Words fail me to describe the thrill of seeing this in the theater for the first time, when it came out.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit felt like an impossible triumph, something so outlandish that the mere possibility never even occurred to us, for someone to pull off a project of this scale and ambition, to clear all legal hurdles of wrangling all studios together. Bugs (Warner) and Mickey (Disney) in the same frame, or Daffy and Donald, then there’s Droopy (MGM), Betty Boop (RKO/Universal), etc.
Then there’s still the matter of overcoming all the insane technical challenges (before the advent of CGI), and also make the “LA noir” story sophisticated and engrossing… this damn movie feels like a genuine artistic statement, with soul and guts and conviction.
It’s like director Zemeckis and lead actor Bob Hoskins performed a tandem triple reverse somersault and sticked the landing to perfection. This film delivered on every single potential promise on the bucket list.
As an adult, I also appreciate how the movie promotes good urbanism (the plot is ultimately about the Streetcar Conspiracy: Judge Doom owned Cloverleaf Industries, and was trying to demolish Toon Town and its railway to build a freeway).
Words fail me to describe the thrill of seeing this in the theater for the first time, when it came out.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit felt like an impossible triumph, something so outlandish that the mere possibility never even occurred to us, for someone to pull off a project of this scale and ambition, to clear all legal hurdles of wrangling all studios together. Bugs (Warner) and Mickey (Disney) in the same frame, or Daffy and Donald, then there’s Droopy (MGM), Betty Boop (RKO/Universal), etc.
Then there’s still the matter of overcoming all the insane technical challenges (before the advent of CGI), and also make the “LA noir” story sophisticated and engrossing… this damn movie feels like a genuine artistic statement, with soul and guts and conviction.
It’s like director Zemeckis and lead actor Bob Hoskins performed a tandem triple reverse somersault and sticked the landing to perfection. This film delivered on every single potential promise on the bucket list.
As an adult, I also appreciate how the movie promotes good urbanism (the plot is ultimately about the Streetcar Conspiracy: Judge Doom owned Cloverleaf Industries, and was trying to demolish Toon Town and its railway to build a freeway).