The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Martin Scorsese Teaches Filmmaking
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig must save their town from an alien invasion in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza) live together in a dilapidated old farmhouse they inherited from Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore). When the home inspector Mrs. Grecht (Laraine Newman) notices a fresh hole in the roof, covered in a mysterious green goo, Daffy and Porky are given ten days to complete repairs, or else the house will be condemned and torn down.
After failing at multiple odd jobs, Daffy and Porky meet Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), a flavour scientist at the local Goodie Gum factory, who can get Daffy and Porky entry-level jobs to prepare for the launch of the new Super Strongberry flavour of bubblegum. However, Daffy soon discovers that an Alien Invader (Peter MacNicol) has infiltrated the factory and contaminated the bubblegum vat with the same green goo found on the hole in Daffy and Porky’s roof. It is soon discovered that chewing this contaminated gum turns people into subservient zombies.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Synopsis
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is an animated science fiction comedy co-written and directed by Peter Browngardt. The film is being touted as the first fully animated Looney Tunes feature film containing original material. Toronto-born voice actor Eric Bauza voices both Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, who in the world of this film were raised together on a farm by Farmer Jim, depicted as a rotoscoped painting. The film’s supporting voice cast includes Candi Milo as Porky’s love interest Petunia Pig, Peter MacNicol (Ghostbusters II, Ally McBeal) as the Invader, Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Space Jam) as the Mayor, and Laraine Newman (Saturday Night Live) as Mrs. Grecht.
The plot of the film sees Daffy and Porky trying to get a job to save their house. However, this turns into a plan to save the world, once it is discovered that the hot new Super Strongberry flavour of bubblegum is contaminated with an alien goo that turns whoever chews the gum into a zombie. Throughout this adventure, the friendship between Porky and Daffy is put to the test.
My Thoughts on The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
The last few years haven’t been kind to Looney Tunes as a film franchise. The legacy sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy was released in 2021 to poor reviews and the planned 2023 release of Coyote vs. Acme was cancelled, with the film remaining in limbo, with many fearing that it will join fellow cancelled film Batgirl as a Warner Bros. tax write-off. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie almost met a similar fate, as the film was originally produced to be released on HBO Max in 2022. However, when that release was cancelled, along with all other direct-to-Max films following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the film was picked up by the independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment for a theatrical release.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a standalone film with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig being the only core Looney Tunes characters to be featured, with the film also featuring a major role for side-character Petunia Pig. While the entire film plays out like a feature-length version of a typical Looney Tunes short, The Day the Earth Blew Up also features a short-with-in-the-film, featuring Porky and Daffy trying out various jobs. The film also tackles the complicated friendship between Porky and Daffy, as the latter’s looney behaviour is sometimes too much to handle.
While The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is ultimately a film aimed at kids, there are still many jokes in the film that would probably be better understood by the grown-up kids in the audience. This includes a TikTok twerking joke and references to sci-fi horror movies, such as the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and John Carpenter’s The Thing. The Day the Earth Blew Up also features some pitch-perfect record drops in the form of Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”
In anything, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie serves as a reminder of how relevant the Looney Tunes franchise remains, 95 years after the production of the first shorts. This film works as both a throwback to the original shorts, while also having a modern feel. Let’s hope that The Day the Earth Blew Up is a success, so Coyote vs. Acme may finally see the light of day.
Trailer for The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
