Coyote vs. Acme

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Coyote vs. Acme
• a review of Coyote vs. Acme completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 September 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the 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 that he will never catch his nemesis. An advertisement on TV catches his eye and gives him an idea for another chance at justice. Blaming ACME for his failures, as each and every one of their products backfired and caused him harm, Wile E. approaches Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a down-on-his-luck lawyer, for legal representation. At first, they do not see eye to eye 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 have 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 will always wield the power to do whatever they want. It appears that they are untouchable, but then sometimes all it takes is one individual who will not give up or give in, one individual who will lead the way for others to do together what could not be done alone.

Revenge; Obsession; Greed; Corruption; Deceit; Exploitation and the abuse of power.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• 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, 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, gets sliced in half, hit by an airplane, stuck to a rocket launcher and then plummets out of the sky back to Earth where he is hit by an exploding missile. He climbs out of the pit, singed and weary, with a missing tooth and blackened patches.
• Wile E. reminisces about his plans to catch the Road Runner and reviews how they went awry with he, himself, being the one to get 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 multiple teeth. He is then electrocuted, hit by an anvil and crushed by a piano.
• Wile E. gets stapled in the head, part of his nose is sliced off with a saw, and then the saw bade smashes through a car.
• The pile of defective items that Wile E. brings to his lawyer’s office blast 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 is nearly crushed and killed.
• Wile E. is punched off of a car and onto a truck where he is crushed by a trailer and then pursued by a man who launches ‘eggsplosives’.
• Avery is knocked unconscious and vultures stand over him with knives.

Material that may scare or disturb children

• Nothing further noted.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Oxford University is repeatedly mentioned.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Looking at Buddy Crane, a character says: “I think I just laid an egg.”

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

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

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• A character drinks from a liquor bottle labelled “XXX”.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Hell
• Piss
• Frickin
• Loser
• Shut up!
• Damn
• Psychopath
• Low-life.

In a nutshell

Coyote vs. Acme is a fast paced, family film that combines live-action adventure with the classic slapstick humour and animated style viewers would expect from the Looney Tunes franchise. The film is best suited to families with children over the age of eight.

The main messages from this movie are that setbacks do not define us, that learning from our mistakes, standing up for ourselves and continuing to pursue our goals when things go wrong are what truly shapes us; and that failure is not the end of the journey — it is another opportunity to grow, persevere and keep moving forward.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Teamwork
• Determination
• Integrity
• Courage
• Persistence
• Resilience.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Seeking revenge or keeping old rivalries alive.
• Using others and going to any lengths for your own personal gain.
• Selling yourself short or taking the easy road instead of doing what is right.
• Abusing power and perverting justice to get your own way.
• The lack of physical consequences for the characters in the film, considering all of the violence that took place.