Casey Chong ranks the Looney Tunes movies from worst to best…
The Looney Tunes cartoon franchise has been a mainstay for kids across multiple generations, stretching way back to the 1930s. Popular characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, have made their mark as part of the enduring pop culture phenomenon with their distinct personalities. The franchise not only gave us animated shorts, but also made its way to theaters with feature-length versions like The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie in 1979 and The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie in 1981. Except these animated features were actually a compilation of shorts, and it wasn’t until 1996 that Looney Tunes finally got their much-deserved theatrical release. That movie in question was Space Jam. Now, with the long-delayed Coyote vs. Acme out this month [read our ★★★★ review here], let’s take a look back at the four Looney Tunes movies released between 1996 and 2024, all ranked from worst to best…
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
Twenty-five years after Space Jam hit the zeitgeist with its winning combo of peak Michael Jordan teaming up with Looney Tunes cartoon characters for an ultimate basketball challenge, Warner Bros. figured they could recapture the magic with a different NBA superstar. And that person in question is LeBron James, whose historic fame comes from leading the NBA’s all-time scoring record and winning four NBA Championships.
So, Space Jam: A New Legacy retains the same live-action/animation hybrid while updating the familiar storytelling beat of a legendary star stuck in a different reality before joining forces with Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters to win a high-stakes basketball game. This includes the virtual space setting (Warner 3000 Serververse), a rogue AI antagonist (Don Cheadle’s AI-G Rhythm), and a video game format highlighting power-ups and combo moves.
Unlike the 1996 hit, Space Jam: A New Legacy piles up with the studio’s IP-heavy cameos and film library – DC and Hanna-Barbera characters, The Iron Giant, The Matrix, and even Casablanca, to name a few – which makes Looney Tunes look like they play second fiddle in their own movie. Despite the movie trying its best to keep the pace fairly brisk with plenty of zany fun and basketball action, the nearly two-hour runtime could have been trimmed to minimize clunky exposition. This is especially true with the movie taking too long to get to the point. Space Jam: A New Legacy cost the studio a fortune to make – a $150 million budget, to be exact – and despite the brand recognition and the LeBron James factor, the movie failed to translate into box-office success.
Space Jam (1996)
Casting NBA legend Michael Jordan was a novelty move in Space Jam. But let’s face it, his acting comes across as wooden, even reminiscent of a deer in headlights when interacting with Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters. But Jordan was the MVP of basketball at the time, and his iconic presence on the big screen carries a lot of weight in a movie that focuses on the sport itself. He basically plays himself here, which follows his misadventure as he gets sucked into an alternate universe filled with Looney Tunes.
The reason? Bugs Bunny desperately wants him to help them win the upcoming basketball game, or they will be enslaved by the tyrannical Mr. Swackhammer (voiced by Danny DeVito) in his outer-space theme park on Moron Mountain. Jordan reluctantly agrees, and the rest of the movie moves at a zippy pace, from teaching the clueless Looney Tunes how to play basketball to competing against the gigantic Monstars, who have absorbed selected NBA talents (among them are Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing). All this in just under 90 minutes – fast, lean, and packed with enough colorful visuals to keep you occupied, but at the expense of hastily put-together character arcs.
The live-action/animation hybrid is vibrant, while Jordan’s larger-than-life persona, as long as you can look past his stiff acting, pairs well with the anarchic spirit of Bugs Bunny and his equally looney gang. Space Jam also benefits from a fun supporting cast, notably Wayne Knight as Jordan’s clumsy publicist and Bill Murray’s scene-stealing role as the deadpan version of himself.
The basketball game itself boasts a few entertaining moments, and let’s not forget about the unforgettable soundtrack, from R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” to Seal’s “Fly Like an Eagle” and Quad City DJ’s infectious title song. The movie was a big hit, taking in a cool $250.2 million on an $80 million budget, and even made its mark as the highest-grossing basketball movie at the time before The First Slam Dunk dethroned it twenty-six years later.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
Believe it or not, Looney Tunes: Back in Action wasn’t originally intended as a standalone Looney Tunes feature film project but rather a straight-up sequel to Space Jam. But it didn’t work out as planned, especially after Michael Jordan wasn’t keen to return for the second go-round.
Thankfully, bringing in Joe Dante helps a lot in giving us one of the best Looney Tunes movies, who understands the chaotic nature of these cartoon characters and embraces them wholeheartedly. He does a great job of directing Larry Doyle’s meta-heavy screenplay, depicting the Looney Tunes as actors working for Warner Bros. and even incorporating an inside joke about Brendan Fraser’s lowly security guard, DJ Drake, being an aspiring stunt double for the “real” Fraser in The Mummy.
The story proper revolves around Drake and the studio’s VP of Comedy, Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman), who reluctantly teams up to locate the all-important “Blue Monkey” diamond after Drake’s actor and secret-spy father, Damian (Timothy Dalton), has been captured. The movie also features Steve Martin, whose Mr. Chairman brings a gleefully over-the-top vibe to his antagonist role.
Like Space Jam, Dante adopts the live-action/animation hybrid to vibrantly entertaining results, from the frantic Warner Bros. backlot chase to the memorable Louvre Museum scene. The latter is easily the highlight of the movie, showcasing Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck literally jumping from one famous painting to another to escape from Elmer Fudd – one of them is Edvard Munch’s The Scream – and even matching them with different art styles. It’s a pity that Looney Tunes: Back in Action failed to resonate with audiences at the time, resulting in an undeserved flop, but it has since been reassessed as a cult classic.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)
Three years after Space Jam: A New Legacy came and gone with little fanfare, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie emerges as the best Looney Tunes movie so far. Instead of continuing the tradition of the live-action/animation hybrid seen in the previous three theatrical releases, director Pete Browngardt of Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa embraces 2D animation, minus the live-action appearances.
The story even sidelines Bugs Bunny in favor of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig taking the limelight for a change, focusing on their brotherly dynamic that helps anchor this well-paced 91-minute animated feature. The added buddy-comedy vibe between the frequently anxious but level-headed Porky Pig and the neurotic, yet accident-prone Daffy Duck makes them fun to watch. Not to mention, Browngardt, who also co-wrote the screenplay, has a field day parodying the 1950s sci-fi horror tropes with a knowingly B-movie energy: Porky and Daffy find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy theory revolving around The Invader’s (voiced by Peter MacNicol) nefarious plot to control every person’s mind using pink bubble gum.
Beneath its wacky plot lies a razor-sharp satire about how humans can easily succumb to the herd mentality in consumer culture. Originally greenlit by Warner Bros. Animation in 2021 to be made for their HBO Max streaming service, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was unfortunately shelved after completion due to the studio’s cost-cutting strategy, before an independent film distributor, Ketchup Entertainment, took the opportunity to acquire the rights. But despite garnering positive responses, it barely made an impact at the worldwide box office.
How would you rank the Looney Tunes movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
