Coyote vs. Acme: is it suitable for your child?

Story

After another one of Wile E. Coyote’s elaborate schemes to catch the Road Runner (voice of Eric Bauza) goes horrendously wrong, he begins to despair of ever catching his nemesis. This is when a TV advertisement catches his eye and gives him an idea for another chance at justice.

Wile E. blames ACME for his failures, because all their products have backfired and caused him harm. Wile E. approaches Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a down-on-his-luck lawyer, for legal representation. At first, they don’t agree, but Avery’s niece Paige (Lana Condor), a young intern, believes in the case and is determined to ensure that Wile E. gets the help he deserves.

The lawsuit brings them into conflict with the powerful ACME Corporation, whose team of corrupt lawyers and executives, led by Buddy Crane (John Cena), is determined to avoid responsibility for the failure of their products and the harm that they’ve caused.

As the case develops, Wile E. and his legal team uncover a larger plot involving secret experiments, attempted assassinations and the disappearance of a key scientist who knew too much and tried to warn the world years before. Despite the help they receive from anonymous tips and witnesses, it seems that ACME is both untouchable and all-powerful.

But sometimes all it takes is one individual who won’t give up or give in, who will lead the way, and who can bring others together to do what could not be done alone.

Themes

Revenge; obsession; greed; corruption; deceit; exploitation and the abuse of power

Violence

Coyote vs. Acme has some violence. For example:

Daffy Duck has his skin plucked off.
Dehydrated cereal expands into boulders that explode.
A scientist is told that he can jump into a hole and disappear or that men will push him in.
Wile E. pulls Road Runner’s beak but then gets flattened by an 18-wheeler truck and vomits.
Wile E. puts on sonic skates to help him catch the Road Runner but knocks into a windmill farm, flips over a blade and gets sliced in half. He’s then hit by an airplane and stuck to a rocket launcher. He plummets out of the sky back to the ground, where he’s hit by an exploding missile. He climbs out of the pit, singed and weary, with a missing tooth and black patches.
Wile E. reminisces about his plans to catch the Road Runner and reviews how they all went wrong. For example, he was blown up, driven into the ground and exploded by detonators.
Wile E. is exploded multiple times and hit by a train.
A character is struck by a wrecking ball, falls to the ground on shattered glass, and loses several teeth. He’s then electrocuted, hit by an anvil and crushed by a piano.
Wile E. gets stapled in the head, and part of his nose is sliced off with a saw. The saw blade then smashes through a car.
The pile of defective items that Wile E. brings to his lawyer’s office blasts through the roof of the building.
A piano falls off a roof and crushes Avery’s car. Wile E. is hit with a keyboard.
Wile E. gets caught by a fan, twisted against a wall and smashed by a bed.
A switch hits a judge in the head and then Wile E.’s head catches fire.
One spider tries to strangle another.
A character goes crazy, sending his hands through paintings and running around screaming.
A car is crushed by a boulder tossed by a catapult.
Wile E. repeatedly tries to jump, run or fly from one side of a steep ravine to another. He falls to the ground every time.
Wile E. has plans to kill and cook the Road Runner.
Buddy Crane threatens a character and then squeezes him in his hand until it looks like the character’s head will explode.
A bomb is thrown into the window of a building where Paige is working.
A character is punched in the face and flipped backwards into a pool.
A rocket explodes a car.
Wile E. grabs at the Road Runner from behind, but he’s nearly crushed and killed.
Wile E. is punched off a car and onto a truck where he is crushed by a trailer and then pursued by a man who launches ‘eggplosives’.
Avery is knocked unconscious, and vultures stand over him with knives.

Sexual references

Coyote vs. Acme has some sexual references. For example, a character looks at Buddy Crane and says, ‘I think I just laid an egg’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Coyote vs. Acme has some use of substances. For example, a character drinks from a liquor bottle labelled XXX.

Nudity and sexual activity

Coyote vs. Acme has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

A character expects nude models to pose for him and tells Avery to take off his pants. Avery doesn’t comply, and another character arrives without pants for the modelling gig.
A grenade explodes in security and blasts off all of Wile E.’s fur. His bare bottom is shown from behind, and he grabs tufts of fur to cover it.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Coyote vs. Acme: Oxford University is repeatedly mentioned.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in Coyote vs. Acme, including ‘hell’, ‘piss’, ‘frickin’, ‘loser’, ‘Shut up!’, ‘damn’, ‘psychopath’ and ‘low-life’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Coyote vs. Acme is a fast-paced movie that combines live-action adventure with the classic slapstick humour and animated style viewers expect from the Looney Tunes franchise. The movie is best suited to families with children aged over 8 years.

These are the main messages from Coyote vs. Acme:

Setbacks don’t define us.
We are shaped by learning from our mistakes, standing up for ourselves and chasing our goals when things go wrong.
Failure isn’t the end of the journey – it’s another opportunity to grow, persevere and keep moving forward.

Values in Coyote vs. Acme that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, determination, integrity, courage, persistence and resilience.

Coyote vs. Acme could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the violence in the movie and how it has no real physical consequences. You could also talk about the real-life consequences of things like:

seeking revenge or keeping old rivalries alive
using others and doing anything for personal gain
compromising or taking the easy path instead of doing the right thing
abusing power and perverting justice to get your own way