The Day the Earth Blew Up is Loony, Zany and a Lot of Fun

The Day the Earth Blew Up

★ ★ ★ ½

I didn’t expect to like The Day the Earth Blew Up as much as I did. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up watching Looney Tunes. But there’s a difference between a 5-minute cartoon sketch and a 90-minute movie. Turns out, this film is really a lot of fun.

We start off with a scientist (Fred Tatasciore) observing an asteroid through a giant telescope. Then he sees a UFO split off from the asteroid. He watches it enter earth’s atmosphere and eventually pass overhead. The Scientist gets in his car and follows it. The asteroid smashes through the roof of a house as the UFO continues on and crashes nearby. It leaves neon green goo where it damaged the roof.

Eric Bauza as Porky Pig and Daffy Duck
© Ketchup Entertainment / Warner Bros. Animation

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced by Eric Bauza) own this house. They go through their morning routine, not noticing the damage until it’s pointed out by Mrs. Grecht (Laraine Newman). She’s stern and mean and gives Daffy and Porky 10 days to get the roof repaired before she declares their home condemned.

Daffy and Porky decide it’s time to finally get jobs so they can pay for the roof repairs. They get fired a lot, usually because Daffy has screwed something up. Eventually they get hired at the Goodie Gum factory where Porky pushes a button and Daffy pulls a crank. This seems to be the perfect job for them.

Daffy learns the truth about the gum
© Ketchup Entertainment / Warner Bros. Animation

They meet Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), who is trying to discover the perfect gum flavor. Goodie Gum is about to release a new flavor everyone is excited about. Petunia says it’s just a retread of other flavors. She has some unusual methods and ingredients up her sleeve and we get the sense she might find that perfect flavor by the film’s end.

Meanwhile, an alien called The Invader (Peter MacNicol) has hatched a plan to sabotage the gum rollout and turn the world population into gum-chewing zombies. His plan works and it’s up to Daffy, Porky and Petunia to save the day.

The Scientist turned gum-chewing zombie
© Ketchup Entertainment / Warner Bros. Animation

This is mindless, whacky and zany fun, but it works on every level. There’s a surprisingly good script behind the film and it’s well executed on screen.

The Day the Earth Blew Up is a much better film than it should be. Going in, I half expected a typical Looney Tunes assault on my senses. Fine for five minutes, but for 90? Yeah, it worked.

I left the theater thoroughly entertained. I also resolved not to chew gum any time soon.