Enhance Productions

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Review

   

Written by:

jaro235

91 Minutes of Looney Tunes Bliss

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is rated PG for Mild crude humour, science fiction themes and animated violence.
Enhance Ticket Rating:
40/50 Tickets

Synopsis: 

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig live together in the house that they were raised in. After failing a house inspection due to the hole in their roof, the duo have just ten days to get the place fixed up. In order to pay for the damage, they get a job in a gum factory. That could help them get the money they need, if it wasn’t for a scheming alien with a wicked plan involving gum. It’s up to Daffy, Porky and Petunia to foil this evil alien’s dastardly plot!

Image : Warner Bros. Discovery

I still remember the day this was, as well as several other animated projects, sold off by Warner Bros. This was suspiciously soon after Judge Doom– *cough* I mean David Zaslav took over Warner Bros. Discovery as its new CEO and president. It was set to be released digitally or as a TV-movie and was bumped up to a theatrical release when acquired by Ketchup Entertainment (Ruimy)! I was pumped to see this movie, both as a Looney Tunes fan and as someone who has been itching to see hand-drawn animation on the big screen recently. The weekend it came out, it was forecasted to rain all weekend. So, I decided to go see it Friday, after work, to beat the bad weather. It was freaking worth it!

The Day the Earth Blew Up is a Looney Tunes fan’s cinematic dream. I’ve enjoyed all of the live-action Looney Tunes films to varying degrees (yes, even A New Legacy to an extent), but this movie beats all of them. There are no pointless celebrity voices here, no live-action bits, no product placement and no Porky rapping. This movie is just 91 minutes of: funny, exciting and expressive Looney Tunes madness. From the get-go, when I saw the amazingly hilarious opening credits sequence, I knew I was in for a fun ride.

The story serves as a pretty solid monster movie parody where the odd duck is right for once. This movie could have easily felt stretched too thin, but the pacing allows it to progress naturally and allows the apocalypse to build up one step at time. The stakes gradually grow higher each act and it leads to some fun plot twists. The story is not groundbreaking, but it works very well for this kind of movie and it gives the spotlight to the Looney Tunes.

What really shines through here is the writing and humor. This movie has a huge variety of gags and jokes that all fit like a glove in the Looney Tunes universe. It has visual gags, subtle humor, slapstick, fourth-wall-breaking moments, animation sequences, dark humor, outrageous facial expressions and so much more. If you watched this with a book on a bunch of different kinds of gags, you could check off most of them; with almost every gag landing! The timing of these gags are great and the script is clever at incorporating them into the story.

Porky and Daffy make for incredibly likable leads. They are two adorably hilarious goofballs who drive each other crazy, but they are really good friends deep down. It is heartwarming to see a pair of Looney Tunes characters who care about each other. Also, I really liked seeing Daffy’s loonier side shine here. We have seen a lot of Daffy’s jealous and egotistical side in the other films, so it’s refreshing to see his original crazy personality here. Porky makes for a great straight man (term for a character who sets up the punch line of a joke) in this movie, but he has his silly moments and lines too.

Porky’s relationship with Petunia’s character is absolutely adorable. They play off each other perfectly and their chemistry is genuine and sweet. I like Petunia a lot as a character too. Porky and Petunia get a really bonkers scene that sees them kick a lot of butt, which prompted a big smile on my face. She is very resourceful, friendly and tough, but she is also goofy and a bit experimental, which makes her a lot of fun to watch. 

Porky and Petunia’s romance and Porky’s friendship with Daffy both bring a lot of heart to this goofy movie, and they gave me a few moments that I found surprisingly touching. Now, there are a couple moments where I thought the emotions of the scene were over the top or cheesy, but in general, director Pete Browngardt delivers on the heart here.

Eric Bauza voices Daffy and Porky, and he kills both roles. With Daffy, I knew he would kill it, because Bauza nails Daffy’s goofy personality and outbursts so well that he reminds me of Mel Blanc’s performance as Daffy (the iconic original voice actor for many of the most beloved Looney Tunes characters). With Porky, I was a little more worried, because Porky is usually voiced by Bob Bergen. Especially when Bob Bergen is so perfect for the role. Bauza does a great job as Porky though! He sounds exactly like the pig, with his tics, speech and stutters. Honestly, it does not sound that different from Bergen’s performance. Also, Bauza’s freakout-moments for both characters were a joy to watch. He is an absolute gem of a voice actor and he gives two of his best performances in this movie. 

Actress Candi Milo is no slouch as Petunia though. Milo’s voice for Petunia is as adorable as it is expressive, and she gives a lot of personality to Petunia with her voice work. Milo and Bauza play off each other perfectly. Actor Peter MacNicol hams it up as the character of The Invader. He does not hold anything back while playing an alien who has a scheme revolving around gum, of all things. My only minor issue with The Invader is that I kind of wish that Looney Tunes alum Marvin the Martian was the antagonist instead of this guy, since Daffy and Marvin have a whole show in which they are enemies. His role for this character is small, but voice actor Fred Tatasciore cracked me up as Farmer Jim. Tatasciore sounds like he is in a completely different movie, as Farmer Jim looks like a character from a different movie– making any and all of his scenes hilarious to watch. The supporting cast is wonderful too as it seems they are all having the times of their lives while voicing these characters and exaggerating their expressions. 

The animation in this movie is awesome. This movie looks so smooth on the big screen. It uses amazing camera-panning effects to create expressive movements and incredible animation that showcases the colorful expressions of the characters. There are also some fantastically animated backgrounds and incredibly thoughtful comedic details drawn in throughout the film. One of my favorite scenes in this film is where Daffy and Porky are working in the gum factory when the style shifts into a sequence that seems to be inspired by the pink elephant set piece from Dumbo. It is such a visually creative and funny way to show how Porky and Daffy found a job where they work together well. For a film that was supposed to come out on HBO Max or Cartoon Network as a made-for-tv production, this movie looks amazing and it is more than worthy of a theatrical release.

The soundtrack is great too. The movie has a fantastic score by Joshua Moshier that captures the zany nature of the story and Looney Tunes as a whole. There are some pretty cool needle drops too. My favorite is “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. which plays in an action sequence. Normally, I don’t typically care for record scratches in animated films, but this one fits perfectly with the scene.

There are, really, not a whole lot of problems that I have with this movie, but it is not perfect. Some of the jokes do not land, particularly one involving social-media influencers. I know the gag is meant to poke fun at how a lot of people think it’s easy to be an influencer, and that they can do just about anything for likes, like twerking. However, seeing Daffy Duck shaking his butt on the big screen just made me cringe– even though the only time I did so was here. Again, the antagonist is okay and I like the twist on him, but he pales in comparison to the trio of heroes. I kind of wonder how the movie would have turned out if Marvin was the villain.

I will also say that I noticed a couple of fans were disappointed when they saw that Bugs Bunny was not in this movie. I can understand wanting to see Bugs in a movie like this, but as someone who is a huge fan of Bugs, I don’t see why this is a deal breaker. Daffy and Porky are good enough characters to carry this movie on their shoulders, and their dynamic together blends to make a pretty solid movie. I do not think this movie needed Bugs at all.

I had a blast with The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. I felt like a kid in the red-cushioned seat, as if I were a child watching my favorite tv show, but on the big screen and for 91 minutes. Just seeing a beautiful hand-drawn Looney Tunes movie in theaters in 2025 is surreal, but for it to turn out to be as entertaining as this makes it even better. I am really grateful that I not only got to see this movie, but that I got to see it in theaters. It is early in the year, but I would not be surprised if this ends up being my favorite animated movie of 2025. Definitely go see this movie in theaters, especially if you’re a Looney Tunes fan. I guarantee you are gonna have a great time with this one.

Stay through the credits for a classic Looney Tunes moment.

Work Cited

Ruimy, J. ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’ Acquired for Distribution by Ketchup! World of Reel https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2024/8/8/4mav72s62r50aq629sdmf8aj3udqum

This article was written by Enhance’s friend Jared Jacoby and edited by team member Sidney J Floyd-Armstrong. Be sure to subscribe and keep an eye on the blog for more from our team and for more movie and video game reviews from Jared!

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