Sonoran Saviors: A Coyote and Road Runner Movie

Sonoran Saviors: A Coyote and Road Runner Movie is a 2024 American animated direct-to-video buddy comedy film starring the Looney Tunes characters , produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The film centers around Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner discovering a plot by Yosemite Sam to build an entire city over the desert where they live, forcing them to team up and work together to stop him and save their home.
The film was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on September 17, 2024, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Fast and Furry-ous, the debut short of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. The film received praise for its animation, depiction of the duo, score and plot.
== Plot ==
In the desert of the Southwestern United States, Wile E. Coyote (labeled “Mangy-us screw-upius”) orders a pair of rocket skates from Acme and proceeds to chase the Road Runner (labeled “Breakneckius birdius”) throughout the winding desert roads on them. During the chase, the Road Runner leads Wile E. throughout several obstacles that harm him in the process, such as cacti which leave him covered in spines, rock formations which he crashes through and a field of land mines which blow him up one at a time. Eventually, the two run into a cave underground, where the Road Runner easily loses Wile E. and escapes through the other end of the cave, while the latter gets lost in the darkness as his rocket skates eventually run out of power. Upon lighting a match to illuminate his environment, Wile E. finds himself surrounded by numerous explosives, which detonate and send him flying out of the cave and through the air. As the Road Runner stops and looks on, the Coyote collides with a billboard adorned with a picture of Yosemite Sam and slides down to the ground.
Upon recovering, Wile E. looks up at the billboard and sees it is an advertisement for an upcoming city named Sam’s Sonoran Settlement. As he observes the billboard with curiosity, the Coyote suddenly notices a bulldozer plowing through some cacti and rocks and decides to investigate, upon which he sees it is being directed by Yosemite Sam. Sneaking up and hiding to avoid detection and get a closer look, Wile E. eavesdrops on Sam telling Rocky and Mugsy, who are in the bulldozer, to construct a building on the spot where the cacti and rocks used to be. Thinking it’s not too bad, Wile E. shrugs it off and walks off to continue trying to catch the Road Runner. Unbeknownst to the Coyote, however, Sam reveals that it is just phase one of a plan to build his “Sonoran settlement” over the entire American Southwestern desert.
Having gone back to chasing the Road Runner, Wile E. orders Acme Bat Wings, puts them on and takes flight once the Road Runner passes by, leading to another chase. However, during this, Sam notices Wile E. flying through the air and mistakes him for a buzzard, ordering Rocky and Mugsy to shoot him down. Wile E. is suddenly faced with a barrage of bullets from the three men and narrowly avoids them as he gets closer to the Road Runner, but just as he is about to swoop down on him, Rocky blasts a bullet through one of the wings, sending the Coyote into a tailspin as he descends towards one of Sam’s buildings and crashes through the roof and all the way to the ground floor.
Sam, Rocky and Mugsy head inside Wile E.’s crash site to see if they’ve taken down the “buzzard”, only to find Wile E. recovering from the fall and discarding his now-torn bat wings, leading Sam to realize it’s a coyote and chase him out while shooting at him with his guns, with the Coyote just barely making it out unscathed. The Road Runner is outside, taunting Wile E. as he runs away from Sam, but Sam notices the Road Runner and chases him off with blasted bullets as well.
With both coyote and roadrunner out of his sight, Sam expresses his frustration with the two being present while his plan is in development, while Wile E. and the Road Runner, who are taking refuge behind a cliff wall, eavesdrop on Sam as he drops more details on his plan, which is to get rid of every single “mangy varmint” in the desert and make sure that it is crowded with buildings. The prospect of losing their habitat horrifies the two, so with no other choice, Wile E. reluctantly exchanges a handshake with the Road Runner and declares a truce.
The next day, Wile E., using a special Acme-brand camera resembling a stick of dynamite, and the Road Runner spy on Sam’s construction crew to learn more about his plans as the former takes pictures by pulling the “fuse” on the camera. As the coyote and roadrunner examine the photos taken by the former, they overhear Sam talking about bringing in a huge dynamite shipment to blast away large sections of the desert to make room for more buildings.
Learning that Sam is now actively resorting to destruction, the duo decides they must steal and dispose of the dynamite before Sam can use them, but the storage area in the construction site in which they are contained is guarded by a pair of burly construction workers. Pondering on how they can get past them, Wile E. suddenly gets an idea and signals to the Road Runner to tire the workers out to give him enough time to sneak inside. Going along with Wile E.’s plan, the Road Runner comes within the construction workers’ sight and zips around to entice them into trying to keep up with him, taunting them and kicking up dust all the while. With the dust obscuring the workers and blocking their vision, Wile E. is able to sneak past them undetected and enter the storage area.
Once inside, Wile E. accidentally triggers a booby trap and narrowly misses an anvil falling on him before noticing the large amount of explosives stored within. He takes his time gathering all of the bundles of dynamite in an Acme Bottomless Bag and exits the storage area to see the construction workers too exhausted to move as a result of the Road Runner’s tactic to tire them out. Wile E. and the Road Runner run off with the dynamite hoarded by the former, but Sam catches onto them and chases after them in his car with Rocky and Mugsy.
Seeing that Sam and his henchmen are now hot on their tails, Wile E. hops onto the Road Runner’s back as they engage in a high-speed chase around the desert. The three men shoot their guns at the two animals, missing them with each fire, while Wile E. fights back by grabbing the stolen dynamite sticks from the bottomless bag one-by-one, using the sunlight to light the fuse and tossing them at the car. Eventually, the Coyote manages to blow up one of the car’s tires with a stick of dynamite, causing it to careen out of control and collide with a cliff wall, prompting a temper tantrum from Sam as Wile E. and the Road Runner escape.
The two stop by a precipice and attempt to dump the stolen dynamite into a river at the bottom of the canyon floor, but Sam, Rocky and Mugsy manage to get back on foot and catch up to them, cornering them. Sam demands Wile E. and the Road Runner hand over the dynamite as he and his henchmen threaten to shoot them with their guns at the count of three. However, when the three men pull the trigger, no bullets come out, leading Mugsy to remark that they’re out of bullets. Instead, they resort to lunging towards the two animals, but end up falling off the cliff as Wile E. and the Road Runner duck just in time. Thinking they’re rid of Sam and his cronies now, Wile E. and the Road Runner walk off; however, the three men are propelled back up the cliff by a branch and land on top of the two, pinning them to the ground. Sam claims the bottomless bag for himself while Rocky and Mugsy keep the coyote and roadrunner restrained as the three men head back the way they came.
Sam then has Wile E. and the Road Runner tied up inside a faraway Acme warehouse and locked inside in hopes of making sure they don’t interfere with his development plan again. As Sam heads back to the construction site with Rocky and Mugsy, gloating about his victory over them, the Road Runner loses hope and beeps sadly, but Wile E., determined to find a way, finds a box labeled “Rope Cutter” on one of the shelves and gets an idea. With a little difficulty, Wile E. maneuvers the chair he is tied to over to the shelf and kicks it a few times until the box falls to the floor. Using one of the claws on his foot, the Coyote slices through the tape on the box and opens it to reveal the rope cutter inside. Being signaled by Wile E., the Road Runner maneuvers his chair over to the box, picks up the rope cutter with his foot and severs the rope binding them, setting them free.
Wile E. remembers that the door to the warehouse is still locked, so he looks around to find another way out until he sees a high, open window just barely out of reach. He then digs through the boxes of the several Acme products on the shelves, trying to find something to help him and the Road Runner reach the window, until he eventually finds an Acme-brand pogo stick and uses it to jump high enough to land on the edge of the window. He passes the pogo stick down to the Road Runner, who does the same, and he and Wile E. escape the warehouse.
Once outside, Wile E. tries to find their way back to the construction site, but to no avail as he and the Road Runner are too far away to even see the site from a distance. Suddenly, they spot Bugs Bunny driving in a slightly beaten-up golf cart, holding a map and complaining to himself about why he keeps taking the wrong path to Albuquerque. Wile E. and the Road Runner get his attention by waving, holding up signs and beeping, causing him to stop and ask the two about their situation. Responding via a wooden sign, Wile E. informs Bugs that he and the Road Runner need to get back to the desert fast, to which Bugs recalls seeing a billboard with “a short guy with a big, red mustache” and some buildings earlier during his road trip, reminding them of Sam’s plan.
Bugs allows Wile E. to sit next to him in the former’s golf cart, while the Road Runner chooses to stay outside and keep up as he can already run fast. However, once Bugs starts up the golf cart and reverses his destination, he proves to be a reckless driver as he constantly and inadvertently bumps the cart along obstacles such as rocks and signs. While the Road Runner makes his way through the road as smoothly and carefully as usual, Wile E. is startled by the rabbit’s driving skills, even occasionally grabbing the wheel from him to swerve the golf cart away from cliffs. As all of this chaos goes on, the three eventually pass by the landmarks mentioned by Bugs earlier as he stops the cart and declares they’re here. Initially shaken by the chaotic driving, Wile E. recomposes himself and expresses his gratitude to Bugs with a “Thank you” sign.
Bidding Bugs goodbye as he drives off, Wile E. and the Road Runner rush towards the construction site just in time to see Sam preparing to detonate the massive cache of dynamite to obliterate a huge chunk of the desert. Springing into action, the Road Runner zooms around the site, outwitting Rocky and Mugsy’s attempts to deal with him and grabbing every dynamite plunger he can find, then disables them so Sam can't set off the explosions.
Upon finding out the Road Runner is interfering with his plan, an enraged Sam hops inside a steamroller and chases the bird around the construction site in an attempt to flatten him, destroying several parts of the site in the process. During this, the Coyote rushes into the site, hops inside a magnetic crane and picks up several I-beams with the electromagnet. Just as Sam is getting close to running over the Road Runner, Wile E. deactivates the magnet, causing the I-beams to fall on the steamroller with Sam still inside, crushing and destroying it.
Wile E. and the Road Runner think they’ve defeated Sam until he bursts out from the wreckage, now really furious and intent on exterminating them. As the coyote and roadrunner make a run for it, Sam hops into his repaired car with Rocky and Mugsy and drives after them. The duo stops at a railroad crossing where a speeding locomotive is about to approach, so Wile E. climbs on top of the railroad crossing sign and, with correct timing, jumps on the locomotive and successfully lands on it, with the Road Runner doing likewise. However, they haven’t lost their enemies yet, because Mugsy has managed to grab onto a ladder on the side of a boxcar while carrying Sam and Rocky on his back. The three men climb up and get on top of the locomotive, coming face-to-face with the coyote and roadrunner again. Now cackling with pure, full-blown malice, Sam and his henchmen chase Wile E. and the Road Runner across the top of the locomotive, repeatedly shooting their guns at their feet.
As the locomotive passes over a canyon, Sam pulls out a stick of dynamite and tosses it at the two, who quickly dodge it as it blows up and leaves a hole in the top of a boxcar behind them. By then, the Road Runner is now tired out and exhausted from running so much, allowing Mugsy to capture him. Sam declares he will take care of Wile E. first before the Road Runner and holds him at gunpoint as the Coyote steps backwards with his hands up in the air. Wile E. then falls through the hole in the boxcar partially blown up by Sam, which is filled with several Acme products, as Sam looks inside and notices an open box containing Acme-brand dynamite. Grinning wickedly, Sam lights the dynamite by shooting one of the fuses, resulting in an explosion that obliterates the rest of the boxcar and sends Wile E. and several of the Acme products falling into the canyon below. Believing he’s done in the Coyote for good, Sam then cocks his gun at the restrained Road Runner and tells him he’s next.
On the way down, Wile E. scrambles through the air, trying to find an Acme product that can save him. Digging through the packages that are falling with him, he unboxes another pair of rocket skates, a superhero outfit and a pair of skis before finally finding another set of Acme Bat Wings, which he quickly slips on and uses them to fly back up the canyon.
Back on the locomotive, Sam still has the Road Runner at his mercy and asks him if he has any last words, prompting a meek, terrified “Beep, beep…” from the bird as a response. Just as Sam is about to pull the trigger on his gun, however, Wile E. swoops in at the last second and swipes the gun from him, saving the Road Runner’s life. Sam angrily orders Rocky and Mugsy to shoot him, but the Coyote swiftly maneuvers his way through the hail of bullets and snatches their guns as well. With Sam’s goose now cooked, Wile E. swoops towards the three men, knocks them off the locomotive one-by-one, saves the Road Runner and sets him back on the locomotive as they watch the villains plunge into the river at the bottom of the canyon. Wile E. and the Road Runner then exchange a high-five and a handshake, satisfied with defeating their enemies.
The locomotive eventually stops at another railroad crossing as Wile E. and the Road Runner hop off. However, Sam, Rocky and Mugsy, soaking and dripping wet, show up to confront the two once more as Sam angrily rants at them in detail about how they ruined his plan, unaware that a pair of Irish-accented policemen in their cruiser are nearby. Upon overhearing Sam’s tirade, the two cops promptly drive in and confront the three men, inquiring whether they indeed attempted habitat destruction and extermination of wildlife. To prove this, Wile E. brings out the photos he took earlier and shows them to the officers, among them being one depicting Sam’s plans on a blueprint and explicitly mentioning the “Git rid of all them filthy varmints!” part. Sam and his henchmen are then arrested and escorted into the police cruiser as it drives away, with Sam loudly cursing Wile E. and the Road Runner and declaring his hatred of animals all the while.
With the desert now saved from potential destruction, Wile E. and the Road Runner exchange another handshake to congratulate themselves for their success in stopping Sam. Their truce comes to an end, however, as after looking around for a while, Wile E. prepares to chase the Road Runner again. Like usual, the bird taunts him and puts on a burst of speed to escape.
The next day, Wile E. orders an Acme-brand jetpack and activates it as the Road Runner zooms past him. However, the jetpack fails to blast off, and when the Coyote hits it with his fist in an attempt to get it to work, it explodes, charring him. The Road Runner zips over to the blackened Wile E., who initially looks humiliated but then smiles respectfully at the bird, remembering the day they joined forces to take down their mutual threat. The Road Runner then pops his tongue at Wile E. and takes off, prompting the Coyote to give chase on foot as the film comes to a close.
In a post-credits scene, Sam, Rocky and Mugsy are now in prison as the former continues to rant about his failure while the latter two attempt to calm him down. Sam’s anger then degrades into sadness as he cries over the loss of his dream city, prompting Rocky and Mugsy to console him.
== Cast ==
* Paul Julian as the Road Runner (archival recordings)
* Fred Tatasciore as Yosemite Sam and Mugsy
* James Adomian as Rocky
* Eric Bauza as Bugs Bunny
** Bauza also provides the Road Runner’s more sad and terrified beeps.
* John DiMaggio as Construction Worker #1
* Trevor Devall as Construction Worker #2
* Dwight Schultz as Irish Policeman #1
* Keith Ferguson as Irish Policeman #2
Wile E. Coyote, true to his depiction in the original Road Runner cartoons, is silent and does not have a voice actor.
== Soundtrack ==
The score for Sonoran Saviors was composed by long time Looney Tunes composer Christopher Lennertz, making it his first composition for a Looney Tunes film since the 2014 short film Flash in the Pain.
== Reception ==
TBA.
== Release ==
The film was released on DVD and digital on September 17, 2024 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner’s first short, Fast and Furry-ous, which is also included in the DVD release as a bonus feature. The other bonus features included are the CGI shorts Coyote Falls, Fur of Flying, Rabid Rider and Flash in the Pain.
Category:2024 films
Category:2024 comedy films
Category:2024 animated films
Category:2020s American animated films
Category:2020s adventure comedy films
Category:2020s buddy comedy films
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:American animated films
Category:American animated buddy films
Category:Animated buddy films
Category:Buddy comedy films
Category:American children's animated adventure films
Category:American children's animated comedy films
Category:Direct-to-video films
Category:Films set in the United States
Category:Film spin-offs
Category:Looney Tunes films
Category:Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
Category:Animated films about birds
Category:Warner Bros. Animation animated films
Category:Films scored by Christopher Lennertz
Category:Looney Tunes
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