There’s no better way of starting 2025 than watching a theatrical 2D animated Looney Tunes film that features Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie first premiered at Annecy last year, but it’s making its theatrical debut in the US in just about a month. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie follows two of Looney Tunes’ most popular duos, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. In their latest adventure, they make attempts at getting a job in hopes of being able to pay for the repairs on their roof. In the midst of all this, an alien invasion is around the corner, ready to take over and blow the Earth up.
The Beauty of 2D Animation
It’s a hard life that fans of animation have to live. No matter how many animated films blow people’s minds, it doesn’t matter if Guillermo Del Toro says “animation is cinema,” there’s still going to be a louder crowd of people (some of them in the voting committee for the Academy Awards) that will never see the beauty behind animation.
It feels even weirder to notice how the industry has seemed to forget that 2D animation exists. It’s more common to see 3D animation, maybe a bit of 2D mixed in with the 3D, or just films trying to find their own unique style thanks to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. It’s great to see these production companies try to experiment with how they can tell a story; it’s worked well and has allowed us to enter a new era of animation, but I’d be lying if I said that I don’t miss watching a classic 2D animated film.
The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the first fully animated theatrical Looney Tunes movie in 95 years, which sounds like a statistic that I’ve made up, but it’s the honest truth. This film reminds you exactly why watching these crazed cartoon characters is just such a joy, and with the addition of a story that also gets crazier as the film goes on, it’s a recipe for one of the best animated films of the year, and the year has only just begun.
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Writer’s Poorly Disguised Fetish
There’s no better way of describing this film except outrageously hilarious. From start to finish, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig make jokes, get themselves into their usual antics, and also into weird situations that will just have your face hurting from laughter. There’s a difference between a film that’s funny where you laugh in your head and a film that has you continuously laughing out loud. The writers did a phenomenal job of making this a clear staple in the Looney Tunes franchise that should be a must-watch for anyone who loves these characters.
During the film, Porky Pig comes across Petunia Pig, and for people who aren’t aware of who she is, she has been Porky Pig’s significant other since 1937. In this rendition, we get to see the two fall in love again, and it’s probably their best love story yet. Daffy Duck, being the wingman that he thinks he is, makes very suggestive jokes that make you slightly look at the writer’s differently, but if that wasn’t enough?
There’s a scene where Porky Pig ends up chewing on Petunia Pig’s foot. It’s not a blink and you miss it joke. It’s on screen for at least 10 seconds. As a kid, you’ll most likely think twice about jokes such as these, but this is very clearly a writer’s poorly disguised fetish that has found its way into the script. It makes for a moment that did get a laugh out of me, but I still don’t know if it was out of shock or because the scene was actually funny.
MORE THEATRICAL LOONEY TUNES, PLEASE!
Relationships. Love. This film shows it best between Daffy and Porky and Porky and Petunia. There are some moments where Porky feels like he has to leave Daffy behind to allow himself to move forward, and when looking into this deeper, this is something that a lot of kids will have to unfortunately have to go through.
While it’s fun to mess around with your friends, you have to make sure to not let you bring you down and ruin your opportunities. While letting go of them may seem easier, there’s also ways where both can come to a compromise and work together.
The writers can come off slightly weird with their gags, but ultimately they write one of the best on-screen relationships that I’ve seen in a film that’s aimed at a young audience. It felt real and genuine and also brought that conflict between Daffy and Porky, which is not something that I expected in a Looney Tunes film.
It feels odd that this is a movie that’s releasing not only in 2025 but a film that we’re watching currently. Visually, it feels like we’re watching a film from the 90s that has been modernised for a current audience, which also gives the movie its own unique visual style while retaining that Looney Tunes look that everyone is so used to.
If this is the standard we can expect when it comes to future Looney Tunes films, then Warner Bros., or more importantly, David Zaslav, needs to allow these films to be released instead of sending such creative, astonishing pieces of art into the trash. It’s a surprise that this film is a theatrical film, and I can only hope that it does well enough because we instantly need more.
‘The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie’ – Final Thoughts
Overall, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the best Looney Tunes movie to release and is a showcase of why we should be funding animated movies of this quality.
It feels like a true return to 2D animated films, and while the film has some gags that will make you look at the writers differently, they were still able to write a story that gave these characters so much depth and offered a villain that really plays around with the relationships of every character involved. This is a must-watch in cinemas and a great way to start off the year.
The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie releases in US theatres on February 28.
The Review
'The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie'
It feels like a true return to 2D animated films, and while the film has some gags that will make you look at the writers differently, they were still able to write a story that gave these characters so much depth and offered a villain that really plays around with the relationships of every character involved. This is a must-watch in cinemas and a great way to start off the year.
