COYOTE VS. ACME (2026)

Genre: Animation/Comedy
Director: Dave Green
Cast: Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, John Cena 
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 3 September 2026

Synopsis: After decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled by steamrollers, maligned by misfires, bedeviled by bungees, rattled by rockets, backstabbed by bat suits, rocked by rocket skates, upended by unicycles, quaked by quake pills, rubberized by rogue bands, and hurled headlong off every cliff in the Southwest, Wile E. Coyote (Genius) finally fights back. Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), he takes on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote's chaotic catastrophes.

Movie Review:

Were it not for Warner Bros.’ decision to shelve it for a tax write-off, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ would probably have arrived with far less publicity. Instead, this live-action/animated hybrid comes with both cult and underdog appeal, thanks to the fans and filmmakers who rallied behind it, including producer and DC Studios co-head James Gunn, and the indignation at its callous treatment. Rescued by Ketchup Entertainment, it now has the satisfaction of demonstrating that a movie deemed expendable on a spreadsheet can still be worth celebrating on a screen. 

The irony is that its own David-versus-Goliath struggle is mirrored in its plot. After another disastrous attempt to catch the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote decides to hold the manufacturer of his defective devices accountable. He engages Avery, Jones & Maltese, an Albuquerque personal-injury law firm specialising in cartoon-violence cases involving Acme products. It is a wonderfully simple premise that gives decades of familiar mishaps a fresh, mischievous meaning.

Unfortunately, Kevin Avery (Will Forte) is not quite the legal champion his advertisements suggest. Convinced that his clients are better off settling, he repeatedly advises Coyote to take the money rather than challenge a corporate giant. Coyote repeatedly refuses. Acme, meanwhile, has the services of Buddy Crane (John Cena), Kevin’s Harvard Law School rival, whose polished confidence is enough to remind Kevin of everything he believes he cannot become. 

Encouraged by his intern and niece Paige (Lana Condor), Kevin eventually commits to the courtroom fight. Without giving too much away, their investigation uncovers a conspiracy drawing in Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, scientist Dr Lorre and his wife Granny, and Acme CEO Foghorn Leghorn. These are not merely familiar faces wheeled out for applause; they have jobs within the story, whether advancing its mystery or making its corporate villains look even more ridiculous. 

That distinction helps make this the smartest of the Looney Tunes live-action hybrids. Director Dave Green and screenwriter Samy Burch, who developed the story with Gunn and Jeremy Slater, understand that affection for these characters means giving them something entertaining to do. Foghorn’s blustering authority makes him an inspired corporate boss, while the legal framework turns cartoon absurdities into matters that otherwise sensible people must discuss with absolute seriousness. Nostalgia supplies the recognition, but the writing supplies the laughs. Even the firm’s name honours Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, a small but telling indication that these filmmakers know their cartoon history and are not simply trading on a brand.

And there are plenty. The opening chase unleashes rocket shoes, magnets and a missile in an escalating demonstration of Coyote’s terrible judgement and even worse luck. The anticipation is as funny as the impact: we know disaster is coming, but not quite how spectacularly. Green preserves the essential rhythm of these cartoons, allowing a moment of expectation before another indignity lands. Rather than simply increasing the noise and destruction, he remembers that an expression or a pause can be just as funny as an explosion. 

The courtroom provides another terrific example when the Road Runner must answer questions using one beep or two. Elsewhere, Cena’s desert confrontation with Tweety brings the menace of a crime thriller to an encounter with a tiny yellow canary. The mismatch is glorious, particularly because Cena refuses to acknowledge how ridiculous it looks. These sequences capture the manic inventiveness that made the original cartoons such a delight, while finding fresh comic possibilities in their collision with the human world. 

Forte deserves considerable credit for making that human world worth our attention. His Kevin is initially an amusingly unimpressive advocate, but the performance gradually gives his defeatism a sympathetic weight. Condor supplies the idealism that keeps him moving, while Cena makes corporate intimidation both threatening and absurd. Best of all, Coyote remains expressive without needing a stream of wisecracks. His gestures, signs and battered dignity are more than enough to sustain our affection.

The emotional turn is familiar, but it earns its place amid the mayhem. Where Kevin has learnt to avoid disappointment by settling for less, Coyote simply keeps getting back up. Their friendship gives the legal battle a personal stake without requiring the movie to abandon its silliness. We are still laughing at Coyote’s spectacular failures, only now we are also invested in someone finally taking him seriously. 

We loved ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ for what it was meant to be: a joyful throwback to a strain of manic comedy that few contemporary franchises, except perhaps the Minions, come close to matching. Its offscreen ordeal gives it an additional bite, but sympathy alone would not make it this entertaining. If the threatened tax write-off ultimately encouraged more people to rally behind a genuinely deserving movie, at least something good came of it. For once, we are delighted to see Coyote have the last laugh.

Movie Rating:

(A smart, gloriously manic courtroom comedy, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ recaptures the spirit of Looney Tunes and proves this cinematic underdog was well worth saving)

Review by Gabriel Chong