“Coyote vs. Acme” is a movie about corporate greed – a fact which makes its production history all that more poignant.
In 2018, Warner Bros. announced that it would produce a film directed by Dave Green and based on the 1990 New Yorker piece imagining a world where Wile E. Coyote – that perpetually hungry, ne’er deterred little guy – sues the Acme Corporation for knowingly selling him faulty products, ruining his plans to catch and eat the elusive Road Runner. But, instead of releasing the finished film in 2023, Warner Bros. announced it would take a tax write-off of about $30 million. And so, the work of numerous artists and artisans was swallowed up by a greedy corporation.
Eventually, Ketchup Entertainment successfully bought the distribution rights to the film, which hits theaters this weekend. And, without meaning to, Warner Bros. handed the film an extra layer of meaning, stepping into the fictional Acme Corporation’s evil shoes. It’s a real David and Goliath story – and that story is part of what people have always latched onto when it comes to Wile E. Coyote. He’s an underdog who’s constantly thwarted by fate (or capitalism, in this case). But, he never gives up.
The filmmakers couldn’t have planned for the circumstances around the film’s release, but even without that, “Coyote vs. Acme” is a loving tribute to the cartoons that raised us, and one that deftly recognizes what makes Wile E. Coyote so appealing. Both the film and the story around the film’s release play into Coyote’s underdog story and our connection with his plight. Is it insanity that keeps him going after the Road Runner? Or is just the spirit of humanity winning out? Maybe – as in the case of creativity in the face of capitalism – it’s a little bit of both.
In this fictional world, cartoons and humans live in harmony, and the Acme Corporation controls everything from windmills to the rocket roller skates that Coyote just bought to help him try and catch the Road Runner. Despite his determination, Coyote is running on fumes. He’s on his last leg (sometimes, literally), his body pushed the limit despite his never-ending cartoon life. Every Acme product he tries either craps out on him or works in the opposite way of how it was advertised. He’s a wreck, spread thin, smashed down by the fist of capitalism. Who couldn’t relate?
So, Coyote decides to direct his energy away from Road Runner and toward Acme, enlisting the help of Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a personal injury lawyer who loves to settle fast and do as little work as possible. But Kevin’s niece Paige (Lana Condor) wants to Erin Brockovich this thing, hoping that Coyote’s massive allegations can lead to some real change.
Watching “Coyote vs. Acme,” it’s hard not to think about “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” And, like that film, this one does a great job at filling out the type of world where cartoons could feasibly walk among us. Cartoon products operate differently, and cartoons need their own inventions too (an eraser for the squiggly marks that appear when a cartoon is stinky is my favorite of these). Despite all that, cartoons are second-class citizens, and “Coyote vs. Acme” cleverly implicates the viewer in that conundrum. After all, who among us hasn’t laughed at Coyote getting blown up or crushed by an anvil after another failed attempt to catch the Road Runner? Humans, and in some cases cartoons themselves, have bought into that narrative and exploited it. Foghorn Leghorn – an Acme executive in this world – makes his money off of the idea of cartoon harm equaling human pleasure, happy to bash even himself over the head with a hammer for laughs.
While there is 3D animation in effect in the film to make Coyote and other historically 2D characters feel like they exist in the human world, one of the more charming things about “Coyote vs. Acme” is the reverence it clearly has to the 2D animation style that all other animation comes from. That reverence extends into the world of the film, where Acme’s treachery towards cartoons (a giant conspiracy will be unveiled before the film is over) feels all the more villainous because cartoons are how they got their start and how they primarily make their money. In “Coyote vs. Acme,” forgetting our 2D cartoon roots leads to evil.
Even without the real life production underdog story to make Coyote’s suit against Acme all the more poignant, “Coyote vs. Acme” hits the perfect tonal meld of silly and sweet, the filmmakers and writers (the screenplay is credited to Samy Burch, with story credits to Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater) never letting the story get too corny or clever to lose its emotional thrust.
