Recently someone called the 1990s vintage and old-timey and that hurt, but while the mixed live-action animated legal comedy “Coyote vs. Acme: springs from a 1990 article by Ian Frazier for “The New Yorker Magazine,” the nostalgia reaches back even further. While John Cena is often the straight man in a comedy, he’s almost as animated as his animated foes and the best live-action actor in this cast.
The action supposedly starts in 1992, but for fans of old films like the 1934 Alfred Hitchcock classic “The Man Who Knew Too Much” or the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film “The Maltese Falcon” or the 1942 “Casablanca” (also with Bogart), this film’s reference reaches back even further. The first character we meet is Dr. Peter Lorre, obviously named after and a cartoon version of the famous actor Peter Lorre. Lorre died in 1964 at only 59. Warner Bros. cartoonists often used caricatures of Lorre in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies through the 1940s and 1950s.
Of course, Lorre wasn’t the only famous person used in classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts. In the 1940 “Malibu Beach Party,” the host was a Jack Benny parody (Jack Bunny) and featured caricatures of Bob Hope, Greta Garbo and Spencer Tracy. In the 1941 “Hollywood Steps Out,” the caricatures included Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Bing Crosby and Groucho Marx. I remember watching some of these cartoons with my father, not realizing that the caricatures were supposed to be famous people and the references to their roles in movies until much later.
In 1992, Dr. Peter Lorre is an Acme Corporation scientist who, we later learn, is married to Granny (the owner of Tweetie Bird and Sylvester). Acme Corporation engineers his sudden disappearance via a portable black hole that is then rolled up.
The film fittingly takes place in New Mexico. Learned the name of that state’s capital city from Bugs Bunny who seems to often make a wrong turn at that city, “I knew I should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque.” In that city, according to VisitAlbuquerque.org, Route 66 “dazzles with 18 miles of magic” and is “the longest continuous urban stretch of the Mother Road in the country.” An Albuquerque website notes that “Route 66 isn’t just a road. It is an enduring slice of Americana.”
New Mexico is the only state along Route 66 where the highway crosses itself (at the intersection of 4th Street and Central Avenue where the “Old Alignment” crosses the “New Alignment.” That could be the source of Bugs Bunny’s confusion and Bugs Bunny does appear in the film.
Yet the main focus is on Wile E. Coyote who employs a billboard attorney to take on the huge Acme Corporation. The Coyote watches a TV ad for a personal injury law firm, Avery, Jones & Maltese. These names should also give adults a whiff of nostalgia. Tex Avery (1908 to 1980) was an animator, film director and voice actor. Chuck Jones (1912 to 2002) was an animator, filmmaker and voice actor who created Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner (along with Marvin the Martian). Michael Maltese (1908 to 1981) was a screenwriter and storyboard artist who worked with director Chuck Jones.
Kevin Avery (Will Forte) takes on Wile E. Coyote’s case, aided by his niece Paige (Lana Condor), but the firm of Avery, Jones & Maltese aren’t that experienced with court cases so partners Sal Maltese (Tone Bell) and Dottie Jones (Martha Kelly) aren’t encouraging. The firm usually takes small cases of cartoon violence, preferring to settle out of court. Wile E. Coyote refuses a settlement offer, forcing Avery into a court trial against his Harvard rival, Buddy Crane (John Cena). The firm needs to find the Road Runner to be a witness, but like Wile E. Coyote, the firm fails to catch up with the fast desert bird.
Further investigation leads Avery to Daffy Duck and something called Project Sisyphus.
Not all of the Looney Tunes characters will be on Wile E. Coyote’s side. Foghorn Leghorn adds bluster to Acme’s side and Tweetie Bird works for Acme.
This mix of animation and live action works for the most part, but the level of emotional output is uneven. Sometimes, director Dave Green might have been better served by reining in the looney of the cartoon and bringing more lunacy to the live action characters. Forte comes across as particularly flat or two dimensional. Luis Guzmān as the judge for the titular trial also seems underutilized. Some of the action could have been tightened up such as when the Foghorn Leghorn doesn’t take kindly to the phrase, “kill two birds with one stone.” While not all Looney Tunes characters make it on screen, some are mentioned in passing such as “a mouse beats the sound barrier in Guadalajara” for Speedy Gonzalez.
Overall, this is good cartoon violent family fare, if there is such a thing. The violence is over the top and in many ways impossible in the real world. Unlike “Who Killed Roger Rabbit?” there is no heavy sexualized content or the equivalent to Jessica Rabbit’s vavooming. I’m glad that the film is going to be seen despite initially being shelved by Warner Bros. Discover in 2023 as a tax write-off. Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights in March 2025 and the film was screened at San Diego Comic-Con 25 July 2026. It will be released in the US on 28 August 2026.