Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up Film Review

Directed by: Peter Browngardt

Written by: Darrick Bachman, Peter Browngardt, Kevin Costello

Starring: Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol

Film Review by: Patrick Foley

★★★★

You can’t go wrong with the timeless characters of Looney Tunes. I mean, ok, you can… you could make a space-set feature film named Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up without even one appearance by Marvin the Martian! – I mean, what the hell, guys?? Luckily, despite this egregious oversight, this entry into the series is a family-friendly triumph.

The film is a reimagining of the lives of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza), who grow up together as brothers on the farm of their surrogate father Jim (Fred Tatasciore). The odd pairing comes together to raise funds in order to save their home when they discover a secret alien mind control plot concocted by ‘The Invader’ (Peter MacNicol). With the help of new friend Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), can they stop the world from becoming a giant ball of gum?

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up shows that there is still plenty of life and laughs in the Looney Tunes franchise yet. Filled with classic sight-gags and clever dialogue, the film is good for consistent laughs throughout from audiences of all ages. The hi-jinks and physic-defying mishaps Daffy and Porky get themselves into will be sure to entertain the kids, and there is enough wit and double-entendres for parents to enjoy too. Director Peter Browngardt never strays too far from the classic Looney Tunes formula for gags, and wisely so.

Feature versions of toon shorts run into a typical problem of struggling to extend the personalities of characters created for 10-minute segments into fully-fledged arcs that can sustain over an hour-plus running time. The Day the Earth Blew Up does a solid job of overcoming this – focusing on Daffy’s battle with inadequacy, Porky’s acceptance of Daffy’s strengths and flaws, Porky and Petunia’s growing romance, and the shared journey of fulfilling Farmer Jim’s wish against the threat of alien invasion. The sci-fi portion of the story does not truly kick in until around the halfway point, meaning we get plenty of backstory and character establishment for Porky and Daffy before things go intergalactic. Impressively, this manages to stay largely consistent with their decades-long character traits (although Daffy is not quite as cynical and far wackier than audiences may be used to). Tom and Jerry: The Movie this is not.

The film has a softer, modernised art style than the classic ‘Tunes’ – though one that remains faithful and results in only minor adjustments to the character designs. The outlines are a little airier, with rounder edges that come from modern technological advances. But this doesn’t stop the artists from taking risks with the extraterrestrial designs. Plenty of fun is had with the gum-based antagonists, flirting with gentle body-horror as the aliens put their mind-control plan into action. The only real blunder is the presentation of Farmer Jim – an original character for the movie who stands out due to his lack of motion and golden-era art design. Whilst it is admirable that the filmmakers took a risk with something different (that undeniably stands out), it feels a little too much like the film is trying to replicate SpongeBob or Ren & Stimpy. It is a little far removed from the Looney Tunes formula that ought to be confident enough of its own values to stand on them, though admittedly, some may enjoy this subversive approach to the character more than this reviewer.

The Day the Earth Blew Up is a worthy entry into the Looney Tunes legacy, doing justice to its beloved characters while adding enough modern qualities to attract new audiences. It overcomes traditional difficulties for feature-length adaptations with ease, and walks a line that allows established characters to grow authentically without clashing with their adaptations. It is great to see so much life in 2D animation, and is a promising indicator of a Looney Tunes future that is faithful to its classic values. Hopefully one that includes a certain Martian…

Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will be in UK & Irish cinemas from 13th February 2026.