A little while back it came to be known that there was a new Looney Tunes movie (not) coming out. It was called Coyote vs. Acme, and it mixed animation and live-action to great success, invoking the talent of Will Forte, amongst other notables. Early screenings reported that it was excellent, and that it lifted the veil of “mid” that has hung over the Looney Tunes brand since Space Jam: A New Legacy. But since David Zaslav is a greed-monster with zero taste and fewer morals, Coyote vs. Acme joined Batgirl in the bin of completed movies that, through some insane tweak of accounting, were deemed to be more profitable if they remained unreleased. It’s a real shame that such financial wizardry can even exist, and it’s impossible to fathom a tax break that exceeds the cost of a movie, especially in a day and age when it’s all but assured that I’ll never own a home, and it’s less and less likely that I’ll be able to afford fresh vegetables by summer 2025.
My own financial woes aside, it’s worth noting that shelving a completed movie is about as anti-art as it gets.
We, the audience, have become Wile E. Coyote, and Warner Brothers has become Acme. So before I get started giving a very positive review to The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, let me offer a full-throated “I hope the next time you wash your hands it turns out the soap has been watered down and when you go to dispense it it squirts all over your favorite suit” to David Zaslav.”
The reason I bring all of this up is because I was struck with a troubling question while watching this excellent feature-length animated film: who is this movie for?
I imagine this quandary is, at the very least, a small part of why Coyote vs. Acme was given the chopping block. Are kids even into Looney Tunes anymore? I, for one, grew up on them (I even remember that awkward period where people wore shirts of Tweety Bird dressed as Missy Elliott, and a folded-armed Tasmanian devil wore Phat Farm and was referred to as “Taz”), but I’m a 40 year old man who only watched this movie because he wanted to write a review. I think of my 8-year-old niece and I wonder if she could name a single Looney Tunes character besides Bugs Bunny.
(EDIT: I asked her about it this weekend and she could not)
So I guess the answer as to who is the target audience for this delightful film is … me? Or perhaps an alternate universe version of me who made the mistake of procreating and then found a tax write-off which allows him to afford more than one ticket to the movies? Sure, let’s go with that.
And so it’s to you, alternate Dan, and to your son Murphy (who you named after Robocop) that I heartily recommend The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. It’s very good!!!
Our story begins with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig as youngsters. They live together on a farm raised by the stoic and wise Farmer Jim. Once the boys come of age, Farmer Jim walks off into the sunset (which is a very funny and clever way of killing him off without rehashing those feelings that Up so masterfully pummeled out of the souls of America’s children), leaving Daffy and Porky as the owners of their home, unlike I’ll ever be. One day their leisurely lives are interrupted by a mysterious object that crashes through their roof, and now the boys must get jobs in order to mend the damage and avoid the ire of their HOA. But there’s more to their troubles than simple home repair: Said mysterious object came from outer space, carrying with it an infection that turns earthlings into zombies, and soon, with the help of Petunia Pig, our heroes become the only thing that stands between humanity and Armageddon.
All of your favorite Looney Tunes standards are there, including light references to pop culture, characters breaking the fourth wall to express their exasperation, and insanity being depicted as jumping up and down maniacally while yelling “woo-hoo, woo-hoo!” — there’s even a factory working montage set to Raymond Scott’s Powerhouse (you’ll know the song if you hear it). It’s a non-stop cavalcade of classic animated lunacy, and every time I suspected it might run out of comedic juice, it found a way to either surprise me or cater to my childhood memories of scarfing down sugary cereal on Saturday morning and subconsciously learning about classical music standards.
Amidst the calamity of the plot, there’s also a charming story of about the importance of being honest with those you love, being willing to communicate, and being proud of your uniqueness — the thing you may hate about yourself could just be your superpower! Never are these themes heavy-handed or manipulative. It’s all wrapped up in classic Looney Tunes flavor. If not for the slickness of the visuals, it could easily be mistaken for a cartoon from decades ago.
Which isn’t to say that the animation is too slick (the way modern The Simpsons no longer looks like The Simpsons at all). It’s sharper than the cartoons of the past, which is to be expected when modern technique is employed, but it still looks the way a Looney Tunes cartoon should. The mix of older style and modern tools makes for a frequently gorgeous result. Maybe I’m just an old man, but I was drooling at the 2D artistry. High marks to the team who brought this to life.
All in all, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a grand creative success. It scratched an itch that I didn’t even know I had, and it has the potential to introduce a new generation of children to some of their parents’ favorite cartoons, entertaining both parties in equal measure. It also has the potential to teach a positive lesson without putting everyone through an emotional wringer, Pixar style.
And maybe, just maybe, if enough people see it, that maroon, David Zazlav, will decide to release Coyote vs. Acme.
Directed by Peter Browngardt
Written by Kevin Costello, Alex Kirwan, Peter Browngardt, Katie Rice, Darrick Bachman, Andrew Dickman, Eddie Trigueros, David Gemmill, Ryan Kramer, Johnny Ryan, Guy Bar’ely, Josie Campbell, Gilli Nissim, Jason Reicher, Michael Ruocco
Starring Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Carlos Alazraqui
Rated PG, 91 minutes
