It’s impossible to watch “Coyote vs. Acme” without considering the film’s backstory.
In a word? Shelved.
Warner Bros. Discovery put the film on ice rather than share it with the public. Now, consider how many truly terrible films are released into theaters, and it’s hard not to expect the worst.
Yet “Coyote vs. Acme” isn’t bad. Not even close. It’s clever, tightly constructed and silly in a way Looney Tunes fans expect. Does it all make sense? Nope. Will adults find some sequences a tad childish?
Sure. The film deserves to be seen.
Will Forte stars as Kevin Avery (his last name is one of endless Easter Eggs), a lazy lawyer with an unusual new client. Wile E. Coyote wants to sue Acme, the company behind all the inferior products he’s used over the years.
Why, if merely one Acme product worked as intended, that speedy Road Runner would have been in his belly by now.
Except Acme has a team of high-powered lawyers, including one played by John Cena. It’s a role beneath the comic actor’s talents, but he’s not the star attraction.
The ‘toons are.
This isn’t the first time a movie made cartoons and humans share the screen. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” did it best, but the technology has improved dramatically since that 1988 smash. Now, it’s a seamless visual that makes the film’s gimmick click.
Other elements aren’t so easy to process.
Our favorite coyote wants to kill the Road Runner, giving the film a moral hiccup. It’s a nagging flaw, one of several that makes the silliness go down a bit harder.
It’s also a Looney Tunes movie, so some storytelling grace should apply AKA don’t go all Film Critic-y on us, right?
John Cena Made Peace With ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Never Coming Out: “I Don’t Own My Performance” https://t.co/nmmmUpiN6d
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) August 13, 2026
What’s obvious is how much care the filmmakers poured into the comedy. Every scene features in-jokes, a funny gag or two and an homage to the Looney Tunes canon. You might have to see it a few times to catch them all, and most fall into the clever category.
It’s more than a mash note, though. It’s a fully realized film that has an ulterior motive. And you might have heard its mantra before.
Corporations … bad!
Yeah, it’s a lazy motif, one that’s all too familiar in La La Land. Did that help seal its fate? Unlikely, but the shallowness of the attacks is the least engaging part of the film.
Still, casting Foghorn Leghorn as a blowhard CEO type is inspired.
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“Coyote vs. Acme” occasionally reminds us that the best Looney Tunes shorts run about 10 or so minutes. Even at its giddiest, this quasi-animated romp can be a bit tiring.
The film never stops improvising, an eager-to-please affair that rallies past the genre’s preferred time frame.
Could the unburied film spark a sequel? Maybe that’s not all, folks!
(Couldn’t resist…)
HiT or Miss: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 1h 41m
Where to Watch: Theaters
Family Friendly? Yes
Wasn’t Song of the South the first to use real actors with cartoons?
Back in the 1970s, National Lampoon had a monthly page dedicated to the lawsuit “Wile E Coyote vs Acme Products.” Plus ca change.
Roger Rabbit! They even had a Roger Rabbit house at Disneyland, then the 200 pound feminists made it disappear.
I’ve been cautiously optimistic on this one. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I’ve only seen one other movie in the theater in over a year, and that was “The Backrooms”. But the theater experience has really downgraded and I was annoyed at the other patrons being noisy and fidgety so I might just wait to rent in on Amazon whenever it shows up.
Theater experiences just aren’t the same once cell phones and short attention spans ruined them.
Coyote top speed – 43 mph
Roadrunner top speed – 26 mph
They’ve been fooling us all these years.