‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Review: Wile E. Coyote Stars in a Courtroom Comedy That Blends Cartoons and Live Action. But the Fizz of Anarchy Is Missing
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- "Coyote vs. Acme" is a live-action/animated courtroom comedy in which Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme Corporation over faulty products that failed to catch the Road Runner, with Will Forte as an ambulance-chasing lawyer and John Cena as the Acme defense attorney.
- Warner Bros. shelved the completed film before Ketchup Entertainment bought it for $50 million and scheduled a theatrical release for August 28.
- Samy Burch, the screenwriter of "May December" and "Late Fame," wrote the script, which is inspired by Ian Frazier's 1990 New Yorker story treating the fictional lawsuit with put-on bureaucratic seriousness.
- The film integrates Looney Tunes characters throughout, with Foghorn Leghorn voicing Acme's CEO, a dominant Daffy Duck scene, Bugs Bunny, and Tweety Bird sprinkled in as Easter eggs.
- The Variety critic argues the film references the anarchic spirit of Chuck Jones's original Road Runner cartoons rather than immersing viewers in it, concluding it "melts down anarchy into presentable buddy mishegas."
- The story ends with a moral stand against Acme Corporation, revealing a sinister reason the company's products kept blowing up in Wile E.'s face — a twist the Variety critic compares to a Looney Tunes "Erin Brockovich."
Why it matters: For Warner Bros., the shelved-then-rescued film represents a $50 million write-off recouped only via an independent distributor; for Ketchup Entertainment, the bet is that nostalgic cartoon IP plus a cause célèbre among vintage cartoon fans justifies a late-summer theatrical run starting August 28.
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