Who Framed Roger
Rabbit?
How often did you watch
cartoons as a kid and want to enter that world? A world where anything was
possible? Where it’s starring characters were always getting into trouble of
some sort, but no matter what happened they would peel themselves off the
ground and carry on. It was organised mayhem of the best kind. In the world of
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” people and cartoons walk side by side, never
thinking anything of it. What an amazing world that would be to live in. It’s
the kind of film where you can follow the story pretty easily, and still watch
the amazing animation cross over with human antics, in some clever and tongue
in cheek jokes.
In a hilarious opening
scene, Roger Rabbit is left in charge of a baby. While mom goes to the stores, the
baby spots the cookie jar, sitting high on top of the fridge. He makes a break
for it, casually climbing across bench tops, flaming stoves and narrowly
missing everything dangerous thing a kitchen could offer. Roger, always unaware
in another world of his own imagination, only notices the baby about halfway
through its escapade. He runs into the kitchen and in every brave attempt to
rescue the infant, causes more damage and mayhem than any child ever could. One
catastrophe after another sees Roger get cooked in an oven, have dozens of
steel pots and pans fall on his head and become a living dart board for a
barrage of flying kitchen knives. Its classic cartoon chaos, until a voice
yells “Cut!” and we pan back to reveal humans standing on a set filming all of
this. Cartoons and people together, in one place? Roger and the baby (which is
really short bald man) walk onto the set and seamlessly interact with their
human companions. Even when he’s not in front of the camera, everything Roger
Rabbit does is a super sideshow. His reactions to even the smallest things are
like a comedy stand up marathon. Basically, he’s a seriously unhinged
individual.
Bob Hoskins plays Private
Investigator Eddie Valiant; a disgruntled, dime a dozen character, given the
case of proving Roger Rabbit innocent, or guilty. No difference to him. He
works to collect a paycheque so he can continue to scrape by. Ironic he is
given this case, as he can’t stand “Toons”. And for good reason. One of them
murdered his brother by dropping a piano on his head. The animated assassin was
never found.
As the story unfolds, we
enter a world where people and cartoons share the same space, and the way it’s
all done on screen is fascinating and highly entertaining. For example, have
you ever wondered what it would be like to see Donald Duck and Daffy Duck go
head to head in a piano playing challenge. Well, you’ll get it here. And the
results are fantastic. The film takes the well known and loved cartoon
characters you know and grew up on, pulling them out of their usual setting to
interact with people in the real world. It’s that idea used so creatively that
made me love this movie from the first time I saw it. It’s just so inventive,
funny and zany from start to finish. And taking the human-cartoon crossover to
higher levels, would you like to see grown men drop their mouths and drool over
a woman – in cartoon form? Jessica Rabbit takes centre stage as a femme fatale.
Voiced to perfection by Kathleen Turner, Jessica leaps off the screen in all
her glamorous glory. Often voted as one of the sexiest movie characters of all
time, even though she is in 2D, Jessica Rabbit steals the show with her looks,
but there’s more to this mysterious minx than meets the eye. But as she
proclaims “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”
When he is accused of
murdering a human, Roger turns to Valiant for help. They don’t get along as you
can imagine, so after some scenes of smashing, slapping and slipping towards
and around each other that causes a mess, the two start to get along and find a
way to prove Roger’s innocence and save Toon Town from the evil Judge.
And even though it’s full
of cartoon characters, Who Framed Roger Rabbit isn’t exactly a kids movie. A
lot of the jokes are quite adult, and there are some violent scenes showing
cartoons being destroyed by the films evil villain. I might have been a bit
closer to ten or so when I first saw this film, and it quickly became a
favourite. It’s also a movie that can be watched multiple times, as you’re
bound to notice something different each time; whether that be a twist in the
story, or the actions of the cartoon characters as they run amok and cause
trouble as only a toon can.
It’s a riot of a film. Sit
back, enjoy the creativity on board and let your imagination run wild with “Who
Framed Roger Rabbit?”
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