Coyote vs. Acme (2026)
Meep meep! Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner are officially back in the live action/animated meta-mashup Coyote vs. Acme, starring Will Forte and Lana Condor.
Directed by Dave Green, Coyote vs. Acme is a playful, if sometimes overly clever, attempt to revive and re-inject your favorite Looney Tunes characters of yore into the modern era. The story is this: Wile E. Coyote, thoroughly exhausted from his countless, fruitless attempts to catch rival Roadrunner, decides to hire personal injury lawyer Kevin Avery (Forte) and his intern/niece Paige (Condor). His mission: to sue the Acme Corporation, responsible for making the many faulty products that have quite literally blown up in Wile E.'s face. Kevin, used to settling small claims against monopolizing company Acme, is hesitant to take on a case of this magnitude, especially as he learns more of Wile E.'s not-entirely-pure motivations.
As the plot suggests, Coyote vs. Acme has a knowing, self-referential style that makes for fairly fun, tongue-in-cheek viewing. Forte, Condor, and scene-stealing villain John Cena (as Buddy Crane, Acme's bull-ish lawyer) are all comfortably attuned to the movie's arch tone and zippy, antic pace. The movie's many riffs on the original Wile E. Coyote cartoons are particularly inventive and funny, a real highlight for both the adults and children in my audience.
However, if the young kids in my theater were any indication, where Coyote vs. Acme falters is in its last third, particularly during the slog of its third-act legal proceedings. While the film still volleys some wordplay and sight gags throughout, and prompted some laughter from the adults in the room, I, as well as the theater's young audience, found myself growing increasingly restless.
Coyote vs. Acme is
smartly written and crafted. However, as a film designed to bring the Looney
Tunes into 2026, it might ultimately work better as a winking nostalgia
trip for parents than as a truly engaging moviegoing experience for their
little ones.
