Product: Who Framed Roger Rabbit [VHS] (1988)
Rating: 5.0
A Fun Movie Set In Hollywood's Golden Age
There have been many movies and television shows that have tried to replicate the premise of 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, yet even the most recent attempts have, for the most part, failed (although Greg the Bunny came pretty close). In the world of WFRR, cartoons, or just toons for short, are real. They live among us, and act in their own movies and cartoons. They just happen to be animated. For the most part, the whole point of being a toon is to make people laugh, and many of them excel at it.Dateline: Hollywood, 1947. Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is a down-and-out private investigator who has become a drunk grouch ever since the death of his brother and partner, Teddy. The pair specialized in toon cases (they cleared Goofy of espionnage charges), and frequented Toontown, an animated city that was home to the toons. That is until a deranged toon killed Teddy and left Eddie for dead. Now, Eddie can barely find work, and spends most of his time drinking. Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleisher) is an up-and-coming toon, the new star of Maroon Cartoons shorts. Although lately, he has been having trouble with his lines. Studio boss R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) believes that it is the fault of Roger's wife Jessica (Kathleen Turner/Amy Irving), a stunning redhead whom Maroon believes is cheating on her husband. Maroon hires Eddie to trail Jessica and take pictures incriminating her. It turns out that Jessica is doing something outside of her marriage (though not what you'd think) with Maroon's buddy Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), the CEO of the company that makes all of those gadgets that Wile E. Coyote tries to use against the Road Runner. When Roger finds out, he is heartbroken, and the next day, Acme is found murdered. Immediately, Roger is blamed, and the man with jurisdiction over Toontown, Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) is set to execute Roger without even a trial. His new invention, dip (comprised of turpentine, acetone, and benzene), is the only proven way to actually kill a toon, and he has no qualms about using it on Roger.Roger claims that he is innocent, and begs Eddie to help him out. He originally declines, but he is eventually drawn into the case. And what seems like a simple frame job continues to unfold as more and more clues point in new directions.For what may be seen as a kids' movie (which it definitely isn't), there is a complex story, interesting character development, and good dialogue. Also, the special effects are superb, espcecially considering that this movie was made in 1988. The toons are integrated nearly seamlessly into the real world and vice versa. Also, this is probably the ONLY time anyone will ever see Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny interacting with each other. There were probably loads of conditions that had to be met by both Disney and Warner Bros. to make that happen, and due to studio politics, will probably never happen again.Overall, this is a great movie that is a testament to the talents of director Robert Zemeckis (who also directed Back to the Future and Castaway) as well as the effects team. We will probably never get another movie like this.