Sympathy for the Coyote

Coyote vs. Acme is a “live-action animated” movie (meaning it combines cartoons with regular people). It’s a great premise. Anyone who’s a devote of the Bugs Bunny set of cartoons – and who isn’t (okay, maybe Gen Z etc.) – will love the idea. Wile E. Coyote of course is always outwitted by the “beep beep” Road Runner. All Coyote wants is a decent roast after all. And he can never get it. But he’s tireless, tireless. And he has invented innumerable schemes and contraptions to catch his prey only to, literally, fall flat on his face, or experience any number of ignoble endings - crashes, explosions, anvils dropped on his head. But, hey, he’s a “toon” so impervious to death, a cartoon version of picking yourself up and dusting yourself off. The problem – and the point of this movie – is that Coyote relies on so many supposedly innovative products from the Acme Corp. And of course, they don’t work or, uh, literally backfire. So what to do? Well, sue the pants (flaming as they may be) off them. The movie is the first “live-action animated” picture featuring Bugs Bunny type characters since 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Roger Zemeckis). And it’s more than a welcome genre, as few films as there are. In the picture, Wile E. teams up with a cartoon lawyer (he, uh, represents toons) Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a down and out real life lawyer whose office is in a strip mall in, yes, Albuquerque NM. Avery is scared sh-less to go up against the powerful Acme Corp. – literally the biggest corporation in the world (even the picture's maker Warner Bros. is a subsidiary) -  and its uber bullying lawyer Buddy Crane (John Cena) but his staff and not least a frustrated goading Coyote (who doesn’t speak of course, only make faces and hold signs), push him on. I can’t criticize the mixture of cartoon and real-life actors - I always find this ingenious - but I did find the movie a little slow. And the theatre I was in (packed on a matinee Saturday with Cineplex offering $7 admission) got few laughs even from the kids. Still, I give the filmmakers E for effort. The “trial” that takes place between Coyote and Acme is also an analogy for big corps everywhere that make shoddy products, and makes one think of the 1970s era tobacco companies which conspired to push cancer-causing cigarettes on the populace. And Coyote, always depicted as a villain, is depicted somewhat sympathetically here, given his untiring efforts to capture Road Runner – more a frustrated inventor always rigging gadgets or at his blueprint table. As I say, a fun premise but a little tiring, unlike, uh, Coyote’s endless quest.