‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is the classic 1988 live-action/animation hybrid, and while it wasn’t the first film to feature animated characters interacting with humans, it is still a ground-breaking film, as it improved special effects between the interaction of humans and cartoon characters.

 

The film’s story opens in 1947, where cartoon characters are the celebrities of this world. They are here to entertain us and to make us laugh. But trouble arrives as Detective Eddie Valliant (Bob Hoskins) is on a case, when Roger gets framed for murder. Sounds dark for a family film. It’s up to Eddie to solve the case and prove Roger’s innocence.

 

The animation and the direction involved is quite incredible and astonishing, despite its aged material. While some animation does look a little out-dated between the interaction of the cartoon characters and the humans, like ‘Toy Story’, it is still, at the time, a film that shattered the impossible, as the cartoon characters fit perfectly in this constructed reality.

 

And don’t get me started with the cartoon character cameos, featuring the first, and currently only, appearance of Mickey and Bugs to star in the same film. That there has made this film historical.

 

The acting from Bob Hoskins is brilliant who makes Eddie a soulful, yet hard-boiled character, that is quite emotional and a blast on screen. Christopher Lloyd’s character as Judge Doom is scary, but acted brilliantly as well.

 

From the opening of the film with a familiarity of the ‘Looney-Tunes’ intros, to the closing credits of Porky saying his popular catchphrase. ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is fun and a love letter to old cartoons, and even cartoons in general, with greatly developed characters, a film-noir style and some unpredictable twists.

 

‘Roger Rabbit’ is a classic masterpiece that blends different genres into a single film, perfectly.

 

Score: 9.5/10

Published: March 27th, 2015