Amidst the ongoing drama of Coyote vs Acme possibly getting a theatrical release after all, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie proves that those wacky characters still have a little magic left.
*warning, minor spoilers below for The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Let me start by saying that I can admit when I was wrong about a movie. Going in to see this film, I was 3/4 of the way convinced that The Day the Earth Blew Up was going to be a dud. It certainly didn’t look like anything I would enjoy, and after having the rug pulled out from under me regarding Coyote vs Acme I was understandably leery.
But as I said, I can admit when I was wrong and oh boy was I wrong about this film.
Imagine my surprise and delight when The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie turned out to be some of the best Looney Tunes content I’ve seen in decades. The film follows Porky Pig and Daffy Duck as they find themselves caught up in a, well, looney, plot to save the world from an alien invasion that seeks to dominate the world through…chewing gum?
From almost the moment the movie starts, it’s clear the animators and writers did their homework on Looney Tunes and what made them funny. In fact they did their job so well I have a bone to pick with whoever put together the previews for this movie as none of this was even remotely indicated in the footage shown in the trailers, at least from my perspective.
At any rate, it was beyond delightful to see a Looney Tunes movie that felt like it was doing proper justice to the iconic characters. Seeing 2D animation is refreshing and is a great reminder that not everything has to be 3D animated.
The interactions between Porky, Daffy, and Petunia Pig were terrific. It was great to see Daffy regressed to his pre-Chuck Jones roots when he was more of a screwball character and not the greedy louse many know him for, though I fully appreciate both versions of that crazy duck. Petunia in particular, much to my surprise, quickly became my favorite character. I didn’t have “Petunia Pig becomes an action girl” on my bingo card for this year, but when the moment came in the film all I could think was “Let’s go!!” Everything about Petunia Pig in this film is how one should update the Looney Tunes characters for the 21st century.
I emphasize that last part because, while everyone clearly did their homework on Looney Tunes history, some of the jokes they attempted did not land. I know social media is ingrained in our culture, but the writers really should have thought through whether or not it really fit to include a twerking joke in a Looney Tunes film (spoiler alert: it does NOT fit).
I was also struck by just how scary and intense some of this story turned out to be. The Alien Invader is genuinely terrifying for most of his screen time, and there’s a “gum monster” that made me shrink back in my seat just from how it sounded. The writers danced a very fine line with this element of the story. It all worked out in the end, but it almost felt too intense to be properly Looney Tunes if that makes sense. However, since it all came together I won’t poke at this too hard.
Minor hiccups aside, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was a lot of fun to watch and proves the iconic brand is far from dead. Highly recommend going to see this one, you won’t regret it.
