By Micael Ledwith

September 25^th, 2026

Now, let me get it out of the way…

Coyote vs. ACME is the best movie of 2026.

The Odyssey would have to stand on a very tall ladder just to kiss the ass* of Coyote vs. ACME in terms of pure enjoyment, storyline, acting (Foghorn Leghorn is terrific), humor, imagination, and staying true to both the original cartoons and the original spirit of Looney Tunes.

Homer, as we all know, continues to roll in his grave no matter how much money Odyssey makes.

Mel Blanc is smiling in voice actor heaven because of Coyote.

What a premise!

“After decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled by steamrollers, maligned by misfires, bedeviled by bungees, rattled by rockets, backstabbed by bat suits, rocked by rocket skates, upended by unicycles, quaked by quake pills, rubberized by rogue bands and hurled headlong off every cliff in the Southwest, Wile E. Coyote (Genius) finally fights back. Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), he takes on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote’s chaotic catastrophes.”

As premises for movies go, that ranks right up there with:

‘Hobbits and a pal return ring to jeweler for resizing’.

I’ll see you in court!

Coyote vs. Acme overcomes the remarkable production challenges of melding real characters, cartoon characters, actual cars and streets, cartoon deserts, canyons, mesas, tunnels, explosions so brilliantly into a ‘movie’ movie that you mutter to yourself…great special effect! Great acting by the rooster! If you paint a black circle on a wall, will it really become a tunnel?

Panning from cartoon land into a real courtroom with a human judge (Judge Topogrosso, pleasingly overacted by Luis Guzman). And, with a boisterous crowd of human and cartoon court watchers? No problem!

But everyone who sees this movie will be pleasantly surprised that it is made in the good-natured way it is made.

As another rabbit in another movie once said:

“Years ago, my mother used to say to me, she’d say—she always called me Elwood—’In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.” **

Everyone, human and cartoon, stays in character. All the dialogue is natural and not inside Hollywood self-referential.

It isn’t hip or au courant or political or ‘cute’.

The hilarity springs naturally from the well-known disasters, timeless cartoon characters, the bombs/rockets/wrenches/sticks of dynamite tools of the Looney Tunes brand.

None of which ever worked properly.

And, of course, the endless quest for the Holy Grail: to catch the Roadrunner.

Beep! Beep!

It’s been going on for decades. For generations of delighted kids and adults, who were once kids.

Sidebar (hat tip to Mark Doyle):

‘My father’s favorite movie star was Foghorn Leghorn. My dad could imitate the voice and his manner of speaking perfectly. He maintained that Foghorn hatched and was brought up in Ocilla, Georgia.’

End of sidebar.

One day, in movie idea development land, Wile E. Coyote thinks:

Hmmm, why don’t these products ever work properly? Why don’t I ever catch that stupid bird? Why do I get blown up? Why does my parachute fail and I fall hundreds of feet onto canyon floors?

Why am I always getting run over by trucks? Tanks? Concrete mixers?

Enough is enough!

It’s America! I’m an American coyote!

Doggone it, I’ll sue!!!

I’ll get an attorney (terrifically played by Will Forte) and sue the pants off the largest, most powerful, richest, dastardly-est Corporation on the planet…

ACME!

So, Wile E. hires the cartoon world’s equivalent of an ambulance chaser. By way of a sleazy, lazy divorce lawyer. By way of nuisance legal pest!

A guy who sues but never goes to trial!!!!.

TRIAL??!!!

He seeks settlements small enough to settle, not to try.

Five grand, tops.

How about a grand?

A Benjamin and bob’s your uncle!

Sign here!

ACME, the Terrible, is evilly and ably run by (terrifically played as well) John Cena who reports to…

FOGHORN LEGHORN (playing himself)

Pure delight.

The audience laughed out loud frequently.

Nothing spoiled the mood and atmosphere created during the movie. Not a single allusion, speaking or visually, for political or snide gain.

Beep! Beep!

True to the movie’s spirit, there’s not even a contrived ending inferring that there will be a sequel so the studio can make millions at low cost.

But, maybe…

COYOTE vs. ACME II – EMOTIONAL DAMAGES

Would make a great sequel.

I’d go see it! Who’s with me??!?!!??

That’s All Folks!

* Movie quote from Tom Horn (1980)

**Harvey (1950)

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Frequent contributor Michael Ledwith is a former bag boy at Winn-Dixie, who worked on the Apollo Program one summer in college. A former U.S. Army officer, he ran with the bulls in Pamplona and saw Baryshnikov dance ‘Giselle’ at the Auditorium Theater. Surfer. Rock and roll radio in Chicago. Shareholder, Christopher’s American Grill, London. Father. Movie lover—favorite dialogue: “I say he never loved the emperor.”