Review: ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie’ Is a Looney Laugh Riot

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is laugh-a-minute, as expected for anything with Looney Tunes in the title. But it also has some great character progression between Porky and Daffy. It also boasts a larger scope in story with the clever twists that makes a Looney Tunes feature film necessary.

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza) have grown up together under the care of kindly and very patient Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore). We see their personalities be defined with Daffy being, well, looney, and Porky being sensible but still willing to go along with Daffy’s crazy stunts. Farmer Jim tells them they will always be okay as adults if they stick together, setting up our full, new story for these classic characters.

Now with our two heroes established, we have a simple premise: to keep the house that Farmer Jim left them they need to get a job to fix the roof of their house or get kicked out by the housing association. Watching them try to fix the house and getting job after job shows a tension between these two characters. Daffy is not taking things seriously from the start and it is putting pressure on Porky. The fact is that Porky’s side of the house is clean and Daffy’s is falling apart, but Daffy says it is the way they love to live while Porky hides his discomfort. What I liked here is that Porky, the character usually picked on for being the serious one, is justified in his anger and disappointment with Daffy. Daffy over time starts to feel that Porky doesn’t trust him.

We also have a not regular but still Looney Tunes character, Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), a bubble gum scientist trying to make terrible tastes combine to make a new interesting flavor of gum that isn’t boring. Her non-conformist attitude makes her fit in with these two seamlessly, never overtaking or regulating to be a side character. She is helpful, funny, and makes it feel like it was always meant to be the three of them. Plus her chemistry with Porky is cute. Then we also have an alien called The Invader (Peter MacNicol) coming to earth and doing something really creepy with bubble gum to control everyone’s minds.

Now before that makes it sound like this is too serious, there are jokes all over this film that had me laughing out loud, that I will not share for sake of discovery. All felt real to Looney Tunes humor without being repetitive or stale, such as a visual gag of surprise violence that has you laughing at the randomness of it. Or seeing Daffy being looney, screwing up all their jobs. Classic but still done in a way of making it fresh, falling down stairs. Then just the overall banter between these classic characters. That this team was able to take these well-known characters and make them funny and new, but also not betray the memory we have of them, is an incredible balancing act that this film successfully executes.

There are moments of asides that didn’t quite work with the overall film. There is a musical number with strange visuals when Porky and Daffy start working at the bubble gum factory. There’s a random flashback that does at least lead to a joke of Daffy asking Porky if he is having a flashback. Some moments like that felt more like padding the run time than essential to the story. But after these moments we would get back on track very quickly.

A personal favorite for me was The Invader, who fits perfectly into this Looney Tunes world. He looks sinister in appearance but within a few minutes he is cackling so hard he coughs and gives some of the greatest annoyed expressions, seeing his plan being foiled or his minion screwing up. Then we see what his plan is doing and it goes right back to creepy. The voice work really captures both of these feelings and is a big part of why he worked as a character. Then as an added level to him and learning his overall plan was surprising and yet subtly set up. He was so cool I was already thinking about how he could be used in more Looney Tunes projects, then went all the way back to worrying he could be overused. I will leave that decision to the creatives to figure out, but he is a fun character.

This was a funny film overall that had a level of heart and growth without changing the fundamentals of these characters we all love. It has clever twists including a fantastic call back in the end that really sells the whole message of the movie. These characters are a great deal of fun and tell a story that fits the scope of a big screen experience and is worth the time.

Coming out in February next year is probably the best thing that can happen for its Oscar campaign. This year is already filling up quickly with an embarrassment of critical and commercial successes like Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot. There is also Moana 2 as well as smaller features with big buzz like Memoir of a Snail, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and Flow filling up the slots.

Its biggest hurdle will be getting people to take it seriously. Looney Tunes as films haven’t been huge critical successes, and such mainstream IPs do not get in unless the year is weak or they do something very inventive with the idea such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem got tons of acclaim and precursor awards but wasn’t able to break into the Best Animated feature race partially on that bias I believe. This film is worthy of the acknowledgment, but it will all depend on how people perceive it and if they take it seriously.