Coyote vs. Acme

Coyote vs. Acme is showing at Showcase Southampton from Sunday 13 September, with screenings continuing into Monday. It's a movie that takes one of the most recognisable figures in animation and puts him in a courtroom drama, and it's easy to see why it's caught people's attention.

The story follows Wile E. Coyote, who, after decades of being blown to bits by bombs, demolished by dynamite, mangled by magnets, battered by boulders, trampled by trains, tricked by tunnels, sprung by springs, steamrolled by steamrollers, maligned by misfires, bedevilled by bungees, rattled by rockets, backstabbed by bat suits, rocked by rocket skates, upended by unicycles, quaked by quake pills, rubberised by rogue bands and hurled off every cliff in the Southwest, finally fights back. He teams up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery, played by Will Forte, to take on slick corporate counsel Buddy Crane, played by John Cena, and ACME, Inc., the profit-obsessed conglomerate behind every one of the Coyote's chaotic catastrophes.

It's directed by Dave Green and runs for 1 hour and 43 minutes. The premise is a long-overdue reckoning for a character who's spent his whole life as the punchline, and seeing him trade his usual gadgets for a legal battle against the company that sold them to him is a funny enough hook to carry the whole thing. It's a bit of a departure from the cartoons we grew up with, but that's exactly where the comedy comes from.

On Sunday 13 September, there are three showtimes: 09:30, 19:00, and 21:30. If you can't make those, Monday 14 September has plenty more to choose from: 11:20, 12:10, 13:50, 14:40, 17:10, 19:40, and 22:10. You'll find it at Showcase Southampton, Level 4, 723 Highfield Road, Southampton.