‘Coyote vs. Acme’: Wile E. Explodes Bomb

I had thought, when I first heard about the release of Coyote vs. Acme starring Will Forte and John Cena, that the movie was  a documentary.  I thought it was to be a behind-the-scenes study of the creative process, visualized by storyboards, depicting the necessary action and scenes drawn when, say, an anvil falls off a mesa, bounces on a projecting tree limb, spins and falls on the hapless Wile E. Coyote who wisely had stepped to the other side of the road when the falling anvil would smush, at the very correct moment, the ever-elusive, speeding Road Runner. The premise was science meets animation. 

Or it was to be a bio pic of the many incredible artists whose voices gave life to characters like Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, or (one of my favorites) Pepé Le Pew. (But, wait, the coyote and roadrunner famously never speak!) 

I might have been amused if the film was a retrospective of every Acme product ever depicted in its application to crush, implode, pelt, burn, singe or scar the indefatigable Coyote. In retrospect, that would make for a very long film. And I would have been greatly disappointed if the reason for the film was to lend a background story to the early lives of Wile E. or the nameless Road Runner.

I was surprised then when seeing Coyote vs. Acme that the movie was not unlike Space Jam or Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Each film was a major hit, famously interposing live characters with animated “toons” in some crazy adventure to win a basketball game or solve a murder mystery. Toons, of course, refers to the animated characters who might live in, say, Toontown.

Surely, I haven’t seen every Road Runner cartoon that’s been made. But, honestly, I don’t feel deprived by that fact. I do like cartoons, and I love the older “social commentary” cartoons in which Bugs Bunny mocks Hitler or when famous celebrities of their time are caricatured partying together to show off their musical talents or speak their most famous movie lines in an unfamiliar context that’s surprising, and therefore funny.

So, in my book, right from the start, Coyote vs. Acme gets points for introducing Dr. Lorre into the exposition of this latest film from Warner Bros. Animation. Dr. Lorre is a caricature of Peter Lorre, the famous character actor of the 30s and 40s who typically played the sinister role of Iago to the misunderstood Othello. Lorre’s character helped the rotund Sydney Greenstreet character hide the Maltese Falcon. Now, Lorre plays a product engineer who, for his global employer Acme, Inc., devises the Sisyphus Project.

Other than Dr. Lorre, there are no Warner Bros. toons here modern audiences wouldn’t know. In fact, most every Warner Bros. toon gets a cameo scene, some more prominently than others. For example, Tweety becomes a pawn in the literal hands of Acme’s legal team, played by John Cena and P.J. Byrne. The Tasmanian Devil is a witness in a courtroom deposition of Wile E. Coyote. Elmer Fudd conducts a Senate hearing. Turns out, Granny was married to the missing Dr. Lorre. Bugs Bunny plays a pivotal role while visiting the annual Carrot Festival. And Foghorn Leghorn appears as the mastermind behind Acme’s global monopoly of all things necessary for a smart coyote to catch a fast roadrunner. 

For those curious to explore this world of zany pursuits, I’ll whet your whistle with a few items that start the action. The premise of the movie is that Wile E. Coyote decides to sue the Acme company for all the harm and injuries their products have caused him. He takes his case to the law firm of Avery, Jones and Maltese, represented chiefly by down-and-out lawyer Kevin Avery, played “live” by Will Forte, and his niece Paige Avery, played by Lana Condor. Tone Bell plays Sal Maltese of the firm and Martha Kelly is Dottie Jones. (Stans of Looney Tunes will recognize the character names as honorifics to the most famous of Warner Bros. animators.) 

Of course, any Road Runner cartoon is filled with road blocks. Likewise, the legal team in this rollicking adventure confront many, including the greatest roadblock of all. To win their case, the prosecutors must capture the Road Runner to bear witness to the coyote’s claims. That’s not going to happen; we’ve known that since Warner Bros. released the first Road Runner cartoon in 1949 (in Fast and Furry-ous.)

Defending Acme in this suit are Buddy Crane and Bill Pelicanos, played respectively by John Cena and P.J. Byrne. Both actors deliver appropriate characters, but seem oddly miscast to me.  (Nonspoiler alert: Do pay attention to their neckwear as it changes subtly from scene to scene.) 

The real talent in any cartoon is the voice given to a toon. And here we get Eric Bauza (doing the voices of Foghorn Leghorn, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, and Dr. Lorre,) Candi Milo (offering up Granny, Witch Hazel and Miss Prissy,) and Jim Cummings (blabbering the voice of the Tasmanian Devil.)

Like an acme rocket launched sideways in a canyon, the plot zigs and zags, ricocheting endlessly, screaming clearly out of range to hit its intended target. In fact, the near climax of Coyote vs. Acme is a full-action car chase so convoluted as to include (for some reason) a refrigeration truck that fires ice cubes at our heroes. Evidently, I missed some clue to explain why and, frankly, I couldn’t follow the action.

Ultimately exhausted by the time any resolution comes about, I had to ask myself who thought they could profit from such confusion. Did someone at Warner Bros. Animation think that Coyote vs. Acme would rise to the Pantheon of live-action toon films? I had no reasonable answer to my questions until I stayed to read all of the film credits. In addition to learning that “no animals were harmed in this production” (phew!,) I saw that Coyote vs. Acme was intended for theatrical release in 2023. 

I don’t know what that answers other than “Who asked for this film in 2026?”  I’m going to guess: no one.

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers film, live theater, and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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