A Review of Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up - Go See it Already!

In my last blog, I implored folks to see the new Looney Tunes movie. But I spent so much time reminiscing about the characters, lamenting the property’s slow demise, and wondering if there was any hope left for the franchise…I ran out of space to actually review the movie itself.

In short, I liked it!

The end. Haha.

In seriousness, I found the movie to be seriously slick—a fluid, gooey, elastic celebration of hand drawn rubbery exuberance stretched upon the silver screen. And for 90 minutes, no less! For all the wonders that 3-D animation brings, nothing can quite capture the bubbly, blubbery, buttery flair that a talented 2-D artist affords. The animation here is as beautifully gooey as the alien bubblegum it so ably animates. It really is like a classic Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes short streeeeetched to 90 minutes. There’s nothing quite like it. And maybe…that’s exactly why. It’s a seven-minute short extended well-beyond its normal limits.

If I was backed into a corner and forced to conjure a single criticism of the movie—if I was blackmailed into playing film critic versus pandering fan—I’d say that the movie, despite being energetic and fun and spectacularly bizarre, almost overextends itself. It’s the lively, looney life of the party that, after a couple of hours of smashed plates and spilled drinks and ear-splitting karaoke, probably needs to take the hint and leave. Ninety minutes is probably the absolute longest a bonkers movie like this can last before audiences sink to utter exhaustion. It’s a great film…because it ends just in time. There was a reason these Looney Tunes shorts were always so, well, short.

The movie, if I dare say, doesn’t entirely feel like Looney Tunes, either. Not content to merely channel the likes of Bob Clampett and Tex Avery, the film’s art jumps ahead eighty years to mimic the best, or worse, of John Kricfalusi’s ultra-exaggerated, even grotesque style as found in his famed Ren and Stimpy. This isn’t a complaint so much as an observation, of course; there’s definitely some merit to Kricfalusi’s work. It just seems that, ideally, the first Daffy/Porky movie would tout its own style versus adopting another’s. (A point, incidentally, also made of the HBO Max’s modern Looney Tunes Cartoons shorts.)

I’d be tempted to say there’s nothing quite like The Day the Earth Blew Up, but that’s not entirely true. As I watched, flits of Cats Don’t Dance and The Emperor’s New Groove danced in my head, films that also enjoy the expressive joys of the 2-D form. What I didn’t expect were the sudden flashbacks to Disney’s Chicken Little, which, despite being a CGI exercise, is eerily similar in terms of plot and tone; both movies are about alien encounters with silly shenanigans in-between. While Daffy and Porky’s adventure is a cartoon short writ large, Little’s is a would-be film that feels more like a silly collection of cartoon shorts stitched together.

But like I said at the top, I liked this movie. Really liked it. And whether it’s destined to be a classic or just a fantastic footnote, it’s worth supporting—not only for its own sake, but also as a collective message to the studios and the greater world of animation. We want movies like these, art like this, gags like that...and will spend money for the pleasure.

And, in truth, it would be nice to see another of these with Bugs.--D

The movie, despite feeling very much like a Looney Tunes production, relies a bit more on suggestive and gross-out humor than the original shorts ever did. It owes something to Ren and Stimpy in this regard.

Although wonderfully original by today's standards, The Day the Earth Blew Up definitely feels akin to these three. From top to bottom: Chicken Little, The Emperor's New Groove, and Cats Don't Dance.

This just in! The cancelled Coyote v. Acme movie has been, well, uncancelled! Due now for a 2026 release...please, please go see it! It's the Roger Rabbit or Space Jam of our generation!

Poor Daffy. He struggles even when Bugs isn't around.