Coyote vs Acme (2026) Review
After years of tax write offs and a distributor change, Coyote vs Acme has finally hit theaters. This is one that I was not super excited for, but I was curious to check it out because of the film’s backstory and history. What did I think of the film? Did it deserve to be resurrected from the grave? Here are my thoughts!
The Review
As some quick context, I am not a big Looney Tunes fan. I do not hate the Looney Tunes; I have seen clips of it over the years. But it is not an IP that I have invested hours of my life watching and exploring. Again, there is no hate for the Looney Tunes. So, a new Looney Tunes movie was not really on my radar, the trailers did not really win me over. But as previously mentioned, the backstory for the film is really what interested me in the film. All the early buzz for the film has been fantastic, currently it holds a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with 200 reviews counted, it debuted at 100%. Now that I have seen the film, what did I think about it? I thought Coyote vs Acme was a whole lot of fun. Now, is this one of the best movies of 2026? No. Is it as good as some people are claiming it to be? No. But as somebody who was not really excited for the film going into it, it exceeded my expectations and is one of the biggest surprises of 2026.
What I thought this movie did so well was that it was able to balance the silly, chaotic energy of the Looney Tunes while also providing a clear character arc and emotional core to the Coyote himself. This film is constantly high energy from the very beginning to the very end of the film. There is never a dull moment watching this movie. There is always a joke being made whether that is super obvious or something in the foreground or there is an easter egg for Looney Tunes fans. It is just as fun and as chaotic as you would expect from Looney Tunes. It is also able to provide this clear character arc for the Coyote. You have this cartoon that is relentlessly trying to catch the Road Runner and is putting in the hard work and time to do so. He is this cartoon that is alone and by himself and wants to make an impact and do something. The character makes sense given who we know the Coyote to be and what he has been trying to do for decades. As you move into the third act and we get the trails, it can pack that emotional punch with very few lines of dialogue. It is all able to work together so well, where the emotional moments still hit even though they are sandwiched between funny moments. I think it does help that James Gunn is both a producer and one of the writers on the film. One of the things that Gunn is good at is taking these outcasts, finding the humanity in them, and making you care so much about a character that you should not other be caring about on this level. He was able to take this talking tree that only says three words in Guardians of the Galaxy and turn him into one of the most charming MCU characters. That is the magic of James Gunn, and he applies those bags of tricks to Coyote vs Acme.
Along those same lines, as you would expect from a movie like this, but the movie is very funny. There are a lot of funny bits and moments in here that had my audience laughing aloud. Every few seconds there’s some sort of joke that is a clever reference to Looney Tunes or they use the characters in such a way that is funny given who these characters are and what they are known for. It is one of the hardest times that I have laughed during a movie this entire year. Once again, James Gunn helped that because he is good with humor. There is this one bit in the middle of the film that involves the Coyote and a copier. The joke starts off as the focus and slowly transitions into becoming this background joke that I thought was hilarious. How they use Tweety Bird in relation to John Cena’s character, and some of the dialogue between them was always fantastic. There is something funny about this film dealing with lawsuits and court trials when the film’s backstory involves lawsuits and the government. The movie does not really acknowledge that, but there is some clear irony that comes with that.
The reason this is not a normal review is not because the movie is not good. I left the theater thinking that this was a good and enjoyable movie, but did not have much to say beyond that, again that does not make it bad. I hope that a lot of people go and see this movie and we can teach these film studios that we want these canceled movies. I think another film that Warner Brothers shelved was a Christmas movie with Scooby-Doo, if this film does well enough then maybe that film will come out. It is tracking for a $15 million opening weekend, and I hope it has good legs, and I think it will because the buzz is so strong and there is not much competition. If you are a Looney Tunes fan or just liked the trailers then see this movie and check it out, I am sure you will have fun with it.
The Score: 8.3/10 (B)
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