Coyote vs. Acme

Starring: Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena

Director: Dave Green

After decades of trying to catch the elusive Roadrunner, Coyote has finally had enough when his pair of ACME rocket skates malfunction in spectacular fashion. After seeing a “Have You Been Injured” ad for cartoons on his TV, Coyote sets out to the employ the services of Kevin Avery (Forte). However he is disappointed to learn that Avery will only tackle small cases with settlements around $300 and won’t submit for all the failed ACME products Coyote has attempted to use over those many years. After tricking Avery and his niece Paige (Condor) into filing a lawsuit worth millions, ACME’s head lawyer (and Avery’s former law school classmate) Buddy Crane (Cena) serves them with a cease and desist. What follows is a legal battle for the ages, as Avery attempts to solve the mystery of ACME’s faulty cartoon products while Crane will stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't learn the truth.

Leading up to seeing this movie, I was only thinking one thing: Please be good. You wouldn't expect a movie like this to be associated with any sort of controversy but this was steeped in it.

For those that don’t know, Warner Brothers was the original distributor of the film. After it was completed in 2023, they thought the better course of action was to use the movie as a tax write off instead of setting a release date. In their eyes, this was the more lucrative business decision instead of spending money to market and release it. Word got out about this (and Batgirl. Release the movie cowards!) and the demand for the movie to be released began as the creatives behind the film tried to find a new distributor. Even the filmmakers and talent behind the film were starting to believe all their hard work would go unseen.

Enter Ketchup Entertainment, a fledgling distributor whose biggest movie to date is either the Ben Affleck starring Hypnotic or Adam Driver’s Ferrari.

After all that, I am happy to report that this movie is delightful. Not only does it tap into the nostalgia of watching the Coyote try to catch the Roadrunner we had as children, it also tells a compelling, hilarious, and surprisingly emotional story that I hope becomes a bona fide hit.

The gags are never ending, ensuring that if one doesn't land, there are plenty of jokes that follow that will. I know that the folks who watched Loony Tunes in its heyday are fully grown up now, but I can’t understand why Warner Brothers wouldn't want to release this movie.

It’s very ironic that the plot of the movie is about bringing down a corrupt company, considering all the behind the scenes madness. Was the studio, which is referred to as a “subsidiary of ACME” in the opening title cards, that afraid of a movie that is so blatantly against corrupt corporations? I feel like they should have seen the irony and helped the joke. Instead they helped headlines.

Visually, it looks great too. Following in the footsteps of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, cartoons and humans coexist in the real world and work together. This means a lot of the hard work belongs to the actors, who must realistically act across from animated co-stars. Will Forte is very up to the task as Coyote’s frazzled lawyer Avery. I have always felt Forte’s comic genius has flown massively under people’s radars (MacGruber is a modern comedy classic and I stand by it). He has to not only react to an animated costar who doesn't talk other than through signs, but also ends up on the receiving ends of a lot of cartoon shenanigans. Forte's character acts as a foil to Coyote in the film and he does so successfully.

John Cena pretty much steals the movie from his animated costars. Cena has always embraced his comedic side and that doesn’t stop here. One of the biggest laughs in the film is courtesy of a conversation with Tweety Bird that had me rolling.

So why did Warner Brothers try to keep this movie from seeing the light of day? At the end of the day, they are the only ones who know that. This is an absolute crowd pleaser that should find its audience old and new. Everyone needs to show this one some love so that Warner Brothers doesn’t try to use completed films as tax write-offs any more. A lot of hard work and heart went into this and it shows.

Grade: B+