A childhood favourite

Rating: 9/10 (23 August 2010)

You would need a heart of stone if can't love Who Framed Rabbit Roger, a classic mix of live-action and animation which united Disney's classic characters with the Looney Toons.
In an alternative version of 1947 humans and cartoon characters (Toons) live together in Hollywood. The Toons have there own home, Toontown, but there star in live-action films and can do almost anything. A high-boiled, heavy drinking Private Detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), whom brother was murdered by a Toon, is assigned a case by a movie studio to take incriminating photos of Jessica Rabbit (voiced Kathleen Turner) and Acme Corporation owner Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye) to get Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer) to focus on his latest movie. But when Marvin Acme is found dead Roger Rabbit is the prime suspect, with the sadistic Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) is determined to destroy the Toon. But upon further investigation by Valiant he discovers a wider conspiracy over the ownership of Toontown.
With a budget of $70 Million Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a very expensive film for its time. Director Robert Zemeckis is known for using the most state of the art technology available to him. He uses it to great effect, blending live-action and animation together. For children they will enjoy seeing cartoon characters and live-action actors working together on screen and the over-the-top slapstick comedy that animation can offer. The animation is very much of the style of a Looney Toons cartoons that I used to watch when I was younger, with similarities to Tom and Jerry shorts. There is also pretty of verbal comedy and it does play on its crossover, like the rivalry between Donald Duck and Daffy Duck. But there is pretty for adults, with elements of film noir in direction, character and plot, strong in jokes of classic cartoons and filmmaking and excellent writing with it's plot and characterisation. There is of course also a nostalgia factor.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was Hoskins' first major Hollywood film and he does an excellent job as the serious Private Detective who harbours bitter feelings towards Toons. He plays the role very much like a detective with the usual backstory and problems: but ends up forming a partnership with some very zany characters. He also had a tough job because for the most part Hoskins had to act alone. He shows his comic side as well and with Zemeckis' skilled direction show a compelling backstory to the character. Lloyd was brilliant as the sinister, scary and sadistic villain: he truly captures evil and is more scary then most horror villains. His sadism is shown by ruthlessly killing an animated shoe which is enough to give people nightmares for weeks.
A great family film.