The Day the Earth Blew Up

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As a kid of the 80s/90s, one of my favourite cartoons was 'The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. ' This was an interesting show to watch in a household with parents who had fond memories of the cartoon shorts in the anthology series. It was a nice way to bridge the gap between generations and spend family time together, and it still holds up enough that I can be just as entertained by those classic shorts today as I was back then. As the years progressed, however, they ended up modernizing these characters to a fault.

I won't go into much detail about it, but the 90s was mainly about making the Looney Tunes "cool" so that more 90s kids would appreciate them, not knowing that many of us already did. Things like 'Space Jam' and 'Back in Action' came and went, not impressing many people, and they didn't seem to know what to do with these characters anymore. 'The Looney Tunes Show' was good (the one with Kristen Wiig as a much better Lola Bunny than the 'Space Jam' version), but there was still something missing from it for old-school fans like me.

Although I didn't love 'The Day the Earth Blew Up,' it's probably more of what the Looney Tunes should be right now. It has a modern look but uses the classic designs of the characters involved, and it's far more classic, whacky Looney Tunes than the toned-down Tunes in the aforementioned 'Looney Tunes Show.' It's a perfect balance for new and old fans, and it's a fun time for losing their mind (in a good way). In truth, I'd like to see more of these modern Looney Tune stories with different characters.

It all starts when a meteor hits the Earth, and a scientist goes out to investigate, only to suddenly vanish. Meanwhile, we see how Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both respectively voiced by Eric Bauza) are adopted and raised by a kindly man named Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore, who also voices the scientist). One day, Jim leaves the duo, who promise to stick together and take care of their home, which eventually becomes dilapidated, and they fail a home inspection, leaving them to have to raise money to fix the place.

Eventually, they meet Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), who offers the pair a job at the Goodie Gum factory while she looks for the perfect flavour for chewing gum. After failing at multiple jobs, Daffy and Porky accept. Things go smoothly until one day, Daffy witnesses the scientist pouring green goop into the gum vats. Soon enough, Daffy is running around yelling about mind-control gum like some crazed conspiracy theorist who happens to be correct, and eventually, the trio finds themselves amid an 'Body Snatchers'-like invasion led by a puppetmaster known only as "The Invader" (Peter MacNicol).

As mentioned before, I didn't love this movie as much as I thought I might, despite what I said about it feeling like a perfect balance of modern and classic Looney Tunes material. There was the odd moment I felt was unnecessary or threw things off a little, but one should consider these nitpicks on my part. It's a fine example of a movie that could grow on me more over time, and I can't deny I had a genuine laugh or two, although nothing had me holding my ribs together, either.

The truth is that it's innocent fun and a good time for the whole family, just as the 'Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show' felt for me when I was a kid, watching it with my parents. I admire that it's aimed at everyone, not just new early teens, like 'Space Jam. I also admire how this all ended, and in truth, it's a well-written story, complete with the early life lesson of sticking together when the going gets rough. I had fun with it, but there's still no 'Looney Tunes' like the classic shorts. But check this one out if you were ever a fan. It's well worth it.

3/5

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