August 30, 2026 · Watch the trailer
Films that constantly change release dates are usually movies that ultimately aren't worth watching. When a studio has so little faith in a film that it would rather not release it and take a tax write-off instead, that should be an even bigger warning sign to potential audiences that something's not quite right.
A couple years ago, Warner Bros. Discovery decided to shelve three of its upcoming IP titles, ‘Batgirl,’ ‘Scoob! Holiday Haunt’ and the Looney Tunes legal comedy ‘Coyote vs. Acme,’ as a way to divest its losses rather than take a chance on releasing any of the films. After significant fan and industry backlash, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ was eventually sold to independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment, allowing the film to limp its way into theaters two weeks prior to Labor Day weekend, reinforcing Warner Bros.' initial lack of interest.
Based on a 1990 New Yorker article by Ian Frazier, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is a slapstick legal comedy set within the world of Looney Tunes that finds an exasperated Wile E. Coyote turning to a billboard personal injury lawyer to sue the Acme Corporation for all of the faulty products that have injured him over the years in his pursuit of the elusive Road Runner. While there is enough content for an animated short film, director Dave Green and a team of writers, including DC Studios head James Gunn, attempt to elongate the premise into a hybrid live-action and animated feature film filled with niche fan service, legal comedy and a moderate amount of slapstick hijinks stretched over the course of roughly 100 minutes.
‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Will Forte stars as Kevin Avery, a mediocre attorney whose career has been languishing in Albuquerque, settling cases for cartoon characters against Acme. While Forte is suited to play a sad-sack, everyman-style lawyer, ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ doesn't give Forte enough counterbalance, as he is often acting against a green-screen character who does not speak, with Wile E. Coyote occasionally pulling up signs or making facial expressions to communicate.
As a result, the film is not the easiest to casually follow, and its largely sardonic, dry humor requires full engagement and will often go significantly over the heads of its young intended audience. The film has the occasional laugh, though much of its moderate comedy feels dependent on the communal atmosphere of a large audience to amplify its effect — an audience ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ might not ultimately get to have. Forte lacks the charisma necessary to maintain engagement with his audience, and the conspiracy-style legal thriller aspect of the narrative doesn't grip audiences in the way Green probably intends.
Lana Condor is fine as Forte's niece and legal apprentice, Paige, though what clearly feels like an homage to the classic ‘Scooby-Doo’ character Velma only feels included to give Forte a human character to talk to rather than as a necessary element of the film as a whole.
John Cena plays against type as the film's primary antagonist, Acme attorney Buddy Crane. His charisma and onscreen presence definitely reflect the intended visual and comedic differences between Forte and Cena's characters, though Cena is clearly less comfortable playing the heel. It's a worthy exercise for the former professional wrestler looking to expand his acting chops and might serve him well for a future film, though there's nothing in ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ that makes Cena's performance exceptionally memorable.
Keeping in style with the aesthetic made famous by ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit,’ ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ does well in its integration of live-action and animated characters within the same scene, as there isn't a disjointed separation between physical interactions across visual mediums. Forte's relationship with Wile E. Coyote isn't broken by a required physical distance between the two characters, and the concept of what cartoon reality would look like if it were possible in the real world is perhaps the strongest visual element in the entire film.
It's clear that Green has a high reverence for the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, and when human characters interact with cartoon props, like paint that can create passageways through otherwise solid surfaces, it works both within the context of the story and from a visual perspective.
Unfortunately, Warner Bros.' initial decision to shelve the film as a whole might have been a solid one financially as well as from a taste perspective, as ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is largely forgettable as soon as audiences leave the theater. It plays much better in a more casual environment, and cinephiles looking for the basic nostalgia that Green and the Looney Tunes characters provide might be better served waiting until ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ ultimately lands on streaming later this year.
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