Joel on Film

Coyote vs. Acme sort of wants to have it both ways about the never-ending chase between Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, and that’s part of the reason why director Dave Green’s long-delayed, now-unleashed live action/animation hybrid is as genuinely witty and enjoyable as it is. On one hand, perhaps this is simply the nature of these two animated characters—not because of any inherent qualities they possess on their own, but because, years ago, some storytellers made them that way. On the other hand, over here is a corporate-conglomerate that might be manipulating things in such a way that that chase, on top of never ending, will be maximally profitable.

It’s sort of an accident that Samy Burch’s screenplay resonates as a satire of this sort, and those with a cursory knowledge of the film’s very existence will sort of know what that means. The gist of it is that the then-new head of one of the biggest movie studios in the world decided that that world would be better off if this movie was deleted for tax purposes. Another, much smaller studio stepped in to save it, and now, more than four years later, we finally have it.

It would be easy to overstate the quality of what Green and Burch have given us in the wake of such an injustice being righted. The movie itself stands on its own apart from its troubles in the postproduction process, thankfully, which is just another way of saying it’s pretty good. The movie is silly and funny and quite pointed where it wants to be, before being pretty silly and funny again, followed by a final stretch that manages to hit an unexpected emotional beat or two.

Whether any of this actually means anything or achieves the heights suggested by its commitment to a specific satirical target is probably a conversation to be had, though such conversations are typically had a few years into the future of any given movie. Here, we at least have an acknowledgment that the Coyote-Runner rivalry has its place in a societal order where Elmer Fudd (voice of Eric Bauza) is a United States Senator, Peter Lorre (the animated one, voiced by Jeff Bergman) is a scientist in trouble with some bad people, Granny (voice of Candi Milo) is his assumed widow and now a presumed political dissident, and Bugs Bunny (also voiced by Bauza) is a confidential informant, forced to make contact from the shadows. All this is very funny, and it’s especially funny now, in a reality slightly warped by a government administration obsessed with control and monopoly.

That latter bit manifests itself here as, of course, the Acme Corporation, which Wile E. Coyote has decided to sue, with the help of attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) and his niece/assistant Paige (Lana Condor), for constantly undermining his pursuit of the Road Runner. The Corporation is represented by the ruthless and intimidating Buddy Crane (John Cena), whose approach is to run cover for Acme in all scenarios, while a corrupt media sphere does their own job of licking its boot. It’s impressive just how pointed a lot of the satire is here, as well as how it got past the powers-that-be at either the original studio or the replacement one.

The film begins as a mystery when Lorre goes missing or is assumed dead, frantically leaving a message he knows will be read before being imprisoned in a liminal space. Once Wile E. sues Acme and forces the proceedings to go to trial, a connection to Lorre’s disappearance becomes clear, and a covert government project is unveiled. Suddenly, the fight for Wile E.’s right to chase the Road Runner is but a cog in a larger machine.

Indeed, if the previous paragraph was any indication, this is a film not only blessed with layers of meta-reference to its plot but also rife with intrigue and a political and moral relevance. Burch keeps things light, of course, because this is a kid’s movie, with all the bright and silly business that one expects from the “Looney Tunes” brand. The animation, hand-drawn within frames of live action, is expertly melded with the real characters, surroundings and props, which means that the cartoonish Acme explosives cause real damage (well, it actually blows back the characters’ hair and slightly singes their suits, at least).

Really, it’s the best of both worlds, because the finale presents the dichotomy between Wile E. and the Road Runner as something that both occurs in nature and, after all these years, really means something to the chaser and the chased. As certain elements of Coyote vs. Acme get sillier and sillier, at least that unexpected aspect of this relationship grounds it.

Rating: *** (out of ****)