The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)
For something subtitled A Looney Tunes Movie, The Day the Earth Blew Up doesn’t have the Looney Tunes touch. In actual fact, it’s a kid’s animated movie that happens to include a few characters from the franchise – in this case, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the often overlooked (one could argue completely forgotten) Petunia Pig. Even then, it’s more in name only; most of their famous personality quirks are toned down, perhaps to make the film more family friendly. If you go into this expecting the adult-oriented humor prevalent in the original Warner Bros. cartoons, or even in the animated/live action hybrid movies of the last thirty years, you’ll be sorely disappointed. You’re going to get jokes and physical gags more likely to appeal to children in the five-to-eleven age range.
This isn’t to say that the film is bad. It’s harmless, innocent cartoon fun. Goofiness abounds, in no small part because of a very wacky 1930s-style Daffy (voiced by Eric Bauza). The animation, while not up to par with the likes of Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, is smooth, colorful, bright, and nearly seamless in its blending of what was hand drawn and generated on computers. It even has a positive message about the power of friendship, even when the friends don’t have very much in common. Despite its conspicuous lack of the Looney Tunes brand of esoteric, sometimes risqué humor, there are some amusing insider references that adults will be better able to pick up on, most notably a plot that pays homage to The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Armageddon, and the zombie movie of your choice.
In said plot, a scary-looking alien with a maniacal laugh (voiced by Peter MacNicol) puts into motion a seemingly evil plot to taint the Earth’s entire supply of chewing gum with a glowing green goo and turn everyone into a mindless drone. The goo makes the gum itself come to life, gaining eyeballs and tentacles before wrapping around the chewer’s brain. I guess that’s why, when turned, people can only say the word “chew.” The other parts of the alien’s plan are initially a mystery, but we know right off the bat his ultimate goal is access to “Earth’s most precious resource” – and no, I wouldn’t dream of spoiling that for you. It’s up to Daffy, Porky (also voiced by Bauza), and Porky’s love interest Petunia (voiced by Candi Milo) to stop the extraterrestrial menace.
Their involvement is a story unto itself. Porky and Daffy, established as orphans raised together by a burly, bearded farmer (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), lack the money needed to repair their dilapidated childhood home after it fails a house inspection; initial attempts at employment, all ruined by Daffy’s unfiltered nuttiness, culminate in their meeting Petunia and securing entry-level jobs at the gum factory she works at. Petunia, a flavor scientist, hates her company’s boring, conventional gum flavors and is always conducting experiments to discover a bold, exciting new taste – experiments that involve such mouth-watering ingredients as rotten eggs, squid ink, and a dish sponge. Shockingly, the right ingredient continues to elude her.
You wouldn’t think an animated movie, especially one just ninety-one minutes long, would have too many endings. And yet this one does. I obviously can’t give anything away; suffice it to say that, like the final acts of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and True Lies, the resolution of one problem leads to the discovery of another, in turn leading to more resolutions. Knowing that children will hear the message of sticking together no matter what, both figuratively and literally, did help me to look past some of the narrative excess, as did another message, namely that appearances can be deceiving. Still, I couldn’t help but think about the way the original cartoon shorts would end; it was generally about finding the right gag, be it verbal or physical, rather than the obligation to provide positive themes for younger audiences.
Having said that, I don’t think the film’s problems would have been fixed by a more faithful Looney Tunes rewrite of the script – which, incidentally, is credited to no less than eleven people. I think there shouldn’t have been any connection to Looney Tunes at all; the characters should have been original creations in a film that would otherwise tell the exact same story (and given the B-movie sci-fi/horror influences, it probably would have been a great Halloween release). I’m recommending The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, but only for the children it’s aimed at. Nostalgia for the Warner Bros. cartoons, most made decades before they were born, is far less likely to cloud their judgments. I don’t recommend it for older fans of the Looney Tunes franchise. It simply doesn’t have anything they would want to see.
