Wholesome PG slapstick comedy. Classic Looney Tunes cartoon violence, a scrappy underdog vs. corporate greed, no profanity or sexual content. Great for family movie night.
Coyote vs. Acme is a live-action/animation hybrid directed by Dave Green, based on Ian Frazier's 1990 satirical New Yorker essay "Coyote v. Acme." After decades of catastrophic product failures in his pursuit of the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote (voiced by Eric Bauza) decides he's had enough of Acme's faulty rocket skates, anvils, and dynamite — so he hires unambitious lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue the Acme Corporation for damages. Avery's sharp, Oxford-educated niece Paige (Lana Condor) pushes the case further than her uncle ever intended, putting them up against Acme's legal machine, led by John Cena. The film's road to release is itself notable: Warner Bros. Discovery completed the movie in 2023, then shelved it entirely as a tax write-off alongside Batgirl, drawing a fierce online backlash from fans and industry figures alike. Independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment ultimately paid roughly $50 million for the rights and is releasing it theatrically on August 28, 2026 — a rare instance of public pressure actually rescuing a finished studio film.
This is rated PG and plays almost entirely as classic Looney Tunes slapstick: explosions, falls off cliffs, anvils dropping, rockets misfiring — the same stylized, non-realistic cartoon violence that has entertained families for eight decades. Nobody is realistically hurt in any lasting way; it's played for laughs, not menace. There is no profanity of note, no sexual content, no LGBT content, and no occult or spiritual darkness anywhere in the premise. The film's edge, such as it is, comes from mild corporate satire — Acme is portrayed as a callous, litigation-happy conglomerate more interested in its bottom line than the safety of its customers. That satire is handled with a light touch appropriate for kids, but it does mean adults in the audience will pick up on some pointed commentary about corporate indifference to harm — hardly inappropriate, but worth knowing going in if you want to discuss it with older children afterward.
Proverbs 22:22-23 warns against exploiting the poor and needy, "for the Lord will take up their case." Coyote vs. Acme, in its own cartoonish way, tells a story about a "little guy" pursuing accountability against a powerful company that has repeatedly caused him real harm through negligence — a theme children can absorb without any heavy-handedness, and one that lines up with Scripture's consistent concern for justice for the powerless. Micah 6:8 calls believers to "act justly and to love mercy" — themes that surface gently here as Kevin Avery, an initially apathetic lawyer, is pushed by his niece to actually care about doing right by his client rather than settling for the easiest payout.
Yes, in a light, family-comedy way. Kevin Avery's arc moves him from cynical, low-effort lawyering toward actually fighting for a client who's been wronged. The Coyote himself, long defined by an obsessive and ultimately pointless pursuit of the Road Runner, finds a more meaningful outlet for his persistence by standing up against real corporate harm. None of this is spiritually deep material — it's a comedy first — but it models perseverance, standing up for the vulnerable, and found-family warmth between Avery and his niece without anything to counteract it.
Coyote vs. Acme scores 74/100 — Spiritually Safe, and one of the cleanest wide theatrical releases of the year. There's nothing here for Christian parents to be wary of beyond the standard cartoon slapstick violence that has defined this franchise since the 1940s. This is a genuinely solid pick for family movie night, with enough underdog-vs-corporate-greed heart to give both kids and adults something to enjoy.
GodlyScore evaluates every title across signal categories grounded in Scripture: profanity (Ephesians 4:29), sexual content (1 Corinthians 6:18-20), violence, and virtue strength. Coyote vs. Acme registers none on profanity, sexualization, and LGBT content, only mild stylized cartoon violence, and a positive score bump for its underdog-versus-injustice storyline and healthy family/mentor relationship between Avery and Paige.
See our Christian Movies for Families hub for more clean picks, and our Best Christian Movies guide for comparison. For background on the film's unusual path to release, see the Wikipedia entry on Coyote vs. Acme.