☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) – R. Zemekis
Earlier in the
day, I had the occasion to listen to my Carl Stalling Project CD, a disc of
Warner Brothers Cartoon (“Looney Tunes”) soundtracks composed by Stalling. One thing lead to another and I found myself
watching Roger Rabbit for the first time in 30+ years. Although great strides have been made in synthesizing
live-action and animation, I have to say this old-school product still holds
up, probably because of the care and attention the animators applied to each
and every frame by hand. Bob Hoskins
plays a burnt-out private investigator, still lamenting the death of his
brother/partner at the hands of a Toon, the cartoon minority group that is segregated
into its own neighbourhood of L. A. As a
result, he doesn’t want to work for Toons; however, he is willing to take some
dirty pictures on behalf of Maroon Studios in order to convince their star, Roger,
that his wife, Jessica (“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”), is cheating on
him. Of course, she isn’t but when her
supposed partner, the boss of Acme gadgets, is bumped off, then Roger is the
main suspect. Eventually, Eddie
(Hoskins) decides to help him out. So,
it’s a noir frame but mostly fun because of the cameos by WB and Disney stars
from the past. It’s also not exactly for
children, given all the drinking, sex references, comic violence, and scary Christopher
Lloyd as the menacing Judge Doom. Worth
another look, if you are in the mood.
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