Coyote vs. ACME: A Furry Cartoon Erin Brockovich Fights the Power

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B+

Coyote vs. ACME is like a cartoony mix of Erin Brockovich and The Insider. 

It’s an adorable, light hybrid comedy — seamlessly mixing live action and animation— with a goofy premise, and themes of corporate corruption and betrayal, and friendship and courage.  

And it probably helps if you’ve watched either the The Road Runner Show, or it’s merger with The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour, on which The Coyote v Roadrunner was a regular feature (both from the ‘60s, but evergreen in syndication).  Okay, It's not a pre-watch requirement. But those of us who grew up with the Looney Tunes cartoons, have years of experience understanding the dynamics and how the mostly silent Coyote has suffered at the hands of the ACME Corporation’s products, that failed him time and time again. 

The Looney Tunes cartoons featured Wile E. Coyote’s endless unsuccessful attempts to catch The Roadrunner, who zooms through the desert in the American Southwest, now revealed to be the desert outside of Albuquerque. (Where you presumably end up if you don’t take that “left turn”).

The riff is that the Coyote is constantly ordering equipment from Acme to help him create tools or weapons that backfire and blow up in his own face, injuring him, and frustrating his attempts to catch the speedy bird, who is not just super-duper fast, but also aware of the Coyote's failings. 

By way of movie inspiration, the cartoon series inspired a comic essay in the New Yorker by Ian Frazier that imagines the Coyote suing the ACME company for a lifetime of faulty products. 

In the film, the Coyote, failed and frustrated by a couple of faulty ACME products (a magnetic glove and rocket skates) that caused him yet more pain, discovers an injury law firm in Albuquerque that specializes in taking on the ACME company on behalf of other unhappy cartoon characters who have had bad experiences with their products. 

The firm is fronted by lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), who basically has lost his mojo—if he ever had it—and seems to have given up on his job and life in general. He’s a kind of ambulance chaser, who takes on easy cases of various cartoon characters, and then settles with ACME for very little money. 

But there’s a ray of sunshine in the mix: Avery’s niece Paige (Lana Condor), a recent law school grad, is doing an internship at his firm. She’s full of energy and  positivity about what lawyers can do for their clients,  and not at all discouraged by her uncle’s ennui.

Avery must have once been promising. We learn he's a Harvard Law School graduate. One of the reasons he’s so defeated is that his former law school mate, Buddy Crane (John Cena), is ACME’s chief legal counsel.  Crane is a slick, uber confident smooth dude; a success story in expensive suits who bullies with a smile, and makes sure to further demoralize his former friend with passive aggressive asides, that further diminishes what’s left of Avery’s confidence.

Coyote refuses to accept Avery’s defeated attitude and won’t let Crane intimidate him, and creates enough chaos that Avery has no choice but to take the case to trial. There, of course, chaos ensues.

As per the cartoon, Wile E. Coyote doesn’t speak and communicates directly by holding up signs. (Other cartoon characters - including Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety and Granny are voiced by Torontonian Eric Bauza)

But he also uses his physicality. The animators clearly had fun conveying his emotions, with facial expressions, physical posture and his ears!   Coyote may be a wild creature, but he’s also wildly creative. He’s a master of inventing Rube Goldberg machines, which he continues to create in his hotel room, and uses in high level legal meetings.

Even though Avery and Coyote are often frustrated with each other, they bond and more. The buddy comedy element plays well here. The film also touches, not just on corporate malfeasance, but on a major betrayal that affects the entire Looney Tunes world, and a secret that’s been buried since the early ‘90s.

Wile E. Coyote is, of course, a natural star. But his human co-stars hold their own. Much of the film’s success rests on the shoulders of Condor, Cena and Forte, all of whom handle the interaction with the cartoon characters with apparent ease. 

But the film really belongs to Forte who brings a large measure of sweetness to the proceedings.

Coyote vs. ACME. Directed by Dave Green, Starring Will Forte, Lana Condor, Wile E. Coyote, John Cena, and Roadrunner. In theatres August 28.