2010
Coyote Falls
Release date: 2010-07-30
Plot: In this 3D CGI short, Wile E. Coyote returns to his eternal desert battlefield, trying once again to catch the Road Runner using an ACME "giant elastic rubber band" rigged across a highway overpass. It's basically the pure classic formula but restaged for IMAX-style 3D slapstick.
Name and role: Here Wile E. is more or less the Platonic ideal of himself: silent, dignified, stubbornly convinced that this one ACME contraption will finally work if he adjusts it just a little. The 3D camera lets us linger on his expressions just before each disaster, turning every fall into a mini-character beat as much as a gag.
Trivia and other appearances: Coyote Falls is the first of the modern 3D Road Runner trilogy (Coyote Falls, Fur of Flying (2010), Rabid Rider (2010-2011)), produced as theatrical shorts to play before contemporary features and to test-drive CGI Looney Tunes on the big screen.
Release date: 2010-07-30
Plot: In this 3D CGI short, Wile E. Coyote returns to his eternal desert battlefield, trying once again to catch the Road Runner using an ACME "giant elastic rubber band" rigged across a highway overpass. It's basically the pure classic formula but restaged for IMAX-style 3D slapstick.
Name and role: Here Wile E. is more or less the Platonic ideal of himself: silent, dignified, stubbornly convinced that this one ACME contraption will finally work if he adjusts it just a little. The 3D camera lets us linger on his expressions just before each disaster, turning every fall into a mini-character beat as much as a gag.
Trivia and other appearances: Coyote Falls is the first of the modern 3D Road Runner trilogy (Coyote Falls, Fur of Flying (2010), Rabid Rider (2010-2011)), produced as theatrical shorts to play before contemporary features and to test-drive CGI Looney Tunes on the big screen.
Fur of Flying
Release date: 2010-12-17
Plot: Wile E. Coyote, as determined as ever to catch his speedy nemesis, builds a DIY helicopter using various ACME products. During the chase, the two accidentally enter a restricted military zone, activating two heat-seeking missiles: a red one targeting Road Runner, and a blue one locked onto Wile E. After a series of unfortunate events (because of course), Wile E. ends up stranded on a rock with the blue missile hovering right above him. His helicopter reactivates by accident, slamming him into the missile, which explodes. Spectacularly.
Trivia and other appearances: This short is part of the same series as Coyote Falls and Rabid Rider, both released in 2010, a glorious trio of digital slapstick with all the classic timing, but now with pixels and pop-out effects. Actually plu one shown in 2014: Flash in the Pain
Release date: 2010-12-17
Plot: Wile E. Coyote, as determined as ever to catch his speedy nemesis, builds a DIY helicopter using various ACME products. During the chase, the two accidentally enter a restricted military zone, activating two heat-seeking missiles: a red one targeting Road Runner, and a blue one locked onto Wile E. After a series of unfortunate events (because of course), Wile E. ends up stranded on a rock with the blue missile hovering right above him. His helicopter reactivates by accident, slamming him into the missile, which explodes. Spectacularly.
Trivia and other appearances: This short is part of the same series as Coyote Falls and Rabid Rider, both released in 2010, a glorious trio of digital slapstick with all the classic timing, but now with pixels and pop-out effects. Actually plu one shown in 2014: Flash in the Pain
Rabid Rider
Release date: 2010-12-17
Plot: Wile E. Coyote upgrades to an ACME Hyper Sonic Transport, basically a high-tech Segway, to finally catch the Road Runner. Of course, the sleek two-wheeled scooter has "a few inherent problems": Wile lassoing a passing sports car, getting dragged under a tanker, being electrocuted on power lines and launched into rocks, all while the Road Runner zips past untouched.
Name and role: Here Wile isn't just buying old ACME gadgets, he's basically beta-testing an electric vehicle: the Hyper Sonic Transport makes him look like a desert tech bro, wobbling as he learns to balance, then overconfident once he thinks he's mastered it. The humor comes from seeing the same old ego and timing errors transplanted onto a very modern piece of personal mobility.
Trivia and other appearances: Vehicles aren't new for Wile: in the 1965 short Highway Runnery he gets run over by an old jalopy with the Road Runner at the wheel, and various later cartoons and revivals put him on motorcycles and jet cars rather than just skates or catapults.
Release date: 2010-12-17
Plot: Wile E. Coyote upgrades to an ACME Hyper Sonic Transport, basically a high-tech Segway, to finally catch the Road Runner. Of course, the sleek two-wheeled scooter has "a few inherent problems": Wile lassoing a passing sports car, getting dragged under a tanker, being electrocuted on power lines and launched into rocks, all while the Road Runner zips past untouched.
Name and role: Here Wile isn't just buying old ACME gadgets, he's basically beta-testing an electric vehicle: the Hyper Sonic Transport makes him look like a desert tech bro, wobbling as he learns to balance, then overconfident once he thinks he's mastered it. The humor comes from seeing the same old ego and timing errors transplanted onto a very modern piece of personal mobility.
Trivia and other appearances: Vehicles aren't new for Wile: in the 1965 short Highway Runnery he gets run over by an old jalopy with the Road Runner at the wheel, and various later cartoons and revivals put him on motorcycles and jet cars rather than just skates or catapults.