Porky Pig and Daffy Duck additionally discover themselves in an unusually tense scenario, even by their requirements. As a meteor hurls in direction of the Earth, the cartoon legends should discover a method to cease it and the nefarious schemes of an alien, credited as “The Invader” (voiced by Peter MacNicol). The Invader’s villainous ambition is as acquainted as they arrive. It encompasses a mind-control idea sparked by chewing gum, and anybody who has seen The SpongeBob SquarePants Film (2004) or the Rick and Morty episode “Air Pressure Wong” will really feel as in the event that they’re experiencing deja vu. With that mentioned, a third-act plot growth from the enigmatic alien holds a genuinely unpredictable twist. Moreover, the character journeys for our lead Looneys are commendable, if not a tad generic, offering a superb message for the doubtless family-friendly viewers this movie will skew.
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, each impressively voiced by Eric Bauza, nonetheless could make magnetic leads in a narrative in spite of everything these years. Whereas they aren’t a wise-cracking rabbit, the duo have greater than sufficient charisma to command their very own function. A gap credit montage of their upbringing, which comprises a short origin story for Porky Pig’s iconic stutter, completely units the scene for the model of humor ever current all through the 90-minute runtime. The pair’s adopted father, Farmer Jim, voiced by Fred Tatasciore, works as a hilarious foil between the 2 all whereas offering an emotional, albeit transient, connection to the viewers.
Sadly, it ought to most likely be no shock {that a} movie with 11 credited writers feels a bit uneven, and no part of the screenplay is extra emblematic of this than the primary humor. There are a couple of snigger out loud moments. The exception of giggles that do come embody a shoutout to stimulus checks, a joke all too relatable for any dad and mom within the workforce through the COVID lockdowns, and a recurring gag revolving round an alien’s love for boba tea. On the flip facet, some bits fall tougher on their face than Wile E. Coyote off the facet of a mesa. That is cemented by a brief montage of Daffy Duck trying to change into a social media influencer. This bit and different jokes prefer it learn as makes an attempt by Gen-X to enchantment to Gen-Z, a la the Steve Buscemi 30 Rock meme.
The movie performs with a couple of fourth-wall breaking moments, a mainstay of the Looney Tunes franchise for many years. These sequences hit after they happen, however they’re few and much between, and sadly two of one of the best had been spoiled within the trailer. The film would possibly’ve benefitted from growing their presence. The Day the Earth Blew Up is moreover suffering from random montages, one dance quantity specifically revolving round a gum meeting line felt significantly misplaced, furthering the emotions of inconsistency current with the humor of the movie. We suspect the filmmakers had been doubtless homaging the Looney Tunes shorts of outdated with these sequences, however their inclusion bogs down the primary storyline with their growing randomness.
Lastly, the animation model of the flick is by some means concurrently contemporary and underwhelming. It’s theoretically good to look at a feature-length studio manufacturing rendered with hand-drawn characters, or not less than a digital approximation of them, however on this specific iteration, the aesthetic appeared low-cost for a theatrically launched movie. Whereas hand-drawn cartoons actually have a spot in fashionable multiplexes, as seen fantastically within the Oscar-winning film The Boy and the Heron (2023), The Day the Earth Blew Up feels extra akin to a Saturday morning cartoon within the mid-2000s with its animation model.
Maybe the film was higher fitted to a streaming launch on Max, mockingly the place Warner Bros. despatched their final completed Looney Tunes challenge, House Jam: A New Legacy. Whereas we actually champion the theatergoing expertise, nothing about this Looney Tunes film justifies a visit to the cinema.
