well-oiled schemes to catch the roadrunner fail time and time again, Wile E. Coyote has had enough. He’s taking Acme to court, hoping for his long-overdue win.
“Coyote vs. Acme” began pre-production in August 2018, with Dave Green, well known for his work on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows", signing on to direct in December 2019. The film was set to release on July 21, 2023, only for Warner Bros. to suddenly pull it from its release schedule, replacing it with “Barbie,” which went on to be a commercial success.
It was discovered in November 2023 that “Coyote vs. Acme,” and a few other films, were shelved for a $30 million tax write-off. After public outrage, Ketchup Entertainment, fresh off “Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up,” announced it had bought “Coyote vs. Acme” in 2025, bringing a second wind into the film.
On Friday, the day finally arrived when “Coyote vs. Acme” made it to the silver screen. With a low box office projection and a relatively unsuccessful marketing campaign, all seemed against the film. But I’m ecstatic to report it's one of the most emotional and enjoyable films of the year — and an absolute riot.
Wile E. Coyote has one goal in life: eat the roadrunner.
As the opening montage of the film makes apparent, Coyote has tried to catch the bird for 76 years, utilizing a myriad of gadgets designed by Acme, a megacorporation responsible for the universe's paints, phones, anvils, rocket boots, magnet gloves and more.
Fed up and hungry, he decides to contact small-time billboard lawyer Kevin Avery, who is played by Will Forte. Avery is stuck in the complacency of small claims court, winning his clients a couple hundred dollars per case from his small office in Albuquerque (where have I heard that one before…).
When Coyote tricks him into suing Acme for all of their products, Toon CEO Foghorn Leghorn and his lawyer Buddy Crane — played by John Cena in arguably his best performance to date, playing the type of cartoonish villain he was born to be — start paying attention. This kicks off an intense multi-level lawsuit which neither of the protagonists is cut out for.
With its slick integration of animated characters, “Coyote vs. Acme” is the best film of its kind since a personal favorite of mine, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”. “Coyote vs. Acme” frequently had me asking, “How exactly did they do this?” with recognizable Looney Tunes characters sinking into real cushions, burrowing real holes, casting real shadows and bending real light. Bringing these characters into our world is something that never fails to impress me.
This technical achievement is accompanied by a sharp, witty screenplay penned by Samy Burch, which raises the difficult question: How do you humanize a character we’ve only known as a surface-level villain? Burch’s screenplay takes the audience to Coyote's home after a long day of roadrunner chasing. Beaten and bruised, he slumps down into a chair, and that's all, folks! Instantly, the canine is made sympathetic, and the screenplay coasts from there.
The film also pokes fun at massive conglomerates from the moment it begins, opening with the Warner Bros. logo with the written quote: “A wholly owned subsidiary of the Acme Corp.” The rest of the film continues to do so, with multiple anti-corporation callouts, from a we wrote the law moment to a chilling monologue by Foghorn Leghorn. It's no wonder this is “The movie that Acme didn't want you to see,” as the tagline states.
Warner Bros.’ decision to shelve this film is only made more ironic by the satire, making the film much more appealing for what would otherwise be a kids’ flick. It's bewildering that a major studio funded it at all. At the very least, that is a testament to the quality of this film.
There's the occasional “kids’ movie moment” that takes you out of the film, as well as flat-looking shots and a slightly sluggish second act, but the sheer reverence for the Looney Tunes and the dedication to making something so boldly pro-art in a world increasingly dominated by commercial sequels and remakes is genuinely astounding.
An important message in the film is that there's always someone looking out for you, even if you don't know it. Go look out for Wile E. Coyote. Support his film. You won’t regret it.
Contact Jack Wellikoff at jackdylanw@gmail.com. Follow him on X @jdwelli.
