Directed by Pete Browngardt

An intrepid scientist detects not one but two objects heading towards Earth! One crashes on the outskirts of the town of Grandview, he goes to investigate and… CHAOS ENSUES!

Or it would if Daffy Duck and Porky Pig weren’t already in town, trying to get jobs to keep the farm they inherited from their adoptive father. If they can just keep things sweet at the Goodie Gum gum factory. But the scientist, now horribly changed, has plans for Goodie Gum…

This gloriously weird offering is somehow getting to us before Coyote vs Acme which is currently due for release next year. That’s set to be a mix of live action and animation. This is animation all the way through and its best moments lean into that. The Invader (played with gleeful menace by Pete MacNicol) has a beautiful, art deco spaceship that everyone bounces around inside. There’s an incredible musical number at the gum factory that’s one of the most beautiful scenes you’ll see this year and the full-on gum zombie sequences crackle with tension and B-Movie theremin energy. The movie’s best jokes live inside this space too. Farmer Jim (who might be Jesus?) is very clearly 2d and unanimated for much of his screen time and then suddenly beautifully animated and fluid. It’s either a budget cut being fronted up or the movie making some very weird structural jokes but either way it’s great.

The cast are strong too, especially Eric Bauza who pulls double duty here as Messrs Pig and Duck. Both are uncannily close to the original, but his Porky just takes it for me. He’s given a little more nuance, especially in his scenes with intrepid gum scientist Petunia (Candi Milo, also on great form). Bauza’s doble act with himself is so impressive you don’t notice it’s one actor and it’s the key to the movie.  These are the classic characters; they look great, they sound great, and the Looney Tunes energy is mostly alive and well.

The one place it falters a little is the script. The large writer’s room (Darrick Bachman, Pete Browngardt, Kevin Costello, Andrew Dickman, David Gemmill, Alex Kirwan, Ryan Kramer, Jason Riecher, Michael Ruocco, Johnny Ryan and Eddie Trigueros) do a good job of maintaining a through line and throw in some surprises, including a genuinely unsettling battle that plays like Looney Tunes meets John Carpenter’s The Thing. But at times the tension between the jokes, the horror and the need for a dramatic arc stretches everything a bit thin. The closing beat especially feels off, even though it clearly needs to be there. But these characters don’t have the decades of experience working with longform narrative that Disney or the Muppets do and there are a few places where that shows.

Verdict: Move past that though, and you’re in for a treat. Very funny, surprisingly gnarly and full of all the 1950s SF tropes you need, this really is something to chew on. 7/10

Alasdair Stuart

There’s currently no UK release date for The Day The Earth Blew Up and the movie is available digitally via amazon.com only. If I had to guess, it’ll be put on the docket for next year not long after Coyote vs Acme finally releases in August 2026.