We used to be a proper country, where children would wake up on Saturday morning to watch coyotes be pummeled by anvils and crushed by giant boulders.
Now they watch British piglets sass their parents and nosy German Shepherds police their neighbors. Before “Peppa Pig” and “Paw Patrol,” there was the “Looney Tunes” franchise, which launched in 1930 and became part of countless American childhoods. The comedic shorts have inspired only a few feature films, most notably the 1996 Michael Jordan sports comedy “Space Jam.” Yet Bugs Bunny and co. aren’t lacking in good material.
By 1990, Ian Frazier had already provided an inspired spin-off for The New Yorker, one that Warner Bros. would snatch up some time later. In “Coyote V. Acme,” the humor writer imagined a lawsuit from Wile E. Coyote against the Acme Corporation, whose faulty products nearly single-handedly thwart his pursuit of the elusive Road Runner. The comedic courtroom drama based on this premise, however, almost never saw the light of day.
Three years ago, Warner Bros. announced that rather than releasing “Coyote vs. Acme,” it would be shelving it, taking the loss, and reaping a massive tax write-off. But, fitting for a film that rails against corporate greed and disdain for the little guy, “Coyote vs. Acme” inspired a cult following and at least one protester who diligently picketed the Warner Bros. lot with a Coyote-inspired sign reading, “Release me!!”
This summer, Warner Bros. finally acquiesced, allowing an indie company to distribute the endearing, PG-rated comedy to the masses. For a film about a cartoon dog seeking retribution after always getting the short end of the dynamite stick, “Coyote vs. Acme” has more than its share of inspiring moments.
After another Road Runner caper goes awry and an infomercial pops up on his TV screen, Coyote seeks out the legal services of Kevin Avery, a lawyer whose practice mainly consists of fear-of-failure-motivated efforts: getting big companies such as Acme to settle for small-dollar amounts.
When Coyote slips a mound of compromised merch in the evidence box — rocket skates, a magnetic glove, a freeze gun that backfires — Avery unwittingly launches not a demand for a $300 settlement but a massive lawsuit that garners him national attention as the guy taking on a giant monopoly. After some circumstantial coaxing, he rises to the challenge.
Will Forte delivers a charming performance as Kevin, alongside Lana Condor as his niece, an Oxford-trained lawyer who chose to work with him instead of a big law firm because she wanted to help regular people. John Cena plays Acme’s lawyer, expertly depicting the despicable and laughable narcissism of corporate executives who think they’re too big to fail (a court case). The Coyote, as in the original cartoons, cannot talk. But that doesn’t mean he can’t pull a few punchy one-liners with his classic white paper signs.
Kevin can learn a thing or two about persistence from Coyote, who, for reasons unclear to the rest of us, never stops pursuing the Road Runner, even if it means falling so far that the ground creates a Coyote-shaped cut-out for him — over and over again. “I envy you, really,” Kevin says. “It must be nice to have such a clear goal.”
Coyote never does give up, though he does pause when he finally has a chance to capture the bird at a congressional hearing. In a film full of slapstick comedy — broken glass panes and foot-long lumps growing out of cartoon heads — “Coyote vs. Acme” ends on a profound note. Some spoilers follow.
After calling Acme’s unethical cartoon animal experiments the price of progress, Acme CEO Foghorn Leghorn demands to know whether anyone really cares about the fate of these cartoons, specifically the lone Coyote. “Is there anyone in the whole wide world who cares what happens to the Coyote at all?” he demands.
Then, amid a flurry of papers and with his signature “beep beep,” the Road Runner arrives. Coyote, who has secretly planned this court case as a way to get to the Road Runner at last, is even more speechless than usual.
“Mr. Runner,” Kevin asks, “have you been a witness to Mr. Coyote’s pain and suffering?” To this, the Road Runner answers in the affirmative, “Beep beep.” When Kevin asks if the Road Runner would consider Coyote a friend, he once again answers yes, as the predator’s eyes well up with tears.
Coyote needs the Road Runner like Tweety Bird needs Sylvester or Batman needs Joker. And just like the downtrodden need good lawyers to fight against corporate injustice, original and heartwarming movies need champions to ensure that instead of languishing away, they reach families across the country with good storytelling, humor, and a truth about human relationships that all viewers can appreciate.
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