Victim of Warner Bros.’ new cost-cutting strategy, this long-form Looney Tunes movie is seeking worldwide distribution.
Look up “cartoon villain” in the dictionary and you’ll likely find a picture of David Zaslav. Since taking over Warner Bros. Discovery, he’s shelved not one but two long-form Looney Tunes projects. Last November, the live-action/animation hybrid “Coyote vs. Acme” was released, which got the “Batgirl” treatment (except unlike that movie, this one has already been made, so the tax-deduction reasoning doesn’t make sense). Lower-profile but no less deserving of a proper release, WB Animation’s standalone film with hand-drawn Porky Pig and Daffy Duck “The Day the Earth Blew Up” was made for Max but came out last fall. It’s still seeking U.S. distribution.
Director: Peter Browngardt
Writers: Kevin Costello, Alex Kirwan, Peter Browngardt
Stars: Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol
Fortunately, that didn’t stop the Annecy Animation Festival from giving “The Day the Earth Blew Up” its world premiere (and, one hopes, a better chance at seeing the light of day). (WB Germany will release it on August 1, with other international markets to follow.) It turns out that “Day” is funnier than any film the studio has released since “The Lego Movie 2,” and it’s a rare chance to see Porky and Daffy doing something other than playing basketball or selling merchandise. In this way, the duo reflect their 21st-century selves, as shown in a recent series of Looney Tunes shorts for the small screen (the film’s director, Peter Browngardt, oversaw no fewer than five of them).
The script for “Day” is credited to a whopping 11 writers, who pitch a plot involving an alien mind-control scheme whereby chewing gum infected with an extraterrestrial substance threatens to turn Earthlings into zombies. It’s not Shakespeare, but it definitely feels crazy enough for the stuttering pig and the talking duck-bill, who share a two-story house bequeathed by Farmer Jim, the supportive, dark-skinned father figure who took both animals under his wing when they were children (or piglets/ducklings, as the case may be).
Browngardt earns plenty of laughs early on by sharing vignettes from Porky and Daffy’s childhood, as well as presenting a montage of disastrous attempts to find employment, framed like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon. While it’s hilarious to reconnect with these two old friends (with their signature speech impediment), there’s something about how they talk and act that reveals how the stylistic innovations of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network have shaped the Looney Tunes universe, especially “SpongeBob SquarePants.” (No coincidence, considering five of the writers have worked on that franchise.)
Just watch the characters cry more in this movie than in the previous eight decades combined, during which the Looney Tunes shorts were nominated for a dozen Oscars, winning two. Vocal MVP Eric Bauza (who plays both Porky and Daffy) brings a frenetic energy to the pair, while the green-skinned alien Invader (Peter MacNicol) seems like a taller version of “SpongeBob” conspirator Plankton — at least until the movie’s big third-act twist. In fact, with a few minor tweaks, it’s easy to imagine the whole thing revolving around a pineapple under the sea, rather than Porky and Daffy’s ramshackle farm.
In the opening, “Day” triggers two outer-space anomalies on Earth: a planet-threatening asteroid and a computer-generated flying saucer, which sends a large mass of glowing goo crashing through Porky and Daffy’s roof. Meanwhile, the lab-coated scientist (both he and Father Jim are voiced by Fred Tatasciore) is drawn to (and subsequently possessed by) intergalactic ectoplasm. The goo turns humans into zombies, which is bad news, as the scientist pours a briefcase full of the stuff into the formula for Goodie Gum’s latest flavor, Super Strong Berry.
Soon, everyone is trying out the bubbly new release, which takes over their brains and makes them susceptible to Invader’s commands. As presented here, Daffy is a hysterical conspiracy nut who is perfectly programmed to recognize such a plan when he sees one. Trouble arises when trying to convince the world that Goodie Gum has been compromised by aliens, meaning Daffy, Porky, and their new love interest Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) will have to save the planet themselves. Petunia works as a flavor taster for the gum factory, trying everything from old socks to rotten eggs.
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