I Want To Meet Goofy!

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2005)

Imagine a world where Bugs Bunny was your next door neighbor and Mickey Mouse came to one of your parties. That is the magical world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a remarkable movie, not only in the visual achievement of the film, but also it stars both Disney and Looney Toon characters. Produced by Steven Spielberg, rights owned by Buena Vista (part of the Disney empire), and directed by Robert Zemeckis, there is a lot of talent involved with this melding of live action and cartoon characters. This, of course, is not the first melding of people and cartoon, one just has to look back at Mary Poppins, but this is the most advanced convergence of real life and cartoon life. The story involves a cartoon rabbit actor, Roger, who is accused of murder. Before Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) took over Toontown (where all of the cartoon characters live, a town that looks like it came out of a child's nightmare), there was no way to kill a cartoon character. But Doom found a way to administer capital punishment for his citizens (by using paint thinner, or course) and Roger is on the lam. He finds aid in a drunk detective (Ed Hoskins) who spiraled down from the heights of the business after a cartoon killed his partner, his brother. The movie features the sexiest cartoon character since Betty Boop, who is also in the movie, in Jessica Rabbit, married to Roger. Why would she marry Roger Rabbit? Easy, he makes her laugh. The story is a pretty standard "whodunnit" movie, but the movie itself is much much more than that. Such a creative merge of hardboiled detective story and cartoons of the 1940s is a joy to watch. And the end of the movie discusses the zany ideas of "strip malls" and "free ways" in such a way to bring out some of the biggest laughs of the movie. A trailblazing movie is entertaining to a point, Who Framed Roger Rabbit has the plot to keep the viewer interested throughout the entire picture.