Who Framed Roger Rabbit
As I started watching “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” for the first time in, what, 25 years, I forgot that there was a time when Robert Zemeckis made movies that were fun. When put in perspective of this groundbreaking comedy, his experiments in performance capture animation (“The Polar Express,” “Beowulf,” and “A Christmas Carol”) seem like dreary times, indeed, regardless of their artistic merits. Last year, he did a great dramatic film with “Flight,” but when are we going to see another “Back to the Future” or “Romancing the Stone” or “Roger Rabbit” from him? Did winning an Oscar for “Forrest Gump” remove any sense of just entertaining an audience from his creative sensibilities?
That remains to be seen, but it’s great to be reminded of that playful, subversive side of his directorial personality with “Roger Rabbit.” And make no mistake, “Roger Rabbit” is pretty subversive, which would explain why Disney released it under its Touchstone label rather than the castle itself. (The fact that some non-Disney ‘toon characters show up probably helped with that, as well.) It’s also one of the things Disney has ever done, along with, arguably, being Zemeckis’s best film.
The story, even for someone who hasn’t seen it in a long while, is well known and remembered. The film tells the story of private detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), who is hired by a cartoon producer to get some dirt on the wife of his biggest star, Roger Rabbit (voiced perfectly by Charles Fleischer), who’s supposedly having an affair with prop mogul Marvin Acme. However, what seems like an open-and-shut case of infidelity turns into a murder mystery when Acme turns up dead, and Roger is framed for his death. Soon, Valient– who swore he would never deal with Toons again after his partner was killed by one –is caught up in the middle of a power struggle that could be the end of Toontown if the nefarious Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) has his way. On top of that, he also has to reunite Roger and his wayward wife, Jessica (voiced by Kathleen Turner, in pure “Body Heat,” femme fatale mode). That’s a lot of craziness for 104 minutes, and that’s just the barebones of the story.
The film is based on a book by Gary K. Wolf, and the script is by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, but this film is all Zemeckis. One thing Zemeckis has shown himself as in his career is someone who wants to experiment, and push the boundaries of special effects, and “Roger Rabbit,” with its innovative combination of live action and animation, is the purest expression of that sense of innovation. Yes, he and his visual effects artists made it possible for Forrest Gump to meet historical figures, and yes, his performance capture films (however flawed) helped pave the way for the likes of “Rango” and “The Adventures of Tintin,” but “Roger Rabbit” set the stage for not just all of those things, but also CG creations like the T-1000 in “T2,” Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” films, not to mention all of the CG creatures in the “Star Wars” prequels. Zemeckis and the crew at Industrial Light & Magic deserved the Oscar love they got that year, not to mention the special acknowledgement animator Richard Williams got for his contribution; I’m a bit ashamed to admit that, after roughly 25 years away from this movie, I forgot just how remarkable this film was on an artistic level.
Thankfully, the film is more than just a technical marvel; it’s also wildly entertaining, and that’s where the cast comes into play. Yes, Lloyd makes a great, over-the-top villain in Doom, but Hoskins is the beating heart that makes the film work. If he doesn’t believe this universe, where Toons and humanity are just a short drive apart, and occupy the same space, we won’t believe it, and Zemeckis gets a superb performance out of him. How relieved was I to read when I was familiarizing myself with the ins and outs of the movie for this review that I learned that Hoskins was, indeed, nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance, although he really should have gotten an Oscar nod as well. (Same goes for Alan Silvestri for his excellent score, which is one of his best.) He has great support from Fleischer and Turner, not to mention Joanna Cassidy as Dolores, who is Valiant’s on/off girlfriend in the film, and isn’t quite sure what to make of things when Eddie gets a visit from Jessica Rabbit in his offices. Ultimately, though, this film belongs to two people– Zemeckis and Hoskins, who make it easy for us to believe that not only do the cartoon characters we know and love exist, but that their lives are just as hectic, and absurd, as they are in the cartoons we know them from. Now for the big question: when are we going to see more of this world, ’cause I wouldn’t mind living there.
