By Warner Bros. just seems to hate Looney Tunes. For the past two years, Warner Bros. has been slashing its catalog of classic and modern titles under the leadership of David Zaslav to try to cut costs. Basically all of these efforts have resulted in vitriol against the company, with plenty of completed movies being shelved, shows removed from streaming services, and so much of their catalog now becoming lost media. Plus, when you look at the treatment of the Looney Tunes and their most recent film, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, you have to consider that maybe, just maybe, the people in charge of Warner Bros. have no idea what they’re doing.
Back in 2023, Warner Bros. shelved Coyote vs. Acme despite the film being completed. The same fate awaited The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, but given the film’s relatively cheap budget of around $15 million, Warner Bros. instead sold the distribution rights to Ketchup Entertainment, who distributed films like 2023’s Ferrari and last year’s Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Warner Bros. didn’t expect this movie to make any money, and as of this writing it almost will certainly not recoup its small budget, but that doesn’t really matter because the film is an absolute joy to watch, both as a fan of animation and a fan of movies in general.
The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Director: Pete Browngardt
Release Date: March 14, 2025 (Theatrical)
Rating: PG
In classic Looney Tunes fashion, The Day The Earth Blew Up follows Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, both voiced by Eric Bauza, as they initially go about their everyday lives. Daffy and Porky need money to fix their roof, and all of their efforts to hold a job fail, either because Daffy Duck does what Daffy Duck does best (be an insane jokester), or because… actually, it’s all because of Daffy being Daffy. That is until they meet Petunia Pig, voiced by Candi Milo, who suggests that the two of them work at a local bubblegum factory. All seems to be going well at first, until an alien spikes the gum with a mind control serum, turning the entire population into mindless zombies as he attempts to envelop the world in a giant bubble for some unknown reason, and only Daffy, Porky, and Petunia can stop him. So, you know, standard Looney Tunes behavior.
What’s immediately apparent about The Day The Earth Blew Up is its animation style. While you may think that I’ll offer unconditional praise for its animation, I actually think that the film has some issues regarding its animation. Yes, for the majority of its 91-minute runtime, the animation is incredibly fluid, with the expressiveness of the characters deserving a special mention. However, some sequences don’t quite land as well as they should, and the worst segment by far is the intro, which almost mimics South Park’s limited animation style for some reason. I can’t quite tell what the reason behind it was, but for a movie that excels at classic cartoon stretch and squash, it’s a weird note for the movie to begin on.
Weird intro aside, The Day The Earth Blew Up is divided into three clear segments, each with a different focus. The first third showcases gags that feel very appropriate for the series, where Daffy and Porky take on several odd jobs, fail at them, and we laugh at their failure. These moments are probably the funniest bits of the film, since seeing Daffy act as an over-the-top agent of chaos at simple tasks like delivering papers or taking a coffee order are perfect for one-off jokes. Plus, given the film’s rapid pace, even if a joke doesn’t quite land, the film is already onto the next one.
Copyright: Warner Bros
The more horror-centric second act is where the movie is at its peak, both in terms of creativity and animation. As the zombie gum slowly takes over the world, the film wisely chooses to go all in on depicting what I can only describe as “baby’s first zombie apocalypse.” Yes, it’s caused by gum, but the way it’s omnipresent and continuously becomes more and more dangerous is entertaining. There’s a sequence where a pretty unsettling monster chases the trio, which is probably the most well-animated sequence in the film, but I can easily see a young kid probably getting nightmares from it and the alien’s evil expressions much in the same way that when I was growing up I was terrified of that godforsaken clown from The Brave Little Toaster. The film commits to depicting it in a way that you don’t see all too often in a kid’s movie, but even when the situation gets bleak, the comedy and the characters still shine through.
While I wouldn’t call The Day The Earth Blew Up a character piece by any definition of the world, the cast, for the most part, delivers solid and heartwarming relationships. The standout character by far is Petunia Pig, who never really had much of a distinct personality in earlier shorts, but here is shown as being a lovable but weird nerd obsessed with finding the perfect flavor of gum. Her science jargon grows on you and the romance she develops with Porky throughout the film feels genuinely sweet. It’s a shame then that Porky himself is just kind of there. I admit, I’ve never been the biggest Porky Pig fan, so hearing about how he was going to star opposite Daffy Duck was a bit of a drag, and sadly he just doesn’t have much going on for him. He has his stutter and he’s the straight man to Daffy’s goofball, but that’s about it.
Obviously, Daffy’s brand of chaotic humor is always a delight to watch, though at points it can be a bit too much. Not so much because of how loud and energetic he can be, but because the attempts to modernize him made me want to sink into my seat in embarrassment. It’s not often, but when The Day The Earth Blew Up tried to make Daffy appeal to younger audiences, the humor just fell flat. Call me a jaded old-timer, but Looney Tunes are at their best when they don’t try to capitalize on modern trends and try to be relevant. They work when they’re focused on slapstick and physical comedy, which is, again, why the second act is as good as it is since it’s all just physical comedy.
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By the time we reach the last third of the movie, I was all in on seeing how this conflict would play out, but sadly I think the last 15 minutes or so of the film is when it’s at its weakest. It’s not bad mind you, but for a movie to shift from wacky comedy to light horror, only to then shift once more into a sci-fi adventure is a bit too much. I don’t even really understand why the shift happened because the film was doing perfectly well being a parody of zombie movies with a family-friendly touch. It’s still funny, like the numerous breaking news bits that only solidify how ridiculous everything has become, but it doesn’t hit the same way that the earlier moments do.
It does feel at times like The Day The Earth Blew Up feels like a made-for-TV movie. In fact, it was originally meant to be one. The film was supposed to air on Cartoon Network, so watching it with that in mind makes a lot of the structural decisions make sense. I can see where the commercial breaks are supposed to go, how each episode would serve as a part one, two, or three to the overarching plot, and the tonal shifts to accommodate each change. I’m sure that some people may belittle the film thanks to that information, but it’s irrelevant at the end of the day. Does this feel like it belongs more on TV or a streaming service? Yes. Does that make the movie worse? Not at all. The method of distribution shouldn’t impact our perceptions of a film. As long as the movie is good, who really cares where you watch it? Granted, I will always support theatrical releases, but in the case of this film, I’m just glad we were able to see it at all.
Everything about The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie feels like a cult classic in the making. It goes against several modern trends (2D animation, small budget, and a rapidly shifting tone and humor just to name a few), but all of it sticks the landing. It’s the kind of animated movie that just isn’t made anymore, not because tastes have changed, but because people think that a movie like it won’t appeal to audiences. Warner Bros. seems to think that the Looney Tunes aren’t relevant anymore, but the critical praise that this film has received begs to differ.
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Sure, The Day The Earth Blew Up is almost certainly going to fail financially and will make some Warner Bros. executives feel vindicated, but that doesn’t invalidate the quality of the movie. The animation is on point, the comedy works more than it misses, and it’s distinct in a way that few movies are anymore. If you ever get the chance to see it, I highly recommend watching it, not just because this is a film that desperately needs more attention, but because it’s a reminder that animation doesn’t need to be as homogenous as it’s become. Sometimes we all need to watch something a bit looney.
