For most people, the first film that comes to mind whenever mixing animation & live action comes up is 1996’s Space Jam. A film where Michael Jordan enters a cartoon basketball competition with the Looney Tunes characters. Now I’m not here to review that film as you can tell by the title at the top (although I think Space Jam is hugely overrated), but I’m here to talk about a film that was the precursor to films like Space Jam, and arguably the best example of mixing animation & live action even to this day.
The fact that Who Framed Roger Rabbit even exists is pretty much a miracle in its own right. But the fact that the 1988 Robert Zemeckis buddy cop noir crime thriller works so well is another miracle altogether. The year is 1947 and Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is a washed up P.I who spends his days staring at the bottom of yet another whiskey bottle. The detective used to be the guy toons would go to when they needed some private investigating done, however since the murder of his brother Teddy, Eddie has sworn off working with toons ever again. In this 1947, cartoons are real and have their own town, toontown, just outside of Los Angeles. Hollywood contracts these cartoon characters just as they would real actors to star in films. The beauty of toons though is that they don’t need paying much, and they don’t die. Studio owner R.K. Maroon hires Eddie to investigate Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), the wife of Maroon’s best comedy actor, Roger (Charles Fleischer), and try to dig up some dirt on her so Roger will divorce her and focus his attention on his acting. Eddie photographs Jessica being unfaithful to Roger with Marvin Acme, owner of the Acme Corporation, and shows these to Roger who becomes extremely distraught. The following morning Acme is found dead after a safe is dropped on his head, and Roger is the number one suspect. But Roger find Eddie and pleads his innocence, but asks Eddie to help him find out who did murder Acme so that he can return to his wife Jessica and patch up their relationship. Eddie is also under pressure to do this as quickly as he can as Acme’s will is missing, and if it doesn’t show up in the next 48 hours his company will be sold to the highest bidder, a company called Cloverleaf who are buying up a lot of local business.
The story for Roger Rabbit just exudes noir thrillers from the golden age of cinema like The Maltese Falcon. But it brings with it all the eccentricities of 80’s family comedies, as well as lots of cameos from many famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Dumbo, Donald & Daffy Duck, and Betty Boop. It’s the first time these characters ever shared the screen together, and for many it was also the only time. This epic crossover of Looney Tunes & Disney characters, as well as many other iconic cartoons, is the stuff of legend.
The story itself deals with some pretty dark subject material at times such as infidelity, murder, xenophobia, and more; but gets away with showing them in what is essentially a family film because it rarely plays any of these with an entirely straight face. Roger Rabbit is absolutely a film for adults first. Whilst it’s rated PG and can be watched by the whole family, many of the jokes are very clearly aimed at an older audience with many of them likely going right over kids’ heads. It’s also this dark subject matter that whilst not inappropriate for children, is unlike anything else they will have seen in a film before.
The fact that Who Framed Roger Rabbit even exists is pretty much a miracle in its own right. But the fact that the 1988 Robert Zemeckis buddy cop noir crime thriller works so well is another miracle altogether. The year is 1947 and Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is a washed up P.I who spends his days staring at the bottom of yet another whiskey bottle. The detective used to be the guy toons would go to when they needed some private investigating done, however since the murder of his brother Teddy, Eddie has sworn off working with toons ever again. In this 1947, cartoons are real and have their own town, toontown, just outside of Los Angeles. Hollywood contracts these cartoon characters just as they would real actors to star in films. The beauty of toons though is that they don’t need paying much, and they don’t die. Studio owner R.K. Maroon hires Eddie to investigate Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), the wife of Maroon’s best comedy actor, Roger (Charles Fleischer), and try to dig up some dirt on her so Roger will divorce her and focus his attention on his acting. Eddie photographs Jessica being unfaithful to Roger with Marvin Acme, owner of the Acme Corporation, and shows these to Roger who becomes extremely distraught. The following morning Acme is found dead after a safe is dropped on his head, and Roger is the number one suspect. But Roger find Eddie and pleads his innocence, but asks Eddie to help him find out who did murder Acme so that he can return to his wife Jessica and patch up their relationship. Eddie is also under pressure to do this as quickly as he can as Acme’s will is missing, and if it doesn’t show up in the next 48 hours his company will be sold to the highest bidder, a company called Cloverleaf who are buying up a lot of local business.
The story for Roger Rabbit just exudes noir thrillers from the golden age of cinema like The Maltese Falcon. But it brings with it all the eccentricities of 80’s family comedies, as well as lots of cameos from many famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Dumbo, Donald & Daffy Duck, and Betty Boop. It’s the first time these characters ever shared the screen together, and for many it was also the only time. This epic crossover of Looney Tunes & Disney characters, as well as many other iconic cartoons, is the stuff of legend.
The story itself deals with some pretty dark subject material at times such as infidelity, murder, xenophobia, and more; but gets away with showing them in what is essentially a family film because it rarely plays any of these with an entirely straight face. Roger Rabbit is absolutely a film for adults first. Whilst it’s rated PG and can be watched by the whole family, many of the jokes are very clearly aimed at an older audience with many of them likely going right over kids’ heads. It’s also this dark subject matter that whilst not inappropriate for children, is unlike anything else they will have seen in a film before.
Bob Hoskins gives an incredible performance in this film, in fact I’d say that if his performance was not as good as it is the film would simply fall apart. Harrison Ford was originally supposed to play Eddie but as much as I love Ford, he simply would not have been as good a casting choice as Hoskins. You can see by his performance that he believes the cartoon characters are really there, that he isn’t just acting in a room by himself, but that he does in fact have a whole cast of characters around him. His movements are suitably exaggerated when around these characters, and his eye line is always spot on to where it needs to be in relation to the characters height and position. One particularly special scene sees him handcuffed to Roger at his office whilst a team of weasels hired by villain Judge Doom (Christopher Llyod) scour the place in search of Roger. During this scene Hoskins has to work as the only real actor in the scene whilst giving the impression that five more actors are in the scene with him. In 1988 this had never been done before, and I’d argue it’s rarely been done better. He holds Roger underneath the water in his sink, who’s fighting his way to the surface for air, all whilst Bob stares around the room talking to the weasels, some of whom even interact with him physically. Watching the scene today it’s still such an incredible performance that it makes you genuinely believe that the animated characters really are there in the room with Hoskins.
Christopher Lloyd is also great as Judge Doom. He’s extremely sinister and it’s a performance that used to terrify me when I was younger. Despite this though, he’s still incredibly funny in the film mainly with facial expressions and reactions to his cartoon co-stars. One of the few negatives I can direct at the film is that Lloyd’s character is never given much explanation for his motives. I’m going to ruin the ending here so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know the end. But when it’s revealed that Doom is actually a toon disguising himself as a human in order to build a freeway over Toontown as the head of Cloverleaf, I have to wonder why? It’s implied that he’s doing it for the money, but as we know from earlier on in the film, toons have no need for money. So why is Doom different? It’s also left a complete mystery as to what toon he is, because we never see him in his full form it’s never clear who he really was and whether that may play any part in revealing his motives.
Christopher Lloyd is also great as Judge Doom. He’s extremely sinister and it’s a performance that used to terrify me when I was younger. Despite this though, he’s still incredibly funny in the film mainly with facial expressions and reactions to his cartoon co-stars. One of the few negatives I can direct at the film is that Lloyd’s character is never given much explanation for his motives. I’m going to ruin the ending here so skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know the end. But when it’s revealed that Doom is actually a toon disguising himself as a human in order to build a freeway over Toontown as the head of Cloverleaf, I have to wonder why? It’s implied that he’s doing it for the money, but as we know from earlier on in the film, toons have no need for money. So why is Doom different? It’s also left a complete mystery as to what toon he is, because we never see him in his full form it’s never clear who he really was and whether that may play any part in revealing his motives.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a film that I feel in many areas plays it safe, but that’s mostly because of the enormous risk and difficulty of combining animation and live action. The cinematography often feels quite conservative, but it is very evocative of films from the 40’s and 50’s. I guess it’s a homage to what came before in a lot of respects, but as a result it often feels far simpler than it really is. The soundtrack is a jazzy kind of thing and again whilst it certainly feels reminiscent of detective stories from the Golden Age, it can at times feel a little out of place in a film of this nature.
But what really works well in Roger Rabbit, is the mix of animation and live action…for the most part. The majority of the film is live action with animated characters inhabiting that space. These scenes are fantastic and seeing how they got it all to work is simply incredible. Scenes like the bar where Eddie investigates Jessica Rabbit where you have the penguin waiters walking around, as well as Donald & Daffy having a piano battle on stage, are simply mind blowing as to how they managed to pull it off without CGI. A mix of animatronics and puppets which were then later covered up with hand drawn animation is simply astounding and hasn’t aged a day. But then there are sequences such as when Eddie enters Toontown and he is the only real actor and being filmed on a green screen which was then filled in with hand drawn animation and CGI. This does look dated and at this point it becomes clear that Eddie is not in the same space as these characters, simply because he doesn’t interact with the world correctly. Even his shadows don’t look right at times and it overall can be distracting. It’s certainly not bad, especially when you consider how innovative this was, but it simply shows its age now, especially when you consider the high watermark of the rest of the film which has remained relatively timeless.
So should you watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Absolutely! Even if you’re not as interested in the technicalities of it all like I am, the film is a very enjoyable family comedy that has plenty of humour suited to both adults and children. It has the charm of a film from the Golden Age of cinema, but with the technological advances of more modern films. Plus it’s completely unique, whilst animation and live action has been done since, it’s usually in an extremely cartoonish way. Roger Rabbit makes this feel more grounded in reality, despite its silly tone. Definitely check it out!
But what really works well in Roger Rabbit, is the mix of animation and live action…for the most part. The majority of the film is live action with animated characters inhabiting that space. These scenes are fantastic and seeing how they got it all to work is simply incredible. Scenes like the bar where Eddie investigates Jessica Rabbit where you have the penguin waiters walking around, as well as Donald & Daffy having a piano battle on stage, are simply mind blowing as to how they managed to pull it off without CGI. A mix of animatronics and puppets which were then later covered up with hand drawn animation is simply astounding and hasn’t aged a day. But then there are sequences such as when Eddie enters Toontown and he is the only real actor and being filmed on a green screen which was then filled in with hand drawn animation and CGI. This does look dated and at this point it becomes clear that Eddie is not in the same space as these characters, simply because he doesn’t interact with the world correctly. Even his shadows don’t look right at times and it overall can be distracting. It’s certainly not bad, especially when you consider how innovative this was, but it simply shows its age now, especially when you consider the high watermark of the rest of the film which has remained relatively timeless.
So should you watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Absolutely! Even if you’re not as interested in the technicalities of it all like I am, the film is a very enjoyable family comedy that has plenty of humour suited to both adults and children. It has the charm of a film from the Golden Age of cinema, but with the technological advances of more modern films. Plus it’s completely unique, whilst animation and live action has been done since, it’s usually in an extremely cartoonish way. Roger Rabbit makes this feel more grounded in reality, despite its silly tone. Definitely check it out!