When I endlessly rewatched Looney Tunes cartoons on Boomerang as a kid, I loved that these shorts always surprised me with their backdrops. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, their personalities were always consistent from one short to the next. However, the places they lived or jobs they occupied were always changing. One moment, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam could be in an age of dragons and castles. The next, Daffy Duck is wandering through a Dick Tracy pastiche. Still another short could have Porky walking around the live-action Warner Bros. lot.

These vibrantly realized characters could go anywhere and do anything. These shorts could materialize as What’s Opera, Doc? or The Dover Boys at Pimento University and everything in between. After three prior attempts to translate Looney Tunes into live-action/animated comedies, the fourth try finally taps into this quality. Director Dave Green and screenwriter Samy Burch’s Coyote vs. Acme ingenuously plops these icons into courtroom/investigative drama archetypes.

Everyone from Foghorn Leghorn to Granny to Gossamer remains their classic selves. However, now they’re taking on personas evoking characters from titles like Anatomy of a Murder or All the President’s Men.

At the heart of this inspired enterprise is Wile E. Coyote. He’s spent years hungrily chasing that Road Runner while using various Acme products to help complete his mission. As everyone knows, though, any rocket boots, parachutes, or catapults this company provides to this critter severely malfunction. One fine day, Wile E. Coyote gets an idea. He’s going to sue the Acme Corporation. To accomplish this task, he ropes in jaded lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte) and his team, including hopeful legal expert Paige (Lana Condor).

Avery, whose deeply knowledgeable in securing super small settlements from Acme for injured cartoon characters, knows the risks of going up against a massive conglomerate. After all, Acme’s got master lawyer Buddy Crane (John Cena) fighting their case. But no matter what hesitation Avery’s got, Wile E. Coyote never ever gives up.

When making any movie starring these Termite Terrace-originating cartoon characters, a key problem remerges. How do you make a 90-100 minute movie out of material built for eight minutes of mayhem? Coyote vs. Acme’s devotion to the courtroom drama is an inspired solution to this problem. Taking narrative cues from Witness for the Prosecution or A Few Good Men means the proceedings don’t overstay their welcome or feel like a bunch of shorts stitched together. Instead, Coyote vs. Acme registers as both a deeply well-made and an extremely witty movie.

Visuals like a book called “How to Wait Dramatically” or a spider mugging another arachnid are two among many effective rib-tickling gags delivered. Speaking of visuals, Coyote vs. Acme also happily contrasts modern comedy movies that so often look like stiff CBS sitcoms. Director Dave Green and cinematographer Brandon Trost aren’t just unafraid of moving the camera around. They also know the value of juxtaposing dramatic lighting or blocking with classic Looney Tunes mayhem.

Will Forte urgently peeking out of a hotel room’s venetian blinds while on an informative phone call is an image easily lifted from a 70s political thriller. The voice on the line belonging to a distinctive Looney Tunes legend, meanwhile, imbues giggle-inducing absurdity to the moments. Such thoughtfully realized visual comedy is executed with finesse here.

The only frustrating imagery-based Coyote vs. Acme shortcoming is the decision to realize the animated characters via CG animation emulating hand-drawn art. Given that this is the same style Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers utilized four years back, it’s not surprising Coyote vs. Acme went down this road. Most of the time, this approach works perfectly cromulently. However, certain shots of characters (namely Foghorn Leghorn) make it glaringly clear some Merrie Melodies fixtures don’t translate perfectly into three dimensions. Reminding audiences of vintage 2D animated wonders only makes the CG shortcomings more apparent.

More lastingly impactful than some clumsy animation, though, is a welcome trait permeating Coyote vs. Acme. It’s an element that eluded prior Looney Tunes films: confidence. The two Space Jam movies were deeply corporate exercises. They tried so hard to sell shoes and hawk the Warner Bros. name. Meanwhile, devilishly subversive filmmaker Joe Dante tried his best on Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but endless reshoots and executive interference doomed that movie. Inconsistent or outright toxic creative visions have plagued the last 30 years of live-action Looney Tunes motion pictures.

Coyote vs. Acme, on the other hand, commits 110% to not only its courtroom movie pastiche, but everything in its wake. Green and company lean into nifty traits like refusing to let Wile E. Coyote talk. Similarly, there’s a delightful contempt for corporations coursing through Coyote vs. Acme. Unremarked-upon background details like Acme Cosmetic billboards looming over characters or the Acme logo stamped on phones effectively mirror the real-life horrors of having companies like Google, Amazon, or Flock infiltrate every aspect of our daily lives. This quality evokes dark sight gags (like a billboard lurching over a graveyard) from Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World rather than typical PG-rated live-action/animated family movies.

Even better, this seething attitude towards conglomerates produces several great gags (like an Acme promotional video waxing poetic about “family values” against drone warfare footage) and an effective source of tension. Avery, Coyote, and their pals are going up against an evil force that truly feels all-powerful and pervasive. The conviction underpinning this commentary even soaks into the thrilling realization of major set pieces. Take, for instance, a large-scale attempt by Acme goons to capture that Road Runner. The latter sequence’s imaginative streak even extends to its use of the Run the Jewels tune “Nobody Speak.” How on Earth does Coyote vs. Acme make the ditty that dominated 2019 cinema feel fresh again? Why, by putting whistling noises over its swear words. Even familiar needle drops get a new lease on life within this creative enterprise.

Also carrying on the deeply committed imaginative spirit informing Coyote vs. Acme are its various live-action actors. These performers make Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? proud with their natural rapport opposite Looney Tunes characters. Will Forte especially impresses in a lead role that finally lets him flex his dramatic acting muscles in a movie for the first time since 2013’s Nebraska. Not only is Forte convincing playing against Wile E. Coyote, but he makes Kevin Avery’s evolution from jaded to passionate surprisingly moving. Like Coyote vs. Acme as a whole movie, Forte is entertaining from the get-go, but surprises you in how he also grabs your heart.

Also, somebody save John Cena from anchoring more streaming comedies. He’s a riot here playing a nasty corporate baddie without a trace of irony. Even whilst intimidating Tweety Bird, Cena never lapses into snark. That dedication to the bit should appear in more movies of this caliber and fewer Netflix properties.

Usually, outsized explosions capsize Wile E. Coyote’s schemes. Here, though, many tremendous subtle details (like Burch’s amusing dialogue or Eric Bauza’s eclectic voicework for various Looney Tunes characters) inform Coyote vs. Acme’s artistic success. Given the slipshod nature of past Looney Tunes movies and this title almost being slammed into a vault, the care and craftsmanship scattered throughout is a breath of fresh air. Like a great Mel Blanc scream or a random Peter Lorre cameo in a Looney Tunes short, the deeply entertaining Coyote vs. Acme is irresistible.

Coyote vs. Acme is now playing in theaters.