John Cena’s almost cancelled new movie scores 95% on Rotten Tomatoes

While the film was once set to be permanently cancelled, it is now available to watch and is earning rave reviews.

The latest movie in the Looney Tunes franchise, the film has faced a massive uphill battle to reach the big screen. Produced by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Superman), who also has a story credit on the comedy, Coyote vs. Acme is an adaptation of Ian Frazier's New Yorker article of the same name.

Presented as a formal legal opening statement, Frazier's article saw Wile E. Coyote sue the gadget maker Acme Corporation. This is because Wile E. had bought Acme's products, with the intention of using them to catch the Road Runner. They always backfired, however, costing him his prey.

Director Dave Green (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) and writer Samy Burch (May December) have taken Frazier's initial quirky premise and expanded it into a feature.

"Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Forte), he takes on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane (Cena) and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote's chaotic catastrophes."

Watch the trailer for Coyote vs. Acme right here:

Also featuring several other beloved Looney Tunes characters, including Foghorn Leghorn and Tazmanian Devil, Coyote vs. Acme was produced by Warner Bros. and was shot in 2022.

In 2023, however, the company announced its plans to leave the movie permanently unreleased so that it could obtain a tax write-off. This is similar to what happened to Batgirl, another Warner Bros. big-budget film whose release was cancelled, with the comic book flick still never having seen the public light of day.

In the case of Coyote vs. Acme, thankfully, there was such public backlash to its potential shelving that Warner Bros. allowed the filmmakers to seek other distributors. On the rise, indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment eventually stepped in to release the picture, finally giving the public a chance to see the movie on the big screen.

Having seen Coyote vs. Acme, JOE is delighted that the comedy has been saved from obscurity.

Sure, the film might lack some of the edge and laugh-out-loud humour of another visually stunning live-action/animation hybrid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That said, the screenplay - which is basically: What if Erin Brockovich or The Verdict but with Looney Tunes? - is amusingly silly while also being genuinely witty.

This is best exemplified by the scene below, in which Cena's unscrupulous lawyer interrogates his corporate fixer Tweety:

The story also has unexpected heart. As the tale plays out, you do get swept up in its David vs. Goliath-esque stakes, hoping that the underdogs - Wile E. Coyote and all the other victimised toons - can find a way to defy all odds and defeat the heartless Acme Corporation.

Maybe this is just the magic of legal dramas seeping into this loving homage to the sub-genre. Or perhaps Coyote vs. Acme's rocky road to the big screen has given the movie an added power.

Intentional or not, one could draw a comparison between Wile E's battle with Acme and the film's behind-the-scenes struggles with Warner Bros.

Coyote vs. Acme is in cinemas now.