Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
How
often did you watch cartoons as a kid and want to enter that world? A world
where anything was possible? Where it’s starring characters were always getting
into trouble of some sort, but no matter what happened they would peel
themselves off the ground and carry on. It was organised mayhem of the best
kind. In the world of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” people and cartoons walk side
by side, never thinking anything of it. What an amazing world that would be to
live in. It’s the kind of film where you can follow the story pretty easily,
and still watch the amazing animation cross over with human antics, in some clever
and tongue in cheek jokes.
In a
hilarious opening scene, Roger Rabbit is left in charge of a baby. While mom
goes to the stores, the baby spots the cookie jar, sitting high on top of the
fridge. He makes a break for it, casually climbing across bench tops, flaming
stoves and narrowly missing everything dangerous thing a kitchen could offer.
Roger, always unaware in another world of his own imagination, only notices the
baby about halfway through its escapade. He runs into the kitchen and in every
brave attempt to rescue the infant, causes more damage and mayhem than any
child ever could. One catastrophe after another sees Roger get cooked in an
oven, have dozens of steel pots and pans fall on his head and become a living
dart board for a barrage of flying kitchen knives. Its classic cartoon chaos,
until a voice yells “Cut!” and we pan back to reveal humans standing on a set
filming all of this. Cartoons and people together, in one place? Roger and the
baby (which is really short bald man) walk onto the set and seamlessly interact
with their human companions. Even when he’s not in front of the camera,
everything Roger Rabbit does is a super sideshow. His reactions to even the
smallest things are like a comedy stand up marathon. Basically, he’s a seriously
unhinged individual.
Bob
Hoskins plays Private Investigator Eddie Valiant; a disgruntled, dime a dozen
character, given the case of proving Roger Rabbit innocent, or guilty. No
difference to him. He works to collect a paycheque so he can continue to scrape
by. Ironic he is given this case, as he can’t stand “Toons”. And for good
reason. One of them murdered his brother by dropping a piano on his head. The
animated assassin was never found.
As
the story unfolds, we enter a world where people and cartoons share the same
space, and the way it’s all done on screen is fascinating and highly
entertaining. For example, have you ever wondered what it would be like to see
Donald Duck and Daffy Duck go head to head in a piano playing challenge. Well,
you’ll get it here. And the results are fantastic. The film takes the well
known and loved cartoon characters you know and grew up on, pulling them out of
their usual setting to interact with people in the real world. It’s that idea
used so creatively that made me love this movie from the first time I saw it.
It’s just so inventive, funny and zany from start to finish. And taking the
human-cartoon crossover to higher levels, would you like to see grown men drop
their mouths and drool over a woman – in cartoon form? Jessica Rabbit takes
centre stage as a femme fatale. Voiced to perfection by Kathleen Turner,
Jessica leaps off the screen in all her glamorous glory. Often voted as one of
the sexiest movie characters of all time, even though she is in 2D, Jessica Rabbit
steals the show with her looks, but there’s more to this mysterious minx than
meets the eye. But as she proclaims “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that
way”
When
he is accused of murdering a human, Roger turns to Valiant for help. They don’t
get along as you can imagine, so after some scenes of smashing, slapping and
slipping towards and around each other that causes a mess, the two start to get
along and find a way to prove Roger’s innocence and save Toon Town from the
evil Judge.
And
even though it’s full of cartoon characters, Who Framed Roger Rabbit isn’t
exactly a kids movie. A lot of the jokes are quite adult, and there are some
violent scenes showing cartoons being destroyed by the films evil villain. I
might have been a bit closer to ten or so when I first saw this film, and it
quickly became a favourite. It’s also a movie that can be watched multiple
times, as you’re bound to notice something different each time; whether that be
a twist in the story, or the actions of the cartoon characters as they run amok
and cause trouble as only a toon can.
It’s
a riot of a film. Sit back, enjoy the creativity on board and let your
imagination run wild with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
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