Video summary
The video review focuses on the long-awaited hybrid animated and live-action film *Coyote vs. Acme*, a project that faced significant delays before finally reaching theaters in 2026. The reviewer notes that while the three-year wait was ultimately justified, the film is not without its flaws, particularly regarding its visual style. Unlike traditional hand-drawn animation seen in classics like *Space Jam*, this movie relies on 3D rendered characters with a cell-shaded look that often fails to capture the charm of the original Looney Tunes aesthetic. The reviewer compares the visuals unfavorably to video game skins or modern adaptations of shows like *Family Guy*, noting that while the animation mechanics and slapstick physics work well, certain character models, such as Foghorn Leghorn, appear visually jarring and poorly executed.
A major point of criticism in the review concerns the human cast, which fails to provide the necessary contrast to the zany cartoon world. The lawyer character played by Will Forte is described as sleepwalking through his role, lacking the comedic presence needed to anchor the story, while other human actors like Lana Condor and John Cena are deemed unengaging or deflated. The reviewer expresses that having every human character act as a boring straight man diminishes the film's potential, contrasting this disappointment with previous successful hybrids where actors like Brendan Fraser or Bob Hoskins brought energy and charisma to their roles. Despite these acting shortcomings, the core premise of Wile E. Coyote suing Acme for decades of product abuse provides a clever narrative framework that keeps the story fresh through courtroom hijinks and mystery elements.
Despite the visual inconsistencies and weak human performances, the film succeeds in delivering genuine emotion and heart, which surprises the reviewer given the typical nature of Looney Tunes properties. The animation quality shines when depicting classic gags like anvils falling or the Road Runner's momentum, successfully recreating the feel of the old shorts even within a 3D environment. The story effectively balances humor with emotional weight, allowing viewers to connect with the characters in unexpected ways. Ultimately, the reviewer concludes that while the movie is not as good as previous live-action hybrids and has significant room for improvement, it is still an entertaining watch that justifies its existence and offers a satisfying conclusion to a long-running saga.
Read the full video transcript
A janitor sweeping.
>> [gasps]
>> Coyote vs. Acme. Well, now that's a name
I haven't heard in a long time. Since
2023, when the film was originally
supposed to come out, but because of a
bunch of shenanigans going on at Warner
Brothers and some corporate shake-ups,
the film was left to die like Batgirl,
which will never come out. But we did
get to finally see Coyote vs. Acme. I
checked it out at the matinee the other
day, so it was a nice cheap $18. What
are we even doing at theaters anymore?
And so now I'm going to report back and
let you know whether or not the 3-year
wait was worth it. Let's begin.
Subscribe. Sub- subscribe is what I was
getting at. My favorite characters from
the Looney Tunes have always been Wile
E. Coyote and that Road Runner. Beep
beep.
Watching those animated shorts as that
poor son of a Coyote tries to kill
the bird that's faster than the blue
blur, I think. I mean, you put a Road
Runner and Sonic next to each other, I I
that's definitely an argument that some
12-year-old is having right now.
Granted, that would require the
12-year-old to know who the Road Runner
is, and I'm not sure this is going to be
the movie that's going to put him in the
spotlight. Although, it would be nice if
parents took their kids out to this one
because it's a nice little film. It's
got some problems, but overall, I left
the theater positive. There was plenty
of moments in this 90-minute flick, PG
rating, that put a smile on my face. I
take that back. IMDb says this movie's
an hour and 41 minutes long. Wait, it
seems like it's 90 minutes. Maybe
there's a lot of credits, I don't know.
I didn't stick around for those. Now, if
you know nothing about Coyote vs. Acme,
it is a hybrid animated/live-action
film, much like Looney Tunes: Back in
Action or even further back, Who Framed
Roger Rabbit, two films I happen to
really enjoy. Maybe you're only familiar
with like Space Jam or Space Jam 2. God,
that movie sucked. Anybody remember LG
Rhythm? The algorithm? Yeah, everybody
get up. It's time to suck now. And the
storyline for Coyote vs. Acme is
actually very fun. It's very clever. It
follows our Wile E. Coyote who's still
going after the bird all these decades
later. After failed attempt number a
million, he's starting to finally
realize that perhaps he's not entirely
at fault. Maybe the products he's using
from the company that's making them is
the real villain here. So, he heads into
Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he's
going to see a bunch of billboards
featuring a lawyer with a bad comb-over
who is a voice for the cartoons, and
he's willing to take the big wigs to
court. A sleazy lawyer in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, operating out of a dingy
little place where his clientele are
less than savory. This sounds awfully
familiar to a different character from a
different series. And therein lies one
of the biggest mistakes this movie made.
I kept thinking of Better Call Saul,
Breaking Bad's character Saul Goodman,
one of the greatest lawyers in the world
who takes on some very questionable
cases, but manages to find a way to win
them. If Ketchapp Studios, who did this
movie, no, Chuck Jones was not
resurrected from the dead to draw his
characters again, unfortunately. If they
somehow would have secured Bob Odenkirk
as Saul Goodman and had him in this
film, holy it would have been a
amazing. Unfortunately, we're following
the lawyer Kevin Avery played by Will
Forte. Now, I like Will Forte. He's been
very funny in the past on SNL. His
character MacGruber's great. That show
Last Man on Earth was pretty fun for a
couple seasons, and I know he was one of
the big champions to get this movie into
the eyes of the public over many years
now, and I just kind of wonder why
because he sleepwalks through most of
this film. He's just really not a
presence here. He's kind of a straight
man almost in a world full of zany
cartoons. That can work when you have
that polar opposite. Unfortunately,
every single human in this film is a
boring straight man character,
especially his tag-along niece. Lana
Condor plays Paige Avery and she has
zero presence in this film. It's
unfortunate. She's likable as a
character, but who cares about
likability in a Looney Tunes property?
Do something, lady. You're just like a
rock that gets moved from scene to
scene. We are so far removed from
Brendan Fraser going over the top with
Looney Tunes: Back in Action or Bob
Hoskins using his trademark rage to beat
the crap out of that annoying rabbit.
The only human actor that's at least
somewhat entertaining is John Cena, but
even Cena feels very deflated and he has
been that way for the last few years
now. I don't know if he needs to start
hitting the juice again, but whatever he
needs to do to get that charisma back in
check, that would be appreciated. Now,
as disappointing as the human characters
were, it was an absolute blast being
back with the Tunes. I'm going to sound
very bipolar in this review because
overall, I did enjoy the film, but it
has a lot of issues, so I'm going to be
constantly pushing and pulling at odds
with myself. Overall though, I think
it's worth at least a watch, but if
you're going in expecting something
amazing, I I can't imagine that's going
to be the case, especially when you have
some great Looney Tunes characters
animated in such a horrific way at
times. Granted, it works, I would say,
more often than it doesn't, but since
this film does not do traditional 2D
animation, there's no hand-drawn stuff.
These are all 3D rendered characters
that they try to pretend are 2D ones.
Think Fortnite whenever they release one
of their animated skins and it just
looks pretty awful. Or whenever they
take a Family Guy or a Simpsons show and
they turn them into video game
characters. It It never lines up very
well. South Park was the only one that
got it right, but I think the way that
that show is presented works much better
and translates better. It's It's a
one-to-one thing. So, from like a visual
character model standpoint, it's
definitely very rough. Animation though
is very strong. They really do nail that
old style of, you know,
The momentum of the Road Runner is
definitely present. Meep meep.
You see the road whipping up around and
since it's like a real road, but
definitely not a real road, but rendered
to look real. It's great. That stuff all
works really well. The hyperrealistic
anvils falling,
characters getting punched in the face,
it's good stuff and it's animated
wonderfully. And because we have
mountains of years of stuff to work
with, it was fun seeing them kind of go
back and make nods to the old classics,
even show some footage to remind people
of just how long these two have been
going at each other's throats. Well,
really it's just Coyote going after
Road Runner, but you you know what I'm
saying. It is always great to see Porky,
Daffy, Bugs, like the gang showing up
here and there, throwing out some of
their iconic one-liners, doing their
whole thing. And this whole weird
cell-shaded 3D stuff, it works well
enough, especially when they light the
characters properly and there's some
nighttime scenes so you get shadows
bouncing off of them. That That looks
pretty good. It is amazing though how
much better Space Jam looks compared to
this when it comes to those animated
characters because again, that that
one's using the traditional approach and
it holds up so much better. Foghorn
Leghorn, one of my favorite characters
from Looney Tunes, looks like absolute
nightmare fuel. He is horrifyingly bad
in this. And unfortunately, he's in it
quite a bit. And the more they show him,
the more I want them to not show him. He
looks awful. But let's
reel back into the positives again. The
story really does help everything. It
holds up all ships here. Because we have
such a fun premise, because we have a
premise revolving around decades of
abuse featuring Acme products, and so
putting them on the stand, putting them
in the courtroom leads to some fun
hijinks. And there are a couple of
twists and turns here. There is a
mystery looming underneath that breaks
this thing wide open. There are some
different avenues the film goes down
that keeps it fresh. As for the laughs,
this is not Emperor's New Groove levels
of funny here. This is more your
standard Looney Tunes stuff, anvils
falling on people, a lot of slapsticky
gags. There were a few lines of dialogue
that made me chuckle, and I appreciated
the the sign humor where he's constantly
flipping the signs around. And the
biggest thing that I liked about this
was there was some good emotion. There
was some heart, and it hit. It landed
really well for me. I thought, "Well,
I didn't think I was going to be
feeling things in a Looney Tunes
property, but here we are in the grand
2026." So, the overall takeaway is I'm
happy I saw the movie. I'm I'm glad it
came out, especially for everyone
involved in making the film. I'm sure it
was a a very deflating thing for many
years to not be able to see the product
you spent probably your working on off
and on see the light of day. And so, now
we have it. It's another one to add into
the lineup of these live-action hybrid
films, and I think it's I think it's
fine. I think it it works well enough to
justify its existence. It is not near as
good in my opinion as some of the
previous ones I mentioned, but it's a
hell of a lot better than Space Jam 2.
Let me hear from you, though. I know
some people already saw this one a
little earlier, so I'd like to hear what
you thought about it in the comments
below. Are you like me, and you thought,
"Eh, it's it's okay. A lot of room for
improvement, but it entertained well
enough." Or did you think it was just
fantastic, and it's everything you
wanted it to be? Let me know in the
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