Film Review - Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is the first Looney Tunes movie since 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and also the first not to be released by Warner Brothers who instead sold it to Pinnacle Films a small indie company, the story here concerns Daffy Duck and Porky Pig who have to fix a hole in the roof of their house or face eviction but while that happens an alien invasion occurs using chewing gum to enslave the worlds population and Daffy and Porky have to fight them off and save the world.

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is an interesting movie, as a movie in and of itself it is good fun, it made me laugh/smile and gave me a good time but it also feels like a movie from a different era so to speak but before I delve more into that I first want to mention the animation here, this is a blend of traditional and computer animation and the mix is a good one for the most part and the facial expressions in the drawing are a welcome return as sometimes computer animation can look to realistic.

The film also has a brisk comedic pace with lots of jokes and gags and twists and turns and bright colours to look at, many of the gags here are a lot of fun though some did bother me at times and one needle drop on the soundtrack definitely made me a happy boy in the cinema.

But as I said this movie feels like the product of a different time, that time being the late 1990’s in the wake of the smash success of Independence Day and also the last real point of relevance for the Looney Tunes brand as a whole and watching this movie I wasn’t all that surprised that Warner Brothers did what it did with this movie as well as Coyote Vs Acme (which could finally see a release next year if the whispers are true) I mean you have:

- The 1950’s esque setting of a small town and chewing gum being a key plot point

- An Alien Invasion with some shots very much inspired by Independence Day

- A mix of hand drawn and computer animation as opposed to being entirely CG animated which began to become more popular in the late 90s and especially the early 2000’s

- The use of proper voice actors as opposed to an all star celebrity voice cast

And nowadays the Looney Tunes brand as a whole even though they are as much mascots for Warner Brothers as Mickey and his Gang are for Walt Disney Pictures just do not resonate with a more modern audience anymore as generations since mine haven’t really had a lot of exposure to the Looney Tunes as much as we did (though here in Australia their exposure was boosted by the What’s Up Doc? Block on the Nine/Win Network and Warner Home Video putting a Looney Tunes cartoon on almost all of their new release video rentals in the mid to late 90s.)

And I can’t help but feel that if younger generations after mine had more exposure to these characters and became fond of them like mine and preceding generations did perhaps WB would be more respectful towards them then they have been and this problem isn’t just confined to WB’s resident whack a mole David Zaslav, this problem goes all the way back to Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003 which became not only a troubled production but also a humiliating bomb at the box office not to mention 2021’s Space Jam A New Legacy which really only appealed to 90’s kids like me and not to today’s kids.

And this is a little saddening to see happen (same with Mickey and his Friends at Disney albeit to a lesser extent) because these 2 groups of characters were always fun to watch but that said kids today have a lot more options available to them like Bluey for example or other cartoons that are more geared towards them as opposed to older characters from the past and in this day and age where knowing who your movie and/or television show is for is more important than ever I can’t see a road back for either Bugs or Mickey.

And so that was Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up and as a movie I had a good time but it also felt like a movie from a different time for better and for worse, 3 out of 5.