The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)

I heard from someone recently that this has been hailed as the first fully-animated Looney Tunes feature film and I was ready to dispute that claim. Then I realised that the beloved features I was thinking of, films I watched repeatedly throughout my childhood, were actually the compendiums that simply stitched a number of their memorable cartoons together. So, yeah, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the first fully-animated Looney Tunes movies. Which perhaps explains why I wanted it to be so much better.

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced here by Eric Bauza) have been brought up together by the kindly Father Jim (Fred Tatasciore). Sadly, Farmer Jim passes away in some of the earliest scenes in the movie, leaving Daffy and Porky to look after their home. That becomes tricky when their roof is damaged by a UFO. Trying a variety of jobs to raise money for the repair, it soon becomes obvious that Daffy is a bit more of a liability than Porky, but it's the former who stumbles upon an alien plan to control the human race via bubblegum. Daffy and Porky end up working with Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) on a plan to save the planet. But are they the ones we really want to trust with the fate of the world?

Written by about a dozen people, including director Peter Browngardt, this is a fun riff on many classic sci-fi movies from the 1950s. Eagle-eyed fans will be kept busy looking out for all of the references and homages (there's even an unexpectedly brilliant use of imagery many will recognise from John Carpenter's The Thing). Unfortunately, as much fun as that is, the sci-fi element doesn't make up for the fact that this is slightly lacking in the Looney Tuney department. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig are iconic enough, but the lack of other familiar faces is hugely disappointing. Would it have taken too much brainstorming to make use of Pepé Le Pew's particular . . . ability? Have Tweety Pie and Sylvester teaming up to explore dangerous territory? There's not even a Duck Dodgers or Marvin The Martian moment, and that doesn't sit right with me.

The animation style is pleasant and lively, as you'd expect for a Looney Tunes adventure, and there are enough gags thrown around that enough of them land in between the many that don't work quite as well, but there's something missing here. There's no outright anarchy, which was always one of the best things associated with Looney Tunes. Okay, there's one moment, the best moment in the entire film, that feels full-on anarchic. That's it though. One drop of water in an arid desert.

Bauza does well with his voice roles (and let's not understate how essential that is) , as does Milo, and Peter MacNicol is a great choice to provide the voice of The Invader. The entire voice cast are quite flawless, as is all of the foley work and the score. I wish they'd all been in a much better movie.

I've already heard a lot of praise for this, and I'm happy that other people have enjoyed it a bit more than I did. I enjoyed it as a bit of animated fun, don't get me wrong, but I didn't once feel that it came close to fully embracing the potential of the Looney Tunes "looney-verse". 

6/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Batman Ninja (2018)

Okay, first point to be made here, I watched the American version of Batman Ninja, which was apparently rewritten by Leo Chu and Eric Garcia into something fairly different from the Japanese version, written by Kazuki Nakashima. It's hard to imagine how different the two incarnations could be, especially given how the direction from Junpei Mizusaki does such a great job of reworking the familiar Batman imagery in something much closer to the traditional style of anime, but it may well be worth checking it out when I have the time and opportunity.

Let's get to the plot. Batman is thrown into Feudal Japan, all thanks to a time machine created by Gorilla Grodd. Various villains have already staked their territorial claims, with The Joker being the one who seems to be the one with the best plan for ruling all (of course). But don't count out Penguin, Two-Face, Deathstroke, or, indeed, Gorilla Grodd himself. Any one of them could have a surprise up their sleeve to try and gain the upper hand over the others. Batman will have to rely on his ingenuity, some older battle tactics, and some other creations that I won't spoil here.

This is absolutely superb stuff. I've been a fan of most of the animated Batman movies that I have seen over the years but the recent twists on the material (I am thinking mainly of this outing and Batman: Gotham By Gaslight) have allowed film fans to get their usual dose of batty action without it feeling too repetitive and stale. Give me another example of this, even if it turns out to be an interesting failure, over something like Batman: The Killing Joke. Give me another pairing of Batman and Scooby-Doo over that.

Guided by Mizusaki, who has a small selection of projects on his CV so far, the look and feel of this is a perfect blend of the two worlds. That seems to be thanks to Takashi Okazaki, the man responsible for the character and background designs, and probably best known to anime fans for being the creator of Afro Samurai. Things start off with nice detailing throughout, drawing viewers into the world, and then the creative visuals just keep building throughout, leading to a third act that is delightful and potentially surprising (certainly to those who thought this would be more in the DC aesthetic than anime).

The voice cast all do decent work. Again, I am talking of the American version here. Roger Craig Smith isn't the best Batman, most of us will know who has the best voice for the role, but he's good. Tony Hale is a very good actor for The Joker, and Tara Strong has fun in the role of Harley Quinn. You also have Grey Griffin as Catwoman, Tom Kenny as Penguin, and Fred Tatasciore as Gorilla Grodd. Some of the cast members voice multiple roles, as standard, and there are others who also put in good work alongside the main players.

I encourage all fans of animation to check this one out. Every scene is beautiful, although I will try to avoid trotting out the old expression about being able to hang every frame up as a painting (but . . . yo could though), the storyline is well put together, the action beats are impressive, and it's yet another top-notch animated outing for The Dark Knight.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.