The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

There have been a lot of well-known animation mascots throughout history and just as many have been forgotten to time, but if someone had grown up during the golden age of American animation, no one would’ve ever expected the Looney Tunes to one day be at risk of joining those ranks. Originally positioned as the competition for Disney’s own cast of anthropomorphic cartoon animals, the Looney Tunes were a staple of pop culture for several decades and became one of the highest grossing media franchises ever due to their memorable characters, distinct animation style, and timeless humor and slapstick, so watching them slowly erode in the modern day is pretty disheartening. They’ve had a few successful cartoon shows and made appearances in some cult favorite live-action films, but Warner Brothers seems almost hellbent on deleting them entirely, from removing most of the classic cartoons from their streaming service or literally holding a completed movie, Coyote Vs Acme, hostage in order to write it off for tax purposes. This is why The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is such a big deal and deserves more attention.

Porky Pig and Daffy Duck (both voiced by Eric Bauza) are preparing for their routine home inspection, yet the inspector calls for their house to be demolished after finding a giant hole in the roof. Looking for work to pay for repairs but unable to keep one due to Daffy’s chaotic nature. Porky and Daffy are at their wits end until they are offered a role at Goodie Gum Factory by Petunia Pig (voiced by Candi Milo), a scientist dedicating her time to perfecting the perfect flavor of gum after dismissing the newest flavor set to be globally released for being too basic. While their first day goes swimmingly, Daffy learns that the gum has been contaminated by a strange green substance which, after the first chew, turns everybody into zombies. After Porky and Petunia get privy to the situation, they learn that the entire world has been infected by the gum and that it is all a plot from an evil alien known only as The Invader (voiced by Peter MacNicol) who, after realizing that the three are the only ones left un-gumified, plans to eradicate them once and for all. Needing to come up with a solution to the save the world as well as their house, these three looney outsiders will need to use all of their seemingly unhelpful skills in order to stop global catastrophe.

The Day the Earth Blew Up doesn’t break any barriers, present a phenomenal message, or deliver the most hilarious zingers, but what it does provide is a traditionally-animated cinematically-released 2D movie featuring characters from a section of animation history that is on the precipice of being eradicated, and that is enough to make it feel like an underdog worthy of getting behind. The film does offer more than just good will thankfully, as it features gorgeous hand-drawn animation, a lot of good laughs, and enough of heart to keep people engaged.

This is actually one of the first and only animated Looney Tunes movies released in theatres that isn’t just a compilation of shorts assorted into a feature length like Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters or The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, as any other theatrical film was usually in live action, so the film already feels different by this metric alone. Originally set to be a direct-to-streaming movie that would also run during a specific time on Cartoon Network, the recent restructuring of the company meant that the film was instead going to be outsourced to another studio or streaming service, with the lucky winner being the relatively unknown and independent distribution company, Ketchup Entertainment, who were able to help get the film theatrically released in the North American region after premiering in Switzerland and Germany. While public interest wasn’t as vocal as it could’ve been thanks to the minimal to zero advertising (probably because Warner Brothers wanted to bury it as much as possible), the vocal retaliation from fans of Looney Tunes who have hated what Warner Brothers, and particularly its new CEO, David Zaslav, has done with the franchise, isn’t anything to sneeze at and they have personally been working to help promote this movie, so it did slowly build hype.

The film itself feels like a very simple throwback picture you’d expect from something based around the Looney Tunes, not just because of to the 2D animation, but also the premise which is clearly paying homage and parodying various sci fi horror films from the 1950s like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day the Earth Stood Still. There’s a love and appreciation for the genre clearly shown through the designs, color palette, musical score and specific references, but given the franchise it’s based in, it’s allowed to have fun with itself and know first and foremost, that it’s a silly kids film with silly off-the-walls characters so they never have to take themselves super seriously. The fact that it’s a kid’s movie should be made clear right away, as even though Looney Tunes as a brand has always had a strong adult leaning, there isn’t much catered towards them here outside of pure nostalgia and technical appreciation. The writing doesn’t contain the usual satirical eddy wit normally associated with the brand, so what remains is a movie that still manages to be very funny, but mainly through the chaotic slapstick and hint of unpredictability rather than for its clever scripting or interesting plot. The film’s eleven writers; Darrick Bachman, Kevin Costello, Andrew Dickman, David Gemmill, Alex Kirwan, Ryan Kramer, Jason Reicher, Michael Ruocco, Johnny Ryan, Eddie Trigueros and director, Pete Browngardt, do help make this very done-before premise a little more interesting through some funny sequences, visuals and characters, but it’s a very safe picture overall, and outside of a few choice moments that feel specifically retro either through the dialect, circumstance or visual design, nothing feels that surprising from a narrative or even comedic standpoint. Pete Browngardt has worked on a lot of wacky slapstick-heavy modern cartoons like Adventure Time, Chowder, Venture Brothers, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and (more relevantly) the most recent iteration of the Looney Tunes Cartoons, but those shows did have clever writing and some truly surreal visual elements, whereas this movie is pretty by the book. It’s a quick sit, keeps the energy high due to the flamboyant animation, doesn’t drop the momentum even when it has to check off some cliched story threads, and still offers a basic, but otherwise very entertaining movie that houses just enough heart to provide at least a little bit of substance.

It’s probably a little surprising to see a Looney Tunes property not headlined by Bugs Bunny considering most people view him as the main mascot, but not only did Porky and Daffy proceed him as characters, but their pairing in this movie actually makes a lot of sense. Seeing a duo composed of one who is constantly causing havoc and chaos, and one who is constantly forced to deal with havoc and chaos, makes for a seamless pairing, and even though their presentation might be more similar to how they were portrayed in cartoons of old than more modern renditions (Daffy doesn’t have any of his selfish, egomaniacal tendencies here), they make for two solid leads. Their story arc is pretty by-the-numbers and doesn’t really exceed any expectations, but at the same time, it’s harmlessly inoffensive, doesn’t waste any time, and as previously stated, it has a semblance of heart that, while not tear-jerking, is sentimental enough to make it worth the time. Both characters are very well realized and executed by Eric Bauza (who has voiced several of the Looney Tunes in past projects, so he would understand how to voice them by this point), and this can also be said for the rest of the cast.

Considering how most animated films work nowadays, it’s strange to see one not stockpiled with forced-in celebrity cameos to voice the characters. This doesn’t always have to be a death sentence, but more often than not, it’s done for the purpose of filling seats rather than because they’re right for the role, so it’s nice to see this movie populated mainly by well-known or upcoming voice actors instead (they do have Peter MacNicol, but he isn’t really a big name anymore). Petunia is a fun addition to the cast and she and Porky have a pretty cute romance throughout the film, a lot of the background roles are voice by recognizable voices like Fred Tatasciore, Laraine Newman, Wayne Knight, Carlos Alazraqui, Keith Ferguson and Kimberly Brooks, all of whom bring a classical but still goofy nature to the project, and Peter MacNicol has a few fun moments as the Alien (even if a twist surrounding him during the third act doesn’t make too much sense logically).

One of the most appealing things about this movie is not just that it’s a Looney Tunes property being given the theatrical experience, but it’s also one of the first traditional animated movies released on the big screen for quite some time now. The entire style of 2D animation essentially went dead cinematically after Disney switched to the style of 3D, so being able to witness a feature with such beautiful traditional animation on the big screen is really a delight to witness. Even if it doesn’t have the grandest story or the biggest scope for a cinematic release,  the animation feels top-tier and it’s a great showcase of everything the specific style is great at, including fantastically fluid expressions and movements, vibrant colors, so much character coming out of every frame, and the ability to be experimental due to not being beholden to a single model, but instead a variety of different sheets and artists who can bring their own energy to the page. Very much emulating the style of classic Looney Tunes animator, Bob Clampett, who was known for his outrageous and hyperactive cartoons, you can definitely see how his energy was translated into this picture and how it was very beneficial to its personality and slapstick. The backgrounds are very well laid out and can occasionally play with perspectives and angles in a fun way, the color palette really nails the suburban feel of a typical 1950s American city, but the real fun is when the invasion begins and the fun angles and drastic tones of green and red populate the screen to really bring in that 1950s horror sci-fi aesthetic, and even the musical score by Joshua Moshier balances the retro sound of a sci-fi horror flick with that of the classic Looney Tunes melody very nicely, it’s very well set up and executed by people who have respect for both properties

The Day the Earth Blew Up isn’t a game-changing picture and considering the limited scope of the plot, it might actually have been better suited as a streaming special, but considering how terribly Looney Tunes as a brand is being treated by their own company, it feels only right to give them support when they need it, and that is why so many people are coming to this movie’s defense. While nothing groundbreaking, this film is a simple funny picture that has charming characters, amazing animation, and some really good laughs that don’t feel like laughs from a typical modern day kid’s film in the best way. Considering the success of this film led to Ketchup Entertainment getting the rights to Coyote Vs Acme (essentially saving it from remaining forever in the Warner Brothers vault), a revolutionary spark has been ignited and it’s the duty of the fans and lovers of animation in general to keep it lit. A movie that has no shocking twists or multi-layered jokes but will at least provide a Looney time.