Coyote vs. Acme is a laugh-out-loud triumph that very nearly never graced our screens. After Warner Bros. opted to shelve the completed movie in 2023, preferring a tax write-off instead – the same unpopular cancellation decision that had also been made for Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt – the film was rescued when the studio allowed the filmmakers to shop it to other distributors. Ketchup Entertainment rode to the rescue in 2025 and, for a reported $50million (£37m), won the right to finally present this wacky but heartfelt film to audiences. And I'd say every penny was well spent.
A Fresh Take on Looney Tunes
For millennials, Coyote vs. Acme is like the new version of Space Jam, 30 years later. The comparison is an easy one, considering it's the same basic premise of the enduringly popular Looney Tunes featuring alongside humans. It's better than Space Jam, largely because of its whip-smart simple premise: what if these cartoons, so long put through the gruesome wringer for our entertainment, sought compensation for their pain and suffering?
Based on satirist Ian Frazier's ingenious 1990 New Yorker article, Coyote vs. Acme focuses on Wile E. Coyote, and ponders the idea of a case brought by him against the Acme Corporation for corporate malfeasance and liability, based on 77 years' worth of their disastrous products causing the plaintiff 'personal injury, loss of business income, and mental suffering' in his professional pursuit of the Road Runner. All the other Looney Tunes are present and correct too, in a world where Porky Pig, Tweety Pie and Bugs Bunny mill about alongside the residents of New Mexico, with the Warner Bros. lore particularly strong thanks to Dr. Lorre, the parody Peter Lorre character from the 1940s.
Star-Studded Cast and Creative Team
Emmy winner and longtime Looney Tunes voice actor Eric Bauza is on board too, with support from the likes of Jim Cummings on the character voice front. Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte is excellent foil to the Looney Tunes as lazy lawyer Kevin Avery, who's long settled into pursuing only the lowest hanging fruit. Kevin's niece Paige (To All the Boys I've Loved Before's Lana Condor) then convinces him to properly consider the merit of Wile E.'s case, and we end up inside the hallowed halls of Acme, dealing with Kevin's old college pal – from Harvard, no less – Buddy Crane (John Cena), who is now Acme's sharkish chief legal counsel.
Coyote vs. Acme captures some of that fantastic zip of Disney's strongest animated films like Aladdin thanks to Oscar nominee Samy Burch's (May December) clever screenplay, mixing a strong story with relentless jokes and small details, alongside shades of light and dark, while director Dave Green makes sure the movie's human characters shine in their performances too.
A Satisfying David-and-Goliath Scenario
It's a satisfying David-and-Goliath scenario, perfectly added to by Foghorn Leghorn's casting as the aggressive corporation's unscrupulous CEO, while Cena fully commits to his role as the bullying baddie. And it's in moments like this that Coyote vs. Acme proves its quality against the high standard of 1988's hybrid live-action animated classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Like last year's Oscar-winning sensation KPop Demon Hunters, the quality of this animated film has massively impressed out of seemingly nowhere. While it doesn't have the catchy music, Coyote vs. Acme deserves to be as much of a phenomenon. I can't wait to watch it again.
Coyote vs. Acme is in UK and Irish cinemas on August 28 with advance preview screenings everywhere from August 21.
