Coyote vs. Acme Review: A Surprisingly Sweet Case for Getting Back Up

Coyote vs. Acme may not reinvent the Looney Tunes, but its genuinely funny jokes and fitting message about perseverance make it a comeback worth celebrating.

For a character whose entire existence revolves around failure, it feels oddly appropriate that Wile E. Coyote had to fight so hard just to make it back onto the big screen.

Wile E. Coyote Takes Acme to Court

Directed by Dave Green, Coyote vs. Acme begins with Wile E. finally deciding that enough is enough. After years of rockets exploding in his face, faulty catapults launching him into the ground and parachutes producing everything except an actual parachute, he takes the Acme Corporation to court.

His unlikely representative is Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a burned-out personal injury lawyer who prefers quick settlements to difficult cases. With some encouragement from his idealistic niece Paige (Lana Condor), Kevin agrees to challenge the enormous corporation and its intimidating attorney, Buddy Crane (John Cena).

It is a wonderfully silly premise, applying real-world legal logic to decades of cartoon violence.

Classic Cartoon Logic Meets a Legal Comedy

A phone menu asks callers to select whether they have been hit by an anvil, electrocuted or crushed by a piano. Acme products are carefully entered into evidence. Even Wile E.’s endless pursuit of the Road Runner becomes the subject of serious courtroom testimony.

Not every joke lands, but enough of them are genuinely funny. The movie works best when it treats the absurd rules of the Looney Tunes universe with complete sincerity.

Forte makes a strong human anchor for the chaos, while Cena understands exactly how broad his performance needs to be without completely turning Buddy into another animated character. Condor brings some necessary optimism to the legal team as Paige, who sees the case as a chance to do something meaningful.

The combination of live action and animation is not always seamless, and some of the larger set pieces are more amusing than hilarious. Still, the movie captures enough of the timing and physical comedy associated with the classic cartoons to feel recognizable.

Wile E. Is Still the Star

The human characters may drive much of the plot, but Wile E. remains the heart of the story.

Keeping him silent allows his expressions, signs and battered body to carry both the comedy and the emotion. The movie understands why audiences have continued rooting for him despite knowing that every new plan will probably end with another explosion.

It also finds some unexpected depth in his obsession with the Road Runner. Beneath all the rockets, traps and sticks of dynamite is a character who wakes up every morning with a purpose. His plans fail constantly, but failure never convinces him to stop trying.

A Fitting Story About Failure

Kevin gradually realizes that Wile E.’s failures are not what define him. What matters is that, no matter how many times he falls from a cliff or gets flattened by a boulder, he gets back up and tries again.

Kevin, meanwhile, has spent years avoiding any real challenge because he is afraid of failing. Taking Wile E.’s case forces him to care about his work again, even when winning appears impossible. Their friendship gives the movie a surprisingly sincere emotional center.

It is a very appropriate message for a Wile E. Coyote story. The character has always represented persistence taken to a ridiculous extreme, but Coyote vs. Acme reframes that quality as something genuinely admirable.

The Acme Conspiracy Gets a Little Crowded

The corporate satire is hardly subtle. Acme is portrayed as a massive company willing to hurt its most loyal customers, bury the evidence and hide behind legal loopholes in the name of progress.

The idea works, especially because the company’s cartoon products have been causing disasters for decades. At times, however, the conspiracy surrounding Acme becomes more complicated than the movie needs it to be. The simpler story of Wile E. demanding accountability is strong enough on its own.

Some of the Looney Tunes appearances also feel more like expected cameos than essential parts of the story. Thankfully, the movie never completely loses sight of the relationship between Kevin and Wile E., or the strange bond between the Coyote and the Road Runner.

A Comeback Onscreen and Off

There is an unavoidable extra layer to watching a movie about a powerful corporation treating cartoon characters as disposable.

After Coyote vs. Acme was nearly shelved permanently, its story about repeatedly getting knocked down and refusing to stay there feels even more appropriate. The movie’s survival almost mirrors Wile E. himself: bruised, temporarily flattened and somehow ready to give it another try.

That history does not automatically make the movie better, but it does make its message hit a little harder.

Coyote vs. Acme Review: The Verdict

Coyote vs. Acme is cute, frequently clever and more heartfelt than it initially appears. Not every joke or cameo works, and the larger conspiracy occasionally distracts from the stronger character story.

Still, enough of the jokes are genuinely funny, and the relationship between Kevin and Wile E. gives the chaos some real heart. It may not catch everything it chases, but its fitting story about trying, failing and getting back up makes it difficult not to root for.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5