The Day the Earth Blew Up

 Eh, what's up Doc?

After over ninety years of silliness, the Looney Tunes finally have their own movie in theatres now. Sure, there were those compilation movies, the Space Jam movies, and other stuff like Looney Tunes: Back in Action. But The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the first fully animated movie starring the Tunes themselves. Let's see the silliness that short-sighted corporate greed couldn't kill.

In this set-up, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both of them Eric Bauza) were orphans raised together by the kindly Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore). Farmer Jim left them his house, and they have done a poor job keeping it together. A snooty inspector, Mrs. Grecht (Laraine Newman), gives them ten days to fix their house or else. She's especially annoyed with the gaping hole in their roof that the fellas somehow didn't notice. 

After a bunch of odd jobs, literally framed like an old cartoon, the fellas get jobs at a gum factory thanks to flavor scientist Petunia Pig (Candi Milo). There, Daffy encounters a peculiar scientist (also Tatasciore) contaminating the gum supply with mysterious green goo. The Substance was brought to Earth by an intergalactic villain, who is only billed as The Invader (Peter MacNicol), to possess the populace by way of the factory’s newest flavor! Porky dismisses Daffy's warnings as lunacy until Petunia gets on the case. How will they get everyone off the gum? What is The Invader's masterplan, and is he actually a bad guy?

A staggering eleven writers were involved in the story. Among them are director Pete Browngardt, the showrunner of the recent Looney Tunes Cartoons, and frequent Cartoon Network writer Darrick Bachman. You might say that's too many cooks in the kitchen, but their end result is a mostly cohesive meal. The silly sci-fi parody they've cooked up has some legitimate jolts, a compelling plot, and some great gags that pay off by the end. There are a few crass jokes, but The Invader's evil scheme is delightfully looney. His true intentions, however, might have you asking some logistical questions. But then again, there wouldn't be a movie if everyone made smart choices, right?

Daffy and Porky's dynamic helps sustain its 91-minute runtime. Porky is exasperated by Daffy's lunacy, to the point Porky covertly benches Daffy from the alien fighting, but the invasion gives them a chance to help work out their relationship. In fact, their emotional reconciliation is just what they need to escape captivity near the end! It's quite moving when they comfort each other as they face certain death in the climax. It's no secret that they survive, but you'll have to see how they do it. Their money problems are also solved by a rather nice and silly deus-ex machina.

What else can I say about it? Farmer Jim is both an effective parody and an effective example of kindly deceased backstory characters. Porky and Petunia are a great couple, especially when they team-up to roast the alien parasites spawned from the infected gum. Its aforementioned jolts come from these parasites, who are not only icky, but are vocalized with some strong sound effects. The Invader's grandiose personality is fun to watch, while the nameless scientist's best scenes are when he's possessed. I could tell that kindly waitress Maude is a cameo, but not by whom. I found out later that she is voiced by Ruth Clampett, daughter of legendary director Bob. I must say it's a great one-scene role. Finally, the 2D animation is nothing short of outstanding, and it's accentuated perfectly by Joshua Moshier's grand score.

Believe it or not, there's quite a bit I haven't divulged in this review, but I should stop before I give them away. You'll have to see what happens The Day the Earth Blew Up wherever you can. I think you'd be surprised at how well it sustains its silliness for so long. Perhaps its success - it was made for $15 million - might convince someone to save Coyote v Acme from corporate oblivion. Perhaps. If not, oh well, but at least we have this movie. And with that ...

That's All Folks.