New Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up

How can they have a Looney Tunes alien invasion movie without Marvin the Martian? Maybe there are some things he just wouldn’t do—but what might that mean for the Earth? Regardless, Daffy Duck could possibly do anything by accident, as his best friend Porky Pig knows only too well. Nevertheless, the duo will be our last and only line of defense in Peter Browngardt’s The Day the Earth Blew Up, a brand spanking new Looney Tunes feature, which opens Friday in theaters.

Like Red Planet Mars and other classic alien invasion B-movies, this Day starts in an observatory, where the “Scientist” first gets a gander at the “Invader’s” ship. Of course, you can guess what happens when he races out to its crash site. Unfortunately, it also took out a chunk of Porky & Daffy’s roof. The officious neighborhood block association president, Mrs. Grecht, is only too eager to threaten them with eviction and demolition, if they do not fix it pronto.

Of course, neither have jobs or marketable skills. However, a chance encounter with Petunia Pig lands them assembly line jobs at the Goodie Gum Factory, where she works in flavor development. She is also a little off-kilter, but she is still quite intriguing if “Pig” is part of your name, like Porky’s. As fate would have it, she cannot stand the new flavor her company just released, which secretly carries the Invader’s mind control virus. That leaves three uninfected Goodie employees to fight back—two of them stutter and the third likes to whack things with a giant hammer.

So really, what’s not to like? Clearly, Browngardt, Kevin Costello, and the rest of the platoon of co-writers channeled a lot of classic sci-fi, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds, and Carpenter’s The Thing. Outright homage is rare, but the influences are obvious.

Perhaps more importantly, this is all-new Porky and Daffy material. There is some chatter about the film “updating” the classic characters, but fans will be relieved to hear this really isn’t readily apparent. Please—enough with the fresh new “relevancy.” However, it is cool to see the well-established but under-utilized Petunia get a major, proactive role.

Indeed, the ruckus Looney Tunes spirit is alive and well. Arguably, Browngardt and company raise it to new heights with their extended regurgitation gags, which younger viewers are sure to love. Older animation fans should also appreciate some pretty impressive astronomical animation (it is not quite Chesley Bonestell-level, but it looks great on-screen).

Eventually, this story takes some twists and turns that explain why the Invader had to be an original character instead of Marvin. However, Peter MacNicol’s voiceover performance gives him a suitably neurotic personality. Likewise, Eric Bauza does justice to Daffy and Porky, sounding very much like Mel Blanc, just as fans would hope and expect.

It is hard to overstate how satisfying it is to see Daffy, Porky, and Petunia doing their thing. There is a lot of broad slapstick humor, but the focus on Porky’s friendship with Daffy gives the film a sweet vibe. The science fiction tale is also wildly convoluted in an entertaining way. Highly recommended for the nostalgia, the animation, and the wacky take on alien body-snatching, The Day the Earth Blew Up opens this Friday (3/14) in theaters.