As someone who grew up with the Looney Tunes, there’s certainly a sense of nostalgic warmth when watching something as unapologetically wacky (and 2D) as Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up.
Nostalgia only takes you so far though, and as much as The Day the Earth Blew Up is a bombastically entertaining cartoon of sorts (director Peter Browngardt took inspiration from sci-fi B-movies from the 50s for its central narrative), it never quite matches the energy of the Looney Tunes of yore, overstaying its welcome (even at 91 minutes) in the process.
Not maintaining that same level of strength isn’t to say Browngardt’s film is weak, as it proves a fine successor on its own accord, pairing Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza) as surrogate brothers, taken in by the hulking, but sweet natured Father Jim (Fred Tatasciore). He raises the two with love and patience (emphasis on the latter), before walking off into the afterlife, leaving the two their family home, which they promise to cherish in return.
Cherishing the home isn’t exactly what Daffy and Porky do, and when an outer-worldly object crashes through their roof, their household woes reach the ultimate breaking point, leading the two to look for employment as a means to fix it. To make matters worse, that object from above was alien in nature, and it brought with it a goo that makes its way into the local chewing gum factory, leading everyone in town to turn into a zombie upon chewing the product.
The 11-person strong penned script (yes, there are double digited-credited writers on this) has fun with the cheesy sci-fi premise, though, quite bizarrely, it almost plays it straight in a narrative sense, with the shape of the story molding in a way that doesn’t really surprise or lean into anything beyond the outlandishness we predict; the film is more a fun experience in its early stages, with Daffy and Porky rough-housing with one another (there’s always dynamite involved) or when they’re looking for work.
Though the film overall would’ve worked as a stronger product as a more traditional Looney short, the back-end of The Day the Earth Blew Up finds a new sense of energy when it introduces both Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) and The Invader (Peter MacNicol), a third component to assist in Daffy and Porky’s mission, and the story’s “villain”, respectively; MacNicol’s voice work is particularly entertaining, as he leans into the ridiculousness of his character’s intentions.
Whilst it may not necessarily be an entire return to Looney Tunes classicality, it can’t be denied that seeing something rendered with clear love for two-dimensional animation, as well as framing itself with a very kid-friendly mentality, is stupendously joyous in the current theatrical climate; especially within the WB animation umbrella.
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is screening in Australian theatres from March 27th, 2025.
