Toon Noir

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2000)

Somewhere in Hollywood, sometime in the 40's, Jessica Rabbit bumped into Eddie Valiant. At this cultural crossroad of Howard Hawks, Bogart, Chandler, gangster movies, Warner's cartoons & Ayn Rand, Robert Zemeckis sets up his masterpiece 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. Elsewhere commentators have waxed about the technical brilliance of this movie, so I shall instead rave about the attention to details (the shadow of the Maltese Falcon in Valiant's office, the dead partner as in Spade & Archer of MF, the weasel's gangster movie patter) & the wonderful period feel (the tram cars, the bar, the studio lots). The plot itself is no great shakes - big business as the villain has been tackled successfully in many novels/ movies like Fountainhead & Big Sleep. But the sheer audacity of setting an alternate cartoon world with its own rules & morals deserves a round of applause. And the fact that he pulls it off so well is what makes this movie a classic. Add to that wonderful performances by Bob Hoskins & Christopher Lloyd, & you have a movie to watch & watch again.
I saw this movie again on TV after it was first released when I was a kid, & the intervening years have given me much more to take out of this movie. See it as an adult's movie (because of Jessica Rabbit, if nothing else!) & enjoy it to the full!