The copyright is 2023 for Coyote vs. Acme and this is because, although it was completed then, Warner Bros. shitcanned it in favor of a tax break. But, as also noted in the credits, fans agitated for its release and this resulted in it being sold to another distributor. Now it's finally in theaters.
Wile E. Coyote in his never-ending pursuit of Road Runner yet again sees Acme products backfire on him resulting in injury and humiliation. He sees a TV ad for the cartoon injury law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese and he travels to Albuquerque to enlist their services. We learn that the lawyer he approaches, Kevin Avery, is keen on yet another simple settlement for his animated client but Coyote rejects this and forces Avery to file a much larger suit alleging long, sustained malfeasance on the part of Acme Corporation which is the world's largest company. Their lawyer, Buddy Crane, offers a modest settlement but Coyote refuses.
I should mention that the movies opens with an animated Peter Lorre smuggling evidence of Acme's wrongdoing out of the building he works at before trying to effect an escape. He fails and his hand is forced: he jumps down one of those round, black holes that you can roll up like a map and is cast seemingly into oblivion.
Fate forces Avery's hand and he takes on Coyote's case. Hijinks ensue.
John Cena's chiseled face and muscular body make him a perfect evil lawyer for Acme and foil for the dumpy, out of shape Avery. The only thing missing was a scene where he asks someone "Do you like Huey Lewis and The News?" Tweety Bird works for Acme and Crane confronts him after Tweety's plan to capture Road Runner fails. Their exchange was laugh out loud funny.
Tweety: "I tawt I taw."
Buddy: "You tink you taw? I don’t pay you to tink you taw, I pay you to taw."
Tweety: "I did! I did taw!"
Buddy: "What did you taw? What did you tee?"
Coyote has a hidden motive and, just like in the Looney Toons of old, he also has a warehouse full of gadgets and tools with him wherever he goes. And things backfire on him constantly.
The interplay between live action and animated characters was wonderful and I was happy to see so many Looney Toons characters involved, even if only in a brief cameo.
Daffy Duck is in a home for the insane and he is played much like his earliest incarnation in the late 1930s - nutty with a predilection to manically bounce around. The movie is at once reverential to the original Looney Toons but also keen to bring the characters into the 21st century. Foghorn Leghorn is Acme's CEO which is just perfect for the blustery bird with the big ego. When he is being arrested, he asserts that he is a cage-free rooster.
I laughed aloud several times during Coyote vs. Acme and just had a blast.
Seen before my screening of Coyote vs. Acme.
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