Coyote vs Acme

September 18 – 24

Fri Sept 18 3:30 & 7 pm
Sat Sept 19 7 pm
Sun Sept 20 1:30 & 7 pm
Mon Sept 21 7 pm
Tues Sept 22 7 pm
Wed Sept 23 7 pm
(NOTE** we only have the 7pm show this Wednesday as we are having service done on our equipment during the day. NO 3:30 show)
Thurs Sept 24 1:30 & 7 pm

Adventure / Animated
Rated PG — 1 hr 43 min

A daffy satire that’s equal parts heart and wily humor, Coyote vs. Acme makes a triumphant case for the Looney Tunes’ modern relevance with a sense of good-natured mischief that’d make even Bugs Bunny bow. It’s a hilarious, nostalgic, and unexpectedly heartfelt crowd-pleaser, introducing Looney Tunes mayhem — and its iconic anvils — to a new generation while rewarding long time fans.

Children’s movies have long held subtext that gives the parents something to chew on while the kiddos stare at eye-popping imagery. Coyote vs. Acme isn’t quite that. Buried as a tax write-off by a transitioning Warner Bros. before it was sold off to indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment, Coyote vs. Acme is a by-product of decades of Hollywood cynicism, featuring the once-lauded Looney Tunes as disposable accessories the entertainment titan brushed off in the hopes of lifting its sinking ship.

The movie itself seems to know that. The Looney Tunes aren’t having a giggle and a good time here, chasing each other through cartoonish scenarios. They’re working corporate jobs, silenced by the government as second-class citizens in a capitalist dystopia. Somehow, this works fantastically, with the familiar faces of Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, and Tweety Bird employed to Trojan horse a universal message on what happens when power goes unchecked.

Consistently clever and funny, Dave Green’s Coyote vs. Acme opens with the funny credit that this is “Based on a True Story.” The true story behind the fight to get this film seen could someday make for a fun behind-the-scenes documentary about the perils of making anti-monopoly films for a company that wants to rule the world, but it’s just one of the first of many smart, unexpected jokes in a movie filled with them. In a time when excuses for children’s entertainment are often just marketing to get kids to buy new toys or force their parents to maintain a streaming subscription, Coyote vs. Acme understands that you can be both gloriously silly and remarkably smart at the same time

Like the great Bob Hoskins in Roger Rabbit, Will Forte is the foil for the animated chaos in Green’s film; he strikes just the right tone as Kevin Avery, himself a victim of a system that seems designed to valorize people like his former ally Buddy Crane (John Cena), now the lead attorney for Acme. The cameos by Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil, Tweety Bird, and so many more will be the draw for both old and young Looney Tunes fans, but it’s Forte, Cena, and Lana Condor as Kevin’s niece-assistant who really hold this thing together; they’re our eyes into this impossible world. Forte and Cena are perfectly willing to lean into the physical silliness of it all, allowing us to forget early on that they’re acting opposite green tennis balls. Their comic energies give the film great balance, with Forte embracing his everyman awkwardness and Cena leaning into his alpha male screen presence.

Coyote vs. Acme isn’t really a film for kids for the exact reason it was written off to begin with: Its distributor has moved on from the former flagship IP, as new generations of children are entirely unfamiliar with the cartoon. It’s a film for the adults, young and old, who once spent carefree Saturday mornings eating cereal as the TV glowed—and it’s all the better for it. If this is the Looney Tunes’ last act, it just might be their most poignant, proving there’s forever a space for childish whimsy, even in a world that seems more desolate by the day