Director – Dave Green – 2026 – US – Cert. PG – 101m
*****
After years of personal catastrophe because of the numerous defective ACME products he’s used trying to catch the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote finally decides to take the ACME Corporation to court – out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 28th with previews Friday, August 21st
Cartoon character Wile E. Coyote (voice: look, he’s a silent character who never speaks, just occasionally holds up signs with words on) sets about his latest plan to trap the Roadrunner (voice: Tucker Hawkey). This time he can’t fail. Because. Jet-powered boots. Made by ACME. Yet, he inevitably, hilariously, fails. Because. Made by ACME.
He has had it with ACME.
So, armed with a box containing the evidence, he visits low rent law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese (named after director Tex Avery in whose Bad Luck Blackie (1949) pianos fall from the sky, and director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese who created the Roadrunner cartoons) who advertise their expertise in successfully suing ACME for damage and stress caused by their defective products. Typical defective item: plaintiff receives maybe $300. This is chicken feed to the huge ACME Corporation, so they always pay up.
However, he initially refuses to sign with firm partner Kevin Avery (Will Forte from Weird; The Al Yankovic Story, Eric Appel, 2022; Nebraska, Alexander Payne, 2013; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, 2009) and his enthusiastic, idealistic niece assistant Paige (Lana Condor from Alita: Battle Angel, Robert Rodriguez, 2019; To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Susan Johnson, 2018). $300 is way below what he had in mind. Avery gets the Coyote’s signature in the car park, unaware that he’s signed to sue for the huge mountain of ACME products crammed into the box – not just the rocket boots, but every single defective ACME device the Coyote has ever used in his ill-fated attempts to trap the Roadrunner over the years.
Avery is far from happy when he sees the thick volume of case notes and realises the huge collective sum he’ll be pursuing. His legal adversary will be ACME’s ruthless Buddy Crane (John Cena from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, 2023; Barbie, 2023; Fast & Furious 9, Justin Lin, 2021) who reports directly to cartoon giant chicken character and CEO Foghorn Leghorn (voice: Eric Bauza), a confrontation Avery would much rather avoid.
Thus begins a classic courtroom drama, the little guy against the huge corporation. Yet as Avery and his interfering client both attempt to subpoena the Roadrunner and pursue mysterious leads in search of supporting evidence, they find themselves drawn into a film noir-ish web of intrigue.
Brilliantly scripted by Samy Burch (writer of the upcoming Late Fame, Kent Jones, 2025; May December, Todd Haynes, 2023), this rises admirably to meet a tough challenge: namely, the classic Looney Tunes Roadrunner gag cartoons run seven-odd minutes, a lot less than the length of the average feature film, which begs the question, can that kind of humour sustain over the length of a feature?
The good news is that, against expectation, it can. And it does..
Armed with Burch’s script, director Green (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, 2016; Earth to Echo, 2014) pulls together an extraordinary live action / animation composite in the tradition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, Richard Williams, 1988) and Volere Volare (Guido Manuli, Maurizio Nichetti, 1991).
The proceedings are populated by numerous Looney Tunes cartoon characters – not just the obvious ones like Bugs (voice; Jeff Bergman), Daffy (voice: Eric Bauza) and Tweetie (voice: Eric Bauza), but also the more unexpected likes of Granny (voice: Candi Milo) and Dr. Lorre (based on real live actor Peter Lorre), who play pivotal roles.
None of this would ultimately matter if the film wasn’t funny (this Summer has already seen a number of alleged comedies where the humour doesn’t work), however, this understands the logic of the Roadrunner cartoons and the plight of their hapless Coyote, indeed, his place in the art of cinema, on a very deep level.
The result is that this is funny in the same way that the Roadrunner cartoons are, except that taking a deep dive into both the psyche of the tormented and suffering Wile E. Coyote and the despicable ACME Corporation mentality up against which he finds himself allows the film to effectively deliver its humour over 100 or so minutes rather than a mere seven. And, yes, as well as everything else, the film is very, very funny. Although never in a way that feels forced.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll fall off a cliff. You’ll fall off a cliff. Again.
Coyote vs. Acme is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday, August 28th with previews Friday, August 21st.
Trailer: