Before we get into the fact that I used to Watch Looney Tunes, which included Coyote and the Road Runner as a child. This is a film that has had a very hard time getting to the screen at all. It started development in 2018 and was delayed as many films were by the Pandemic. It ended up filming in 2022 and was due for release in late 2023. However, Warner Brothers decided to shelve the film and instead set it as a tax write off, even though the film had performed well with test audiences. Warner felt with the cost of the marketing and distribution that the film would still end up losing a lot of money.
WB tried to sell the film for its initial production budget which was 70 million, but it had no takers until recently, when Ketchup Entertainment bought it for 50 million and we now finally get to see the film.
So back to my childhood, I used to watch Road Runner Cartoons all the time and never worried about the fact that good old Wile E Coyote got blown up, had Anvils dropped on him, fell to his doom off cliffs during every cartoon and more importantly to this film the every Acme product that he used from the aforementioned Anvil or even Rocket Boots that failed him over and over again.
This is where setting for this film comes in. Wile E has one time too many unsuccessful Acme Products, when he sees an advertisement for a Lawyer that looks right up his street and may give him a chance to get back at Acme. So he teams up with Avery who at first is not too keen on the Coyote as a new client.
Will Forte plays the Avery and he does a great impression of Bob Hoskins (in the best possible way) from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and really gels with the Coyote and the array of animated characters. For this kind of film to succeed the actors have to fully commit and Avery and his Niece Paige played very well by Lana Condor manages to keep both him and the Coyote on the same page.
This film takes us back to our childhoods where we get to see a of Looney Tunes Alumni such as Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn, who has quite a large part to play as one of the main antagonists. John Cena plays the defence Lawyer for Acme and shows now what an improved actor he has become since his wrestling days, with great comic timing. One particular scene with Tweety Bird is particularly funny. ‘You Taaawww?’ 😉
What I also felt this film did really well, is in its use of archive footage from the original cartoons intermingled with the film to really give the audience the nostalgia feels in all the right ways.
It is such a shame the film was shelved and I did worry it might not be any good. However, as the initial reviews were generally very positive, so my son and I decided to buy a ticket and I must say I shouldn’t have worried, as it was even better than I hoped. It had me laughing regularly all the way through and even brought a man tear at one point, plus my son was continually making the Meep Meep sound well after the film had finished.
It might well be that Warner Bros did the right thing in shelving this film from a financial point of view, as at the time of writing and the fact it is now on its 2nd weekend it has currently only made 32 Million worldwide. It will probably need to make north of a 100 million to be profitable for Ketchup and that is such a shame, as this is a film that deserves to be profitable.
Therefore, if you are at a loose end and its still in a cinema near you please do go and see it, If not then I’d recommend seeing it when it comes onto streaming, especially if you grew up with a love for Loney Tunes. However, as I said my son loved it and he hasn’t seen any before.
In the words of Bug Bunny, What’s up Doc and That’s All Folks!!!!!!
The Film Engineer 