A live action/cartoon crossover which may not be as good as its reputation suggests, but is still a decent comedy/crime adventure

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2010)

This innovative live action/traditional animation crossover was a massive success, released back when I was just under two years old, but I don't recall ever even hearing of it until 2005, around the time I first saw 2003's "Looney Tunes: Back in Action", another live action/cartoon crossover, which I really hated! I watched that film's predecessor, "Space Jam", for the first time last year and found it to be hit-and-miss, and then watched the 2003 Looney Tunes film again, which I didn't think was as bad the second time, but still below average. I had high expectations for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" when I rented it this year, still having never seen it before, and it didn't turn out to be as good as I thought it would be, but still better than both Looney Tunes movies.
In 1947, in a world where cartoon characters are real beings, interacting with live humans, acting out cartoons in front of the camera, and living in a place near Hollywood called Toontown, Roger Rabbit is a popular cartoon character who hasn't been doing so well on set lately. This is because it is believed that his human cartoon wife, Jessica, might be cheating on him. A bitter detective named Eddie Valiant is hired to investigate. He sees Jessica playing patty-cake with Toontown owner Marvin Acme and takes pictures. Roger is very upset when he learns about this. Soon after he finds out, Marvin is found murdered, and Roger is the prime suspect! At the scene of the crime, Eddie meets Judge Doom, who is with his Toon Patrol of cartoon weasels, and has created a substance which can kill cartoon characters! The detective soon finds the cartoon rabbit hiding in his office/apartment. Roger claims he is innocent, and Eddie finds himself reluctantly helping him, trying to clear his name and find the real culprit!
The beginning of this film shows Roger Rabbit shooting a cartoon with fellow cartoon character Baby Herman. With this intro, it's off to a promising start, but soon after this cartoon sequence ends, the film goes downhill for a while. I'm not exactly sure why, but there were parts I found pretty dull, mostly early in the film. There were times when I laughed at this point, but maybe not enough. I also wasn't sure what I thought of Judge Doom, played by Christopher Lloyd. However, I later found that the 1988 blockbuster improves again, maybe starting with the part where Eddie finds Roger hiding in his bed. This leads to a lot of funny chaos in the room, including Roger and Eddie handcuffed together, and Eddie having to hide Roger under the sink water when the Toon Patrol come in! Many big laughs follow, with the title character's antics and such, and in addition to the humour, there's also a lot of suspense in the story. Being a live action/cartoon crossover, the film's cast features both live actors and voice actors, and both of these are generally good here. The blend of live action and animation was also done very well for this film. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is a little overlong, which I really found during the climax, but this is not enough to ruin the movie.
Before watching this, I knew that even though it was considered a family movie, it certainly wasn't squeaky clean. There is some sexuality, much of it involving Jessica Rabbit, with her cleavage and risqué moves, and there's also some mild language and some scenes which little kids could find too scary. It's one of those films that people might debate over whether it's REALLY a family film or not. Unlike some people, I never saw it as a kid, so I don't know what that would have been like. People can keep debating over whether kids should watch "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" or not, but it seems to have entertained many of them (maybe mostly older ones) in the past 22 years. Many adults clearly like it as well, perhaps largely for different reasons than kids. After watching it, I don't think it's the amazing piece of entertainment that so many other people claim it is, but it still gets my recommendation.