Coyote vs Acme is a genuinely great time. It is funny in the way Looney Tunes has always been funny but it is also something a little more than that.
Coyote vs Acme Review: Is the Looney Tunes Film Nobody Knew They Needed and the Coyote Finally Gets His Moment
Before we even get into the film itself we need to talk about the journey it took to get here. Because honestly that journey had me questioning whether Coyote vs Acme was ever going to be worth the wait.
For anyone who missed the drama, this film was completed back in 2022 as a $72 million live action animated hybrid from Warner Bros. Then in 2023 David Zaslav made the baffling decision to shelve it entirely in exchange for a tax write-off. A finished film. Starring Will Forte and John Cena. Gone. The internet erupted with campaigns like Release Coyote Vs Acme and Save Coyote Vs Acme and for a while it genuinely looked like we were never going to see it. Ketchup Entertainment eventually stepped in, bought the film from Warner and got it the release it deserved on August 28, 2026.
And I will be honest with you. After all of that corporate chaos I walked in skeptical. When a studio buries a completed film and someone else has to rescue it the results are not always what you hope for. I was prepared to be underwhelmed.
I was wrong.
Coyote vs Acme is the perfect blend of classic Looney Tunes chaos and modern comedy and it works in ways that genuinely surprised me. This is not a movie that tries too hard to be cool or relevant. It knows exactly what it is, leans all the way into it and delivers something that earns both the big laughs and the unexpected emotional moments hiding underneath all the cartoon mayhem. And yes. FINALLY. The Coyote gets to be seen as something more than just the butt of the joke. More on that in a moment.
The Setup Works Because Nobody Gets in the Way
Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena play incredibly well together in this film and the most impressive thing about all three of them is how wisely they take a backseat to the animated characters sharing the screen with them. That is not easy to do. When you are standing next to Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny the temptation to compete for attention must be real. None of them fall into that trap.
Instead they function exactly as they should. As the human world that exists around these iconic characters, giving the Looney Tunes enough room to do what they have always done best while still giving us enough of a real story to care about what happens. The result is something that feels genuinely balanced. Newer audiences get a proper introduction to these characters and their wacky, unpredictable personalities. Longtime fans get the nostalgia, the familiar energy and the live action cameos that will absolutely land for anyone who grew up with this universe. Nobody walks away feeling left out.
The Laughs Are Big. The Emotions Are Real.
Here is the thing about Coyote vs Acme that caught me off guard. Underneath all the chaos and the cartoon physics and the extremely funny set pieces, there is a real emotional core to this story. The maturity is not shoved in your face. It does not feel like the filmmakers trying to make a kids movie more palatable for adults by adding a heavy handed message. It earns it.
The humor never stops being delightfully childish in all the right ways. But the feelings that sneak up on you in between the laughs feel genuine. That balance is genuinely hard to pull off and this film does it with more confidence than you might expect going in.
About That Coyote
Okay. Let us talk about it. For decades Wile E. Coyote has existed in popular culture as cinema’s most dedicated, most creative and most consistently unsuccessful character. He plans. He schemes. He invests heavily in Acme products. He fails. He falls off cliffs. He gets flattened. He gets back up. And then he does it all again. It is funny. It has always been funny. But there has always been something quietly poignant about a character whose entire identity is built around never quite getting what he is chasing.
Coyote vs Acme finally gives him something more than that. Without spoiling what that looks like, the film sees him as a fully realized character with a perspective and a story worth telling. And honestly it feels long overdue.
DAMMIT, MAN. He deserved this.
Verdict
Coyote vs Acme is a genuinely great time. It is funny in the way Looney Tunes has always been funny but it is also something a little more than that. Will Forte, Lana Condor and John Cena bring exactly what the film needs from its human cast and then smartly get out of the way. The animation is electric. The cameos land. The emotions sneak up on you. And the Coyote finally gets his moment. This one is worth every minute.
Coyote vs Acme is in theaters August 28, 2026. The film is rated PG for cartoon violence and some language with a runtime of 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Reporter: Keith ‘Klep’ Napier. He is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Critix. You can find his reviews, interviews, and other cool works at WeAreCritix.com, as well as on social: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.
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