7+
4.3/5
Great family comedy
Ketchup Entertainment / Altitude
Live Action / Animation Comedy
21 August 2026 (UK)
Coyote vs. ACME arrived with considerably more baggage than the average family comedy. For a long time, the biggest story surrounding the film was whether audiences would ever be allowed to see it at all.
Now that Wile E. Coyote’s legal battle with the company responsible for all those catastrophically unreliable gadgets has finally reached screens, families can judge the actual movie rather than the story behind it.
The premise is wonderfully simple: after years of ACME products exploding, collapsing or otherwise failing him, Wile E. Coyote hires a human lawyer and takes the corporation to court.
That lets the film combine live action, animation, courtroom comedy and the sort of absurd cartoon destruction Looney Tunes has been doing for generations. Will Forte, Lana Condor and John Cena appear in the live-action cast.
The UK classification highlights mild bad language, threat and injury detail. There is lots of slapstick violence involving cartoon characters being flattened or hit with objects, but it is presented in the exaggerated style families expect from Looney Tunes.
We would pitch it a little older than PAW Patrol or Shaun the Sheep. Children around seven and up are more likely to follow the courtroom storyline and enjoy the mixture of human and cartoon comedy.
Wile E. Coyote has been trying and failing to catch the Road Runner for generations, so there is an immediate nostalgia factor for adults who watched Looney Tunes long before their own children arrived.
The film is smart enough to use that history rather than merely repeat it. The idea of Coyote finally questioning why he has spent a fortune buying defective ACME equipment is a joke that almost writes itself.
Yes, particularly for families with primary-age children and tweens who have graduated from preschool animation but still want something broad and silly.
It is also a nice reminder that “family movie” does not have to mean a film aimed exclusively at very young children. Sometimes watching an indestructible cartoon coyote sue a giant corporation is exactly the level of sophistication family night needs.
Turning decades of failed ACME products into an actual lawsuit is a genuinely funny way to build a new Wile E. Coyote story.
Adults who grew up with Looney Tunes have a reason to be invested rather than simply accompanying the kids.
The courtroom angle gives primary-age children and tweens more to follow than a straightforward chase movie.
It retains the exaggerated physical comedy that makes cartoon violence feel absurd rather than realistic.
