THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP - Mark Reviews Movies

The Day the Earth Blew Up, Ketchup Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 12, 2024

You could count the number of original, feature-length Looney Tunes movies on one hand, include this new one, and still have a thumb to spare. That's seemingly unbelievable, considering the longevity and output of this cartoon franchise, which started almost 100 years ago and has more than 1,000 shorts to its name (well, technically, names, since there was also the Merrie Melodies brand). What's even more incredible to consider is that The Day the Earth Blew Up is the first fully-animated original Looney Tunes feature. While it may have taken almost a century for someone to do it, the good news is that the film captures the manic, creative spirit of these characters.

The even better news, perhaps, is that first-time director Peter Browngardt has also re-created the style of those old, classic shorts by assembling artists and animators to actually draw, color, and shadow everything in it by hand. Sure, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck may not look exactly as they did at the height of their popularity, but their new appearances don't change a single thing about what we know about the characters. Porky still stutters in that affectionate way (In fact, we learn how he got that speech impediment here), and Daffy is, well, exactly as his name suggests (He's the reason for his pig pal's stammer).

Teaming these two together is the first of several smart moves on the part of a sizeable team of screenwriters that numbers 11 without counting several story consultants on the project. Porky's the straight man to Daffy's, well, daffiness. It's a straitlaced, well-mannered, and entirely responsible character paired up with an agent of pure chaos, who here starts multiple fires and, in one instance, tries to put out the flames with an oversized mallet. With gags like that, the franchise appears to be in very good hands (even if the studio that owns the property doesn't seem to realize it, although that's an entirely different discussion to be had).

The voices of these characters are in sturdy care, too. No one, of course, could replace the incomparable Mel Blanc, who voiced most of the cast of the shorts and other projects for more than 50 years, but taking over vocal duties for Porky and Daffy in this film is Eric Bauza. Those who have watched some of the Looney Tunes shorts that have been made in recent years already know that the actor does a great impression of the voices we've known for so long, and in this feature, Bauza gets to add some layers to Porky and Daffy, as two wrestle with feeling like failures and, as the title gives away, try to stop the entire planet from being destroyed.

In this story, Porky and Daffy, apparently orphaned or abandoned, grow up together under the immensely patient care of Farmer Jim (voice of Fred Tatasciore). When he finally departs for some much-needed rest after the pig and duck have grown up, he only asks that his adopted children stick together and keep the farm as a home. When an alien spaceship crashes through a large section of the roof, that's only the newest problem with the house the two avoid, leading the local home-owners association to give the pair a week to fix the roof or be vacated from the property.

The facts of the spaceship and the title, obviously, mean this story has a pretty straightforward plot, but it's nice that the filmmakers ease us and these characters into it. After all, this is all very new territory for Porky and Daffy, being the stars of an entire movie devoted to them and in which they have to save the world, but the screenplay is wise enough to know that the jokes and these characters' shenanigans should come first. The entire story, for example, stops in its tracks so that we can be treated to a sequence, presented as a traditional Looney Tunes short, of Porky and Daffy trying—and failing in a variety of ways, of course—to hold down a series of jobs.

As for the plot itself, it is formulaic but never gets in the way of the filmmakers putting the gags in the spotlight. The spacecraft is operated by an alien invader (voiced by Peter MacNicol), who has a dastardly plan to use glowing green goo to put the entire human race into a zombie-like state.

That involves a popular brand of chewing gum, which is how our hapless duo, who get jobs at the factory, realize the alien's scheme and also how Petunia Pig (voice of Candi Milo), a taste engineer for the company who is obsessed with finding the perfect flavor and licks everything she comes across, enters the story. In Looney Tunes history, Petunia has been around almost as long as Porky, and here, she gets a fun, nerdy makeover and a real skill at using a Bunsen burner as a flamethrower.

To speak of any more specifics would be to just start listing jokes, sight gags (The sentient gum that makes everyone into zombies is amusingly grotesque), and how Daffy's innate ability to cause havoc actually becomes a significant part of the plot. We'll leave that stuff alone, then, because the enjoyment here is in witnessing how the humor, the characters, and the plotting mere into a clever joke-making machine. The Day the Earth Blew Up is an energetic and funny passing of the baton that shows this new generation of cartoon makers has a solid grip on franchise's legacy.

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