Product: Who Framed Roger Rabbit [VHS] (1988)
Rating: 5.0
Exhaustive bonus materials will keep you busy for days
If I had to write a one-word review of this deluxe 2-disc treatment of the landmark film WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, it would be. . ."Wow!"Much like director Robert Zemeckis' BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, time has done very little to tarnish the charm of this amazing fantasy film. It's all the more impressive when you realize it was made without ANY computer animation. Every cell of animation (all 80,000 of 'em) was done the old-fashioned way: by hand. But enough about the film itself. It looks and sounds great.The Vista Series release gives you 4 options for viewing the film. In addition to watching the film in your choice of widescreen or full-frame, you can choose from two informative supplemental tracks. One is an audio commentary from the filmmakers, the other is a "Pop Up Video"-style feature which provides a constant barrage of on-screen tidbits about the film. The pop-ups do tend to digress (yes, we know that Tex Avery influenced the style of Roger Rabbit, but do we really need Tex's biography here?), but they are nonetheless informative and often amusing.A well-done half-hour documentary takes viewers behind the scenes. And Charles Fleischer (the voice of Roger) hosts a more kid-friendly featurette that nicely evokes the irreverent style of its subject matter. Plus, there's a fun "Toontown" game you can play with your DVD player's remote control, and a few other featurettes on various technical aspects of the production. Oh, and the 3 original Roger Rabbit shorts that were shown with selected Disney films in the late 80's and early 90's.A very impressive, exhaustive presentation that will answer every question you ever might have about this wonderfully fun and original film.