Coyote vs ACME Review: Looney Tunes heart without the looney laughs

Nearly three years after Coyote vs. ACME completed filming, only to be shelved by Warner Bros., the animated-live-action hybrid finally sees the light of day. The finished product is a frustratingly mixed bag, pairing gorgeous animation and surprisingly genuine emotion with comedy that misses far more often than it lands.

Wile E. Coyote’s never-ending pursuit of the Road Runner gives the film an unexpectedly moving heart, while the seamless blend of its animated and live-action worlds makes it a visual treat. Unfortunately, the human characters rarely keep pace, with Will Forte and Lana Condor delivering forgettable performances, while John Cena emerges as the live-action side’s saving grace.

Coyote vs ACME Overview

Coyote vs. ACME takes place in an alternate reality where humans and Looney Tunes characters coexist. ACME seemingly owns everything, including the questionable products Wile E. Coyote uses in his endless pursuit of the Road Runner. After another failed attempt, Wile E. discovers Avery, Jones & Maltese, a law firm representing cartoons in personal injury cases.

Kevin (Forte) is a struggling attorney who prefers to settle cases quickly rather than fight them in court. His niece Paige (Condor), an intern at the firm, pushes him to take Wile E.’s case seriously. Soon, they are suing ACME over the countless defective products that have caused Wile E. years of pain. Standing across the courtroom is Buddy Crane (Cena), ACME’s bombastic and undefeated attorney.

Forte is a gifted comedic actor, but this type of down-on-his-luck character feels overly familiar for him. The script also gives him surprisingly little to work with. His subdued performance contributes to a lethargic pace that clashes with the creativity of the animated sequences. Condor brings more energy, but her character never becomes particularly memorable. Cena fares much better, embracing the absurdity of an arrogant lawyer who has never lost.

The film’s unquestionable strength is Wile E. and the other Looney Tunes characters. What begins as another scheme to capture the Road Runner gradually becomes a surprisingly effective character study. The story celebrates Wile E.’s ingenuity, resilience and almost irrational determination after decades of failure. Road Runner’s role in the climax is genuinely moving, putting their legendary rivalry in a different light. Numerous Looney Tunes cameos also help make this bizarre world feel alive.

Unfortunately, the comedy rarely matches that creativity. Only a handful of jokes landed for me, mostly Cena one-liners and visual gags. That disconnect leaves Coyote vs. ACME in an awkward place. Its heart and visuals work, but its humor and slow pace struggle to justify who exactly this movie is for.

The Plaintiff in Coyote vs ACME

For decades, Wile E. Coyote has been defined by failure and his refusal to accept it. No matter how many rockets explode or cliffs collapse beneath him, he always returns with another plan. Coyote vs. ACME takes that familiar formula and finds something surprisingly meaningful underneath it.

Keeping Wile E. silent throughout the film proves to be one of its smartest creative decisions. He communicates through signs, facial expressions and the exaggerated physicality that has defined him for generations. The filmmakers never fundamentally change the character to make him capable of carrying a movie.

Instead, the film examines why Wile E. refuses to quit. Every failed ACME product represents another defeat, but failure is never permanent for him. There is always another blueprint to draw, contraption to build or package to order.

That persistence also gives the lawsuit more emotional weight than its ridiculous premise suggests. Wile E. isn’t simply seeking compensation for defective products. He is confronting a company that repeatedly sold him the promise of success and left him dealing with the consequences. His tenacity should rub off on Kevin more than it does, but the film eventually gets Kevin to the right emotional place.

The movie also finds unexpected emotion in his relationship with the Road Runner. Their rivalry has always depended on the chase continuing forever. Road Runner doesn’t exactly see Wile. E as an enemy, which reshapes the rivalry into a game of tag.

After decades as the butt of the joke, Wile E. finally becomes someone worth rooting for. Coyote vs. ACME understands that catching the Road Runner was never really what made him special. It was that he never stopped trying.

Looney Tunes comes to life

Wile E. and the other animated characters feel like they physically occupy the same spaces as their human counterparts. They interact with the real world without constantly drawing attention to the visual effects. Even the lighting and shadows help sell the illusion that these characters belong in this world.

The Looney Tunes characters don’t obey the rules of reality, which gives the film a spark lacking elsewhere. Characters survive impossible injuries, objects appear exactly when needed and ACME products fail in increasingly elaborate ways. The movie embraces that absurdity rather than attempting to make these characters more realistic for live action.

That approach also produces some of the film’s better visual comedy. Wile E.’s physical mishaps work because they retain the timing and creativity of the original cartoons. Those sequences often generate more amusement than the dialogue-driven humor involving the human characters.

The numerous Looney Tunes appearances also feel like natural extensions of this universe rather than forced nostalgia. Each familiar face helps establish a world that feels both vibrant and lived-in.

For all the film’s problems with comedy and pacing, its artists rarely miss. Coyote vs. ACME doesn’t merely place animated characters alongside human actors. It successfully makes the Looney Tunes feel at home in the real world.

Coyote vs ACME Final Thoughts

The long road to release makes Coyote vs. ACME an easy movie to root for. After years of uncertainty surrounding its fate, audiences can finally judge the finished product for themselves. What they will find is a movie that deserves to be seen, even if the final result doesn’t completely justify the campaign surrounding it.

There is plenty to admire. The animation is fantastic, the Looney Tunes characters are treated with obvious affection, with Wile E. receiving a surprisingly heartfelt story. Cena also understands exactly what kind of movie he is in, delivering the exaggerated performance the material demands.

Unfortunately, those strengths make the film’s shortcomings even more frustrating. A Looney Tunes movie should be funny. Coyote vs. ACME simply isn’t funny enough. The sluggish pacing and underwhelming human characters repeatedly drain energy from a movie built around some of animation’s most chaotic personalities. Too many jokes land with a thud when they should hit like an ACME anvil.

Yet, there is something fitting about Coyote vs. ACME finally reaching audiences. Wile E. Coyote has spent decades getting knocked down, blown up and crushed, only to dust himself off and try again. His movie endured an improbable series of setbacks before somehow surviving.

Coyote vs. ACME may not stick the landing, but like its determined protagonist, it’s difficult not to appreciate that it finally got another chance.