Coyote vs. Acme is even funnier because Warner Bros. Discovery tried to kill it

《歪心狼大战ACME》之所以更搞笑，是因为华纳兄弟探索公司曾试图将其扼杀

There’s an argument to be made that people wouldn’t be all that interested in Coyote vs. Acme if it weren’t for the way David Zaslav tried to kill it. By trying to shelve the project, Warner Bros. Discovery only drew attention to its habit of disappearing nearly completed movies in order to cash in on tax write-offs. 有一种观点认为，如果不是因为大卫·扎斯拉夫（David Zaslav）曾试图将其扼杀，人们可能根本不会对《歪心狼大战ACME》（Coyote vs. Acme）产生如此浓厚的兴趣。华纳兄弟探索公司（WBD）试图搁置该项目的举动，反而让外界更加关注其为了抵税而将近乎完成的电影“雪藏”的习惯。

Coyote vs. Acme’s generally positive reviews are on the money; it really is one of the best Looney Tunes movies in years. In theory, this suggests that the movie might do well at the box office and become a case study in WBD making terrible decisions. Ironically, though, all of the drama surrounding the live-action / animated hybrid film is actually part of what makes it an enjoyable watch. 《歪心狼大战ACME》目前普遍的好评是实至名归的；它确实是近年来最好的《乐一通》（Looney Tunes）电影之一。理论上，这预示着该片在票房上会有不错表现，并成为华纳兄弟探索公司决策失误的典型案例。然而讽刺的是，围绕这部真人与动画结合电影的所有戏剧性事件，实际上也成为了它观赏乐趣的一部分。

Loosely based on Ian Frazier’s Coyote v. Acme piece in The New Yorker, the new movie follows Wile E. Coyote as he concocts another harebrained scheme to kill the Road Runner. But rather than simply trying to destroy his nemesis with elaborate plans that involve various gadgets, Coyote decides to go after Acme with a lawsuit over its faulty products. Though attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) would rather take the settlement proposed by Acme’s legal counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena), Coyote believes he can receive a much bigger payout by going to court. And with countless examples of how Acme’s products have harmed him, Coyote’s confident that he can build a strong case. 这部新片大致改编自伊恩·弗雷泽（Ian Frazier）在《纽约客》上发表的同名文章，讲述了歪心狼（Wile E. Coyote）策划又一个愚蠢计划试图捕捉哔哔鸟（Road Runner）的故事。但歪心狼没有仅仅依靠各种精巧的小工具来摧毁宿敌，而是决定因ACME公司产品质量低劣而将其告上法庭。尽管律师凯文·艾弗里（威尔·福特饰）更倾向于接受ACME法律顾问巴迪·克兰（约翰·塞纳饰）提出的和解方案，但歪心狼坚信通过诉讼能获得更大的赔偿。凭借无数次被ACME产品伤害的证据，歪心狼有信心打赢这场官司。

Coyote vs. Acme leans into the absurd with a world in which humans and cartoon maniacs exist alongside one another. When the coyote isn’t busy trying to catch his dinner, he has to deal with all the ordinary drudgery that comes with being a productive member of society, like Avery’s niece, Paige (Lana Condor). This and the way a bevy of Looney Tunes characters pop up as people working regular jobs brings a delightful energy to Coyote vs. Acme that’s akin to The Muppets. And by framing Acme as a cross between WBD, Apple, Tesla, and Lockheed Martin, the movie sets its story up to work as commentary about corporations screwing customers over with false promises. 《歪心狼大战ACME》通过一个人类与卡通狂人共存的世界，将荒诞感发挥到了极致。当歪心狼不忙着捕捉晚餐时，他必须处理作为社会生产力一员所带来的琐碎日常，比如与艾弗里的侄女佩奇（拉娜·康多饰）相处。这一点，加上众多《乐一通》角色以普通职员身份出现的方式，为影片带来了一种类似于《布偶秀》（The Muppets）的愉悦活力。通过将ACME公司塑造成华纳兄弟探索公司、苹果、特斯拉和洛克希德·马丁的结合体，电影将自身定位为对企业利用虚假承诺欺骗消费者的讽刺。

At its core, Coyote vs. Acme is a classic Looney Tunes project, meaning that it spends much of its runtime focusing on ridiculous gags. The movie’s script — penned by James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, and Samy Burch — features moments where Coyote and Avery grow to see one another as friends, but it’s mostly focused on showcasing how chaotic life would be in a world filled with beings who regularly defy the laws of physics with their cartoonish antics. This makes Coyote vs. Acme an excellent showcase of the way its creative team blends traditional animation with live-action footage. The movie’s set pieces are mildly amusing, but its story is so by-the-numbers that one would be hard-pressed to call it riveting. 本质上，《歪心狼大战ACME》是一部经典的《乐一通》作品，这意味着它大部分时间都专注于荒谬的笑料。由詹姆斯·古恩、杰里米·斯莱特和萨米·伯奇编写的剧本中，虽然有歪心狼和艾弗里逐渐成为朋友的温情时刻，但重点还是展示在一个充满经常无视物理定律、行为卡通化的生物的世界里，生活会变得多么混乱。这使得该片成为创意团队将传统动画与真人镜头融合的绝佳展示。电影的场景设计尚算有趣，但故事走向过于套路化，很难称得上引人入胜。

What is interesting about the film’s story is the way it makes WBD seem like a studio that’s afraid of poking fun at itself. You can almost hear Gunn, Slater, and Burch having a laugh at Zaslav’s expense as Foghorn Leghorn (Eric Bauza) is introduced as Acme’s conniving leader, and those kinds of jokes are what makes the movie feel like it might actually resonate with audiences. By going meta and not exactly trying to be a movie for children (remember, this is about a legal battle), Coyote vs. Acme highlights how WBD could be getting a bit more use out of characters like Bugs Bunny (also Bauza) and Granny (Candi Milo). 这部电影故事有趣之处在于，它让华纳兄弟探索公司看起来像是一家害怕自嘲的制片厂。当大公鸡（Foghorn Leghorn，埃里克·鲍扎配音）作为ACME公司阴险的领导者登场时，你几乎能听到编剧们在拿扎斯拉夫开涮，而正是这类笑话让这部电影显得更能引起观众共鸣。通过采用元叙事手法，且并不完全定位为儿童电影（别忘了，这讲的是一场法律诉讼），《歪心狼大战ACME》突显了华纳兄弟探索公司本可以更好地利用兔八哥（同样由鲍扎配音）和老奶奶（坎迪·米洛配音）等角色。

Had the studio just put the movie out on its own, it might have made Zaslav and his fellow executives seem like people with an understanding of how to capitalize on legacy intellectual property. But whatever accolades Coyote vs. Acme ultimately receives will largely be attributed to Ketchup Entertainment, which bought the rights to distribute it. 如果制片厂当初直接发行这部电影，或许会让扎斯拉夫及其高管团队看起来像是懂得如何利用经典知识产权的人。但《歪心狼大战ACME》最终获得的任何赞誉，很大程度上都应归功于买下发行权的Ketchup Entertainment。

The box office performances for WBD’s last few Looney Tunes projects suggests that Coyote vs. Acme won’t be breaking any records before it winds up on one streaming platform or another. But when the film releases on August 28th, it will remind the public of how ready WBD was to throw it in the chipper. Especially now as the studio navigates a potential merger with Paramount, that kind of cavalier attitude toward jettisoning people’s work makes Zaslav’s WBD seem like a company that isn’t exactly committed to art. That might not matter to Zaslav, who stands to make bank regardless of whether the Paramount merger goes through. But it’s a terrible look for a studio that’s trying to maintain its reputation as one of Hollywood’s biggest players. 华纳兄弟探索公司过去几部《乐一通》项目的票房表现表明，《歪心狼大战ACME》在登陆流媒体平台之前不太可能打破任何纪录。但当该片于8月28日上映时，它会提醒公众华纳兄弟探索公司曾多么轻易地想要将其“粉碎”。尤其是在该公司正寻求与派拉蒙合并的当下，这种随意抛弃他人心血的傲慢态度，让扎斯拉夫治下的华纳兄弟探索公司看起来并不怎么尊重艺术。这对扎斯拉夫来说可能无关紧要，因为无论与派拉蒙的合并是否成功，他都能赚得盆满钵满。但对于一家试图维持其好莱坞巨头声誉的制片厂来说，这无疑是一个糟糕的形象。