Coyote vs. Acme
📖 SUMMARY
Wile E. Coyote has spent his entire life buying Acme products to catch the Road Runner, and every single one of them has blown up in his face. So he does the only reasonable thing left and sues them. He hires a burned-out lawyer named Kevin, played by Will Forte, who takes the case against the giant corporation he used to work for. John Cena plays the lawyer on the other side, and Lana Condor plays Kevin's niece, who is interning for him. Directed by Dave Green, 1 hour 43 minutes, and a live-action Looney Tunes movie that actually feels like Looney Tunes.
👶 AGE RECOMMENDATIONS
💛 HOW IT MADE ME FEEL
We watched this one as a family this week and we got a split. My seven-year-old laughed the whole way through. The gags land, the coyote gets flattened and set on fire and hit by a train and keeps going, and slapstick is a pretty easy sell for kids because we all grew up on it. My husband, on the other hand, thought it was a bit boring, and I think that tells you what this movie is. It relies on the physical comedy kids love to carry it, and it doesn't have a lot underneath for the grown-ups beyond a courtroom plot and some recognizable faces. I landed somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed watching my daughter enjoy it, I appreciated that it feels like real Looney Tunes instead of a corporate version of Looney Tunes, and there is one message in here that she carried out of the theatre on her own, which is the part I want to tell you about.
The Popcorn & Prayers Movie Filter
CONTENT
A few grown-up jokes tucked in. A painter mistakes Kevin for a nude model and asks him to disrobe, Miss Prissy announces she just laid an egg in a very suggestive voice, and Pepé Le Pew shows up with his usual reputation. Most of it sails right over a seven-year-old's head.
Wall-to-wall cartoon slapstick, which is the whole point. Cliffs, explosions, TNT, the coyote squashed flat and set on fire, his teeth collected in a cup. Nobody is hurt in a way that lasts, and it plays exactly like the shorts you remember.
Mild, but it's there. A couple of d-words, a couple of h-words, and one p-word. There's a sign with those little cartoon symbols standing in for swearing, and a pixelated rude finger gesture. God's name gets misused about three times, and that's the one I'd flag for our house.
Nothing here. The peril is all cartoon physics and the coyote always gets back up. If your kid can handle a Road Runner short, they can handle this.
PG is doing a bit of work here, and I want to be honest about that. The violence is exactly what you'd expect and nobody should be surprised by an anvil. The language is the thing to weigh, because it's mild but it's real, and God's name being misused is the line that matters most in our house. The grown-up jokes are the kind that are built to go over a child's head, and in our row they did. If your kid is six or older and already knows these characters, I don't think there's anything here you'd need to intercept, just a couple of moments you'd notice.
CELEBRATION
It wants you cheering for somebody who won't quit, and for a friendship that nearly breaks and gets repaired. There's a line in this movie where somebody says the reason to root for the coyote is that he picks himself up and tries again, and again, and again. That's the heart of the whole thing, and it's what my daughter told me she learned from it without any prompting from me.
CONSCIENCE
I feel like you can watch it with peace. The one thing I'd name is the misuse of God's name, which is a conversation rather than a reason to skip it. And if your husband falls asleep in the middle, he's in good company at our house.
FRUIT
It left my daughter laughing and talking about perseverance in her own seven-year-old way, and that's a great thing to come away with. For me it was mostly the joy of watching her enjoy it, and a reminder that a silly movie can still hand a kid something true.
WORLDVIEW
There's no religion in this one in either direction. It's a courtroom comedy about a cartoon coyote, and its moral center is the simplest kind: the little guy against the giant corporation, a lawyer who finds his spine, and a character who keeps getting back up. Nothing in it is hostile to faith. It just isn't thinking about it, which is true of most Looney Tunes and always has been.
ECHOES OF THE GOSPEL
Proverbs 24 says that though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. I love that verse because it doesn't say the righteous person never falls. Seven times is written right into it. The falling is assumed, and what makes the difference is getting back up, and who you're getting back up toward. Watching a cartoon coyote get flattened by an anvil about forty times and stand up every single one of them, and my kid thinking that was the funniest thing in the world, is a pretty good picture to hand a child. Not because the coyote is wise, because he isn't, but because the shape of it is right. You fall, you get up, you try again. Scripture just adds the part the movie doesn't know, which is that we don't get up on our own strength, and we're getting up toward someone.
💬 FAMILY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- The coyote gets knocked down over and over and keeps getting up. What's something you've had to try again and again?
- Proverbs 24 says the righteous fall seven times and rise again. Why do you think the Bible admits that good people fall?
- Kevin almost gives up on the case. What made him keep going, and who helps you keep going when something is hard?
- Two friends in this movie nearly fall out and then make it right. What does it look like to fix a friendship after a fight?
- God's name gets used carelessly a few times in this movie. Why do we treat His name differently in our house?
✨ POSITIVITY
- The whole movie wants you cheering for somebody who refuses to quit
- A friendship nearly breaks and gets repaired, and the repair is treated as the win
- It's a live-action Looney Tunes movie that actually feels like Looney Tunes
- Half the fun is recognizing the characters, so kids who know them get an extra layer
- My daughter told me on her own that she learned about perseverance, which means the message landed without a lecture
⚠️ THINGS TO NOTE
- God's name is misused about three times
- A couple of d-words and h-words and one p-word, plus cartoon-symbol swearing and a pixelated rude gesture
- A nude-model joke, a suggestive egg-laying line, and Pepé Le Pew being Pepé Le Pew
- Constant cartoon violence, all of it slapstick and none of it lasting
- Grown-ups may find the courtroom stretches slow; ours did
One more thing…
Who's it for? Six and up is comfortable, and the sweet spot is a kid who already knows these characters, because half the fun is recognizing everybody. It's a hundred and three minutes and the courtroom scenes are where the little ones will wiggle, so that's your bathroom window. If you're the parent who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons you'll enjoy the callbacks more than the plot. And the rewatch test: my daughter has already asked, so yes, it'll be back on our TV. Tell me in the comments whether your family agreed on this one, or whether you got the split we did.
💬 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is Coyote vs. Acme OK for kids?+
It's rated PG and we think it's best for 6+. On our 1–5 Pop Score, Coyote vs. Acme earns a 4/5. A cartoon coyote gets flattened forty times and stands up every single one of them. That's a pretty good picture to hand a child.
What age is Coyote vs. Acme appropriate for?+
Here's our age-by-age take for Coyote vs. Acme — 0-9: Great; 10-13: Great; 14+: Maybe. Overall we'd say it's best for 6+.
What should parents know about Coyote vs. Acme?+
Content notes for Coyote vs. Acme — Romance — mild: A few grown-up jokes tucked in. A painter mistakes Kevin for a nude model and asks him to disrobe, Miss Prissy announces she just laid an egg in a very suggestive voice, and Pepé Le Pew shows up with his usual reputation. Most of it sails right over a seven-year-old's head.. Violence — moderate: Wall-to-wall cartoon slapstick, which is the whole point. Cliffs, explosions, TNT, the coyote squashed flat and set on fire, his teeth collected in a cup. Nobody is hurt in a way that lasts, and it plays exactly like the shorts you remember.. Language — moderate: Mild, but it's there. A couple of d-words, a couple of h-words, and one p-word. There's a sign with those little cartoon symbols standing in for swearing, and a pixelated rude finger gesture. God's name gets misused about three times, and that's the one I'd flag for our house.. Scary/intense — mild: Nothing here. The peril is all cartoon physics and the coyote always gets back up. If your kid can handle a Road Runner short, they can handle this..
What is the Popcorn & Prayers Pop Score for Coyote vs. Acme?+
Coyote vs. Acme earns a Pop Score of 4 out of 5 from Hailey: "A cartoon coyote gets flattened forty times and stands up every single one of them. That's a pretty good picture to hand a child."
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