Cast: Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Director: Dave Green
Advanced Previews: 21st August 2026
In Irish Cinemas: 28th August 2026
The opening minutes of Coyote vs. Acme immediately deliver the anarchic energy that makes Looney Tunes so enduring. Wile E. Coyote is back at his familiar mission: catching the Road Runner by any means necessary, usually with the help of an ACME invention that is far more dangerous to its user than its intended target. Rocket skates, magnet gloves, collapsing rocks and spectacularly bad planning all collide in classic fashion. Naturally, the scheme ends with Wile E. battered, flattened and defeated once again. It is exactly the kind of beautifully chaotic slapstick that longtime Looney Tunes fans have been waiting for.
The film became something of a Hollywood curiosity after Warner Bros. attempted to shelve it as part of a tax strategy. That decision only increased public interest, making the eventual rescue by Ketchup Entertainment feel especially satisfying. The distributor had already released The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, and bringing another Looney Tunes project back from the brink was a welcome move. Comparisons to Who Framed Roger Rabbit are inevitable, since both films successfully combine live-action storytelling with animated characters. However, Coyote vs. Acme takes a different route, turning its cartoon chaos into a courtroom adventure about an ordinary underdog taking on an enormous corporation.
Samy Burch’s screenplay gives Wile E. an unexpectedly relatable role. After years of malfunctioning ACME products, the frustrated coyote decides to fight back through the legal system. That leads to Kevin Avery, a lawyer whose career has largely been built around representing cartoon characters. Played by Will Forte, Kevin is talented but cautious, preferring settlements and easy victories over courtroom battles. His approach changes dramatically once the case grows beyond a simple complaint and becomes a serious challenge to ACME itself.
Lana Condor plays Paige, Kevin’s ambitious intern and niece, who pushes the case toward a much larger lawsuit. Wile E. refuses to settle, forcing ACME to respond with Buddy Crane, an aggressive corporate attorney portrayed by John Cena. Cena clearly enjoys playing the obnoxious antagonist, with Buddy becoming increasingly ridiculous as the legal battle intensifies.
The story eventually reveals that ACME has plenty of questionable business practices hidden beneath its polished corporate image. At the same time, Wile E.’s motivations are more complicated than they initially appear. Those revelations give the story some genuine momentum, while Kevin undergoes his own transformation. What begins as a comfortable legal career gradually becomes a fight for justice, requiring Kevin to abandon his cautious approach and stand up to a powerful opponent.
The movie cannot maintain the frantic joke-per-second pace of its opening. Once the courtroom proceedings take over, the comedy becomes more selective, and some of the plot machinery feels unnecessarily complicated. Still, the film knows when to unleash the Looney Tunes characters, and those appearances provide some of its biggest comedic highlights.
Dave Green directs the movie with the feel of a quirky television legal comedy, placing animated characters into a recognizable live-action world. A completely animated environment might have produced a more visually spectacular experience, but the Albuquerque setting works surprisingly well and provides plenty of opportunities for Looney Tunes references.
Ultimately, Coyote vs. Acme succeeds because it understands the appeal of these characters. Beneath the courtroom plot and corporate conspiracy is a genuine affection for the Looney Tunes universe. The film treats Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and their fellow cartoon legends as more than nostalgic mascots; they are given enough personality and purpose to carry a modern story. For audiences who grew up with these characters, that affection is unmistakable—and seeing Wile E. Coyote take ACME to court proves that even after decades of falling off cliffs, being crushed by rocks and getting blown up by his own inventions, the Super Genius still has another fight left in him.
Overall: 7/10
Movie Reviewer
