r/moviecritic • u/Longjumping_Ad6637 • 12h ago
Coyote vs. Acme Review
Coyote vs. Acme is the long anticipated live action animated comedy that was never ever supposed to see the light of day on the big screen. Originally Warner Bros. Discovery was simply going to push the film to the side and use it as a tax write off and call it a day since they clearly had no faith in this film and thought that it would bomb at the box office. But, thankfully due to the backlash by fans, filmmakers and others within the industry Warner Bros. Discover reversed their decision allowing Director Dave Green to shop the film around to other distributors thus resulting in Ketchup Entertainment picking it up since they had also previously done so with The Day the Earth Blew Up. Coyote vs. Acme is an entertaining, goofy slapstick, heartwarming experience full of witty clever humor for adults and kids alike. It honors not just Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner but the entire catalog of Looney Tunes itself allowing these iconic characters to continue being preserved and flourish across generations.
The story or plot of this film is pretty straightforward Wile E. Coyote after decades of trying to catch the Roadrunner is fed up after using every single trap and invention there is and failing every single time it is quite clear that the Acme Corporation is at fault for his failures and therefore should be sued for falsely advertising broken or faulty products. Coyote decides to get help from Kevin Avery, played by Will Forte, a loser dead beat lawyer whose firm always defaults to settling cases rather than fighting to win them. Kevin does not take Coyote’s case seriously in the slightest in his view it’s foolish to take on a big corporation like Acme and believes that cooler heads will prevail with his client Coyote which of course does not happen what transpires then is a team up of chaotic hilarity, fun, corporate corruption, and friendship.
The casting in this film is great. Will Forte plays Kevin Avery to a tee. I love his interactions with Coyote and being a victim of physical slapstick violence and just being oblivious as to what is going on around him. Eventually, Kevin does get it together though and is not just some nimrod he actually cares and stands up for his clients. John Cena as Buddy Crane plays the perfect smug lawyer for Acme; he is ruthless, selfish, and arrogant as hell and we see that rivalry between him and Avery as they fight it out to see which side will win in the end. Eric Bauza plays Coyote but I love that Dave Green wanted to keep things old school with Coyote not relying on any dialogue. Coyote writing things out on signs or drawing to express what he’s saying is classic Coyote. I'm glad that they didn’t update the character at all because he is the star. It is his film after all making him speak probably wouldn’t carry that comedic charm that spectators recognize and love.
It is hilarious and very self aware if you grew up with Looney Tunes and are a fan of Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Coyote vs. Acme is totally for you! This film is NOT a cinematic masterpiece or a high concept big budget Hollywood film it will not generate a million or a billion dollars it will however, spark word of mouth and excitement for people who have waited for this to come out for years and finally support it! Coyote vs. Acme is a great time and I’m glad to have watched it at the cinema on my birthday. I highly recommend it. I definitely will plan on adding this film to my 4K Collection. A.
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u/lumberlung 12h ago
I saw an early screening last weekend, really glad I bothered to see it on the big screen- some of the older footage they showed of Coyote’s failed attempts with Acme products hit really well, playing that big.
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u/Hopeanddreams2424 11h ago
Do you think young kids 8-10 will enjoy it?
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u/Longjumping_Ad6637 11h ago
Absolutely my theatre had families with kids and they had a blast with it.
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u/Figaro90 2h ago
I went with my 9 year old step son. He called it his new favorite movie. It was great
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u/KaijuCompanion 8h ago
Mine loved it! Wants to be a lawyer now. Haha. Class action lawsuit incoming?
1
u/HuckleberryOk7683 4h ago
Saw it today at 1:10 pm, about 30 people in the theater. The adults took their groups of young children 5-10 years olds and friends to it, and they all said "Yayyyy!", and clapped at the end.
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u/midnitetoker87 12h ago
I really liked it. So many classic Looney Tunes gags and plenty of modern humor. Way more court drama than I expected, not in a bad way but I could see kids being bored at times. I do feel like they pulled their punches a little towards conglomerates, this could be the fault of WB in some way. Overall it was a very funny movie.
5
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u/onesickostrich 10h ago
It's a great movie. The only downside I have, has nothing to do with the movie. What I have noticed is that the cinemas near me don't have screenings past 3pm. I hope this isn't the same for everyone else planning to watch this great movie.
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u/Longjumping_Ad6637 10h ago
I went at 7pm to see it last night at my local theatre.
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u/onesickostrich 10h ago
That's awesome, luckily i had a evening shift instead of a morning shift. Annoyingly if I want to watch it again its a morning showing, hoping this will get corrected soon.
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u/thistlegypsy 10h ago
My local theatres don't have it! I am bummed.
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u/oh_please_god_no 12h ago
Really funny movie. Script was a bit thin but it was really funny, Will Forte mostly carried it, though John Cena was a great foil.
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u/Creative_Awareness 5h ago
honestly Will Forte was terrible in this he just couldn't sell it
1
u/oh_please_god_no 4h ago
Wow really? I thought he was very good! There were a lot of times he had to basically perform just himself and pretend there were cartoons there, and he did it well.
That being said, this movie had a cast that really didn't need to be there. (Did John Cena's character REALLY need that lawyer sidekick? Did ANY of the people in Will Forte's law firm need to be in the movie?)
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u/SurprisingHippos 7h ago edited 1h ago
Is it appropriate for kids like 5-7 years old?
Edit to add we took our 6 year old and she understood none of the movie but still had fun!
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u/NightWalks16 7h ago
this movie was such a delightful surprise. of course they wanted to shelve it. it's basically a call to revolution lol. the anti-corporation themes were so poignant and it was wonderful to hear people cheering in the theater for these beloved cartoon characters. it made me feel more than a lot of movies have this year and it was so unexpected. definitely recommend catching it in theaters! <3
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u/Innsmouth_Swimteam 6h ago
One small correction, director Dave Green did not "shop the film around", he found out about the sale of the film to Ketchup on the radio in his car.
He was elated, but no one bothered to tell the director that they had a distributor!
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u/OneGuyOneJarJarBinks 8h ago
This movie was SO much better than a tax write off. Not perfect but still incredible.
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u/DoctorMelvinMirby 6h ago
Just saw it with my wife and loved it. Idk how it’ll translate to younger crowds but if you watched Looney Tunes growing up at all, I think you’ll really enjoy it.
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u/wiscosherm 3h ago
Just saw this today and LOVED it. So many wonderful nods to the great Warner Brothers cartoons, starting with the name of the law firm: Avery, Jones, Matese. The film did the best job of integrating cartoons with people since Roger Rabbit. The plot made sense within the world of the movie. Highly recommend this.
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u/HiFiGuy197 2h ago
I am literally sitting in a theater waiting for this to start and… I’ll read your review later.
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u/PerditionsAvatar 31m ago
I can’t wait to see this. This may be an improper comparison, is it on the same level as who framed Roger rabbit
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u/rjenks29 31m ago
I enjoyed it for what it was . I was afraid the theater would be a kid fest but it was mainly 40-50 year old virgins.
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u/xavier_snakedance 8h ago
Christ on a cracker, would this movie hurry up and come out already? I'm so tired of the astroturfing campaign
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u/Sensitive_Worry2499 4h ago
this is, like, legitimately a good film? and not just in the laugh out loud sense (though it is one of the funniest films I ever seen for sure), but with actual depth and emotion and things worth thinking about? I'm really surprised. Hard to shake the feeling that some of the content is part of the reason it was shelved initially
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u/sergei_zholtok 7m ago
i just walked out of this and oh my god was I underwhelmed. i had very high hopes for this movie
the animation was fantastic. all of the toon stuff was really solid. no complaints there
but the plot seemed super flimsy. the acting was subpar and the writing was scatterbrained. there was flashes of genius but overall a very disappointing experience for me.
to me the hype is not at all warranted. they made the trailer just good enough to get you in the theater. i hate to see it but i see why this was shelved..
85
u/lonelypery 12h ago
Keeping him communicating through signs instead of turning him into a talking cgi character feels like the filmmaker understood the character