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Shrines / Wile E. Coyote (American Animated Character)
Last Updated:21/09/2023
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This page and my comments here are where this whole shrine started! I've tried to give a lot of different eras a chance, after all I think there were only 16 orignal ones penned by Jones and Maltese. I've organized my little mini-reviews here in chronological order by release date, because that's what made the most sense to me. There are also a few outliers which are not cartoons, but I wanted to gush about them a little because there is some really cool stuff in the back catalogue!
Fast and Furry-ous
Released: September 17th, 1949
Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, this was the very first Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon. Through the use of traps, tricks, and smarts, the Coyote tries his darndest to catch that bird. This would be the start of a lifelong obsession, over seven-hundred humiliating failures, and some amazing animation frames for years to come.
This first cartoon I really think demonstrates why the pair took off like they did. Jones and Maltese really put their best foot forward and would cement every type of convention and gag possible right in this first cartoon. It’s all here: the complicated Rube-Goldberg style machines, the walkthrough paintings, the canyon fall, speaking through signs, and vehicular injuries. It’s a strong introduction, and quite literally The Blueprint for 70+ years of cartoons.
Rabbit's Feat
Released: June 4th, 1960
Also directed by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, this time around Coyote has his eyes set on Bugs Bunny for lunch. After realising the Coyote's plan, Bugs spends the rest of the afternoon narrowly avoiding such a fate by using the most powerful tool he has: complete and utter confusion.
This cartoon is a non-stop gigglefest both in the physical and written comedy. The way both Bugs and Coyote are characterised in this short is quite different from their usual pairings (even in other shorts with the two of them together), and I think it works really well for this particular setup. Rather than being a complete smart-ass, Bugs instead outwits the Coyote with the mantra of "if you can't beat 'em, confuse 'em." Coyote on the other hand is quite subdued compared to the other shorts where he's paired with Bugs, still pompous and self-aggrandizing but relying on his own wit more than any complicated machines.
They're also drawn very cutely in this short. I feel like that has to be stated as well they're both just adorable and probably visually one of my favorite ways the both of them are drawn.
Sugar and Spies
Released: November 5th, 1966
Directed by Bob McKimson and written by Tom Dagenais, this cartoon was the last of the Golden Age era cartoons to star the Coyote and Road Runner together. After crossing paths with a spy on the run, the Coyote winds up in posession of a briefcase full of spy gadgets and equipment.
Okay. Okay this is by no means a good cartoon. I wouldn't even say it's a "passible" cartoon. It's kinda awful. I think a lot of people would say it's... Bad. But just hear me out for a second: it's fun. I love that they tried something different with this cartoon, swapping out the usual Acme corporation's explosives and the Coyote's convoluted slingshot machines. This short wants to be James Bond so bad it's a little bit stupid. Instead of trying to justify the utter magnificence of this piece, I'll leave you with the notes I scribbled down after watching it for the first time:
This one is weirdly endearing in how cheap it is, and I love the music and how absurd some of the interactions are. I feel like with this one I was laughing out of confusion at what I was witnessing. This short plays out like you’re watching a kid who just came home from a James Bond movie is playing with her action figures. Awful (affectionate).
Limited edition lithographs for the Warner Bros. Studio Store Gallery
Released: Early 1990s
This one is a little harder to track down outside of auction sites, but in the 1990s there was a series done by artists Alan Bodner and Harry Sabin (who both worked on The Iron Giant). These monochromatic portraits were created for the Warner Bros. Studio Stores. Alan Bodner was the art director for the cartoon Little Go Beep, and Harry Sabin was an animator on that short. The style of that opening montage (told in the form of a photo album) are absolutely a result of Bodner's direction.
I don't really have much else to say about this portrait, I just think he looks very nice and handsome in it and need to show everyone like an over-enthusiastic cartoon dad.
Little Go Beep
Released: December 30th, 2000
Esteemed hunter Cage E. Coyote passes the hunting torch to a young Wile E. Coyote, giving the tot the task of catching the most prestigious hunt of all: the Road Runner.
Directed by Spike Brandt and written by Kathleen Helppie-Shipley and Earl Kress, Little Go Beep has a mean bite to it despite the childish exterior. This short is absolutely beautiful in its remastered state. It’s just as violent as a regular Looney Tune, but with more childish equipment used in creating the Road Runner traps which I think is a really creative spin on the characters. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and the colors are so rich and striking. My favorite part though is right at the beginning there’s a photo-album style montage of Coyote and the Road Runner growing up together which just melted my heart. I think there was a lot of fun creating this on the part of the artists and animators involved.
However, I take a few points away because of the cardinal sin I think this cartoon commits: explaining something that doesn’t need to be explained. This is the cartoon that establishes that the “reason” Wile doesn’t speak is because his father forbade him from doing so until he caught the Road Runner which. What the Hell kind of stupid lore is that?? That aside, I do love this short. It's very inspired and I love that it doesn't hold back when it wants to get mean.
Whizzard of Ow
Released: November 1st, 2003
After a grand duel between two powerful wizards in the southwestern American desert, a tome of arcane Acme wisdom falls into the hands of the Coyote. Armed with this new knowledge, he uses the magic to once and for all catch the Road Runner to a predictable outcome.
Directed by Bret Haaland and written by Chris Kelly, this cartoon was the first of the 2D animated Looney Tunes to be produced with hand-drawn digital animation, and the first to be created in widescreen. I think even with the goofy and out-of-place setup, the quick-switch style jokes land incredibly well and paired with the textures used by the animators makes this particular short fit right in with the older cartoons. It strikes all the right notes and serves as a beautiful homage to Chuck Jones' original cartoons, especially seeing as this was the first Coyote-Road Runner short to be produced after his passing in 2002. I love the colors, I love the setting, and the gags are really solid in a way that doesn't feel overly predictable and repetitive.
3D Animated Theatrical Shorts
In the early 2010s, four beautiful 3D animated theatrical Coyote/Road Runner shorts were directed by Matthew O'Callaghan and written by Tom Sheppard, made by Reel FX Creative Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.
These four short films are probably some of the best 3D animated Looney Tunes, featuring familiar characters, strong musical cues, and incredibly snappy timing.
What I love the most about these shorts is that there is great understanding in what makes for a successful transition from 2D animation into 3D animation: it's not simply just a classic Road Runner cartoon but animated with 3D modeled puppets, but rather there was a very strong direction in the scale of the setting and the angles from which we as the audience see the action and its movement and momentum through the gags. They're also significantly shorter than the average classic Looney Tunes short, which I believe works to their advantage with how readily and happily the shorts meet our expectations of what is a Road Runner cartoon. My favorite of these is the 2014 short Flash in the Pain, which I laugh a little bit too hard at every time I watch it. The setup of the Coyote being given a teleporation device set it apart from the rest, as well as the use of the noises the coyote makes and the comedy which results from excruciating pain.
Looney Tunes Acme Rocket Dash
Released: ~2014
I affectionately refer to this old flash game as “Wile E. Coyote simulator.” It’s a short, simple flash game that requires superhuman timing and precise movement to avoid bombs, anvils, and road signs as you control Coyote in pursuit of the Road Runner. At least played in Flashpoint, this game is basically impossible to complete, yet I have spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time trying to beat it, hence “Coyote Simulator.”
General HOGspital (Tiny Toons: Looniversity 01x07)
Released: September 7th, 2023
Hamton recieves his acceptance letter from Festeroon Medical School and leaves Acme Loo to pursue his dreams, leaving a hearbroken Buster to figure out what to do without his best friend. Buster seeks the aid of a certain tricky science teacher as part of an attempt to find away to convince his best friend to come back.
I didn't think I would like this show as much as I have been so far, and this episode was a huge treat. After being inspired by a little mini-lesson given to Buster about Looney DNA, the Coyote engineers a bioweapon of mass destruction which reforms Toon DNA in an attempt to poison and incapacitate the Road Runner. Hardcore Count von Doom type shit, it's wild. I also find Buster and Hamton's friendship is really sweet, and think people who hate this episode are just mean.
I was very excited during this episode it's really nice to see him in a modern incarnation 1) not speaking and 2) doing some weird mad scientist stuff. Of course I took an excessive amount of screenshots.
