Brilliantly imaginative

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2012)

Today on "Matthew Praises", I will laud the crap out of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. First of all, I have seen/read about movies that combined live-action with animation. ANCHOR'S AWEIGH (1945), remember when Gene Kelly danced with Jerry the Mouse from Tom and Jerry. MARY POPPINS (1964) where Dick Van Dyke danced with animated Penguins. Not to mention BEDKNOBS and BROOMSTICKS (1971), where Angela Lansbury turns an animated lion into a rabbit. This movie perfected the technique and the art. Give it up to the great Richard Williams. Aw man this guy is awesome. His book, THE ANIMATOR'S SURVIAL KIT is a great book and he frequently references this movie he was involved in. Richard Williams nails the who's who of cartoons characters from various companies (such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal, MGM and Paramount not to mention lesser known ones), it's a shame that Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Little Lulu and Casper the Friendly Ghost didn't make it. Mr. Williams nailed not only Roger and Jessica Rabbit, but all the other characters given their proper 1947 look/style. It is fascinating and is worth it for the aspiring animator/animation student. Now going back, I say that this movie is funny and sugar-coated at first, and later it turns dark, dramatic and grim. No wonder this movie won an Oscar for Best Special Effects. To me, this was the KING KONG or STAR WARS of my childhood. All in all, it is a pretty good (family appropriate) movie. Kids will love it, adults will love it. There was planning for a sequel, but it didn't get made. Plus, this movie, akin to JAWS, KING KONG and STAR WARS, was imitated. In other words, studios made cash-in attempts, that looked nearly close to it. COOL WORLD (1992) starring Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger, with animation by Ralph Bakshi. EVIL TOONS (1992) starring David Carridine, is a Fred Olen Ray film that is the love child to EVIL DEAD and ROGER RABBIT. Sadly, the cartoon-animated beast gets a small amount of screen time and there is too much hot-girly action. I am glad that my parents didn't let me see THAT movie. Avoid it. Italy made VOLERE VOLARE (1991) by Guido Manuli and Maurizio Nichetti looks like what one critic said, "ROGER RABBIT adult style". However, there were no other movies that exploited the combination between live-action and animation (cartoon animation not CGI). Still, SPACE JAM (1996) and LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION were the last films to do it. Please read my reviews of LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION. With a movie like that (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT or LOONEY TUNES BACK IN ACTION), it makes me wonder and think, "Don't you wish they would make more movies like that?" I highly recommend it. Rated PG for violence (normal and cartoony), mild language, and some sexual innuendo. This has been another "Matthew Praises". After you read it, don't you wish for more "Praises" instead of "Rants?"