Plot: Set in 1947, Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is an alcoholic private investigator who holds a grudge against Toons (cartoon characters). Five years earlier, his brother was killed by a Toon and the killer was never caught. He is angry and takes it out on everyone. Roger Rabbit is an A-list Toon who works for Maroon Cartoons and is married to Jessica Rabbit, a beautiful Toon woman. Acme (Stubby Kaye) is a prankster who is caught "cheating" with Jessica by playing patty-cake with her. When Acme is murdered, Roger is accused. Eddie tries to prove Roger's innocence and protect him from Judge Doom (Christopher Llyod), judge of Toontown with the help of his on-off girlfriend Dolores (Joanna Cassidy).
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released in 1988 and the film has interaction between real-life and cartoon characters. We see now so many films that do the same so it's not really anything that exciting for a modern audience in the 21st century. So to see that being done in that time period was quite the accomplishment. And it's very well done. I'm going to go as far to say that the special effects aspect of the film are better than some films I see today that have cartoon and real-life characters in the same scene.
What I like about the plot is that we're introduced to cartoon characters that remind us of the cartoon characters we enjoyed as kids. And we see several cartoon characters that we know and love like Mickey Mouse, Tweety Bird, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck are among some of these characters.
Because this film is a mixture of real-life and animation, many would expect for this to only be aimed at kids. That's far from the truth. Let me explain.
The film's plot is adult and so are some of the jokes. For example, Eddie is an alcoholic who hasn't properly coped with his brother's death. And we have a seen where Eddie asks for alcohol on the rocks and gets actual rocks in his drink. It's a kind of joke that adults and kids might find funny but it doesn't take away it's adult content. We also have the wife of Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, who is accused of having an affair by playing "patty-cake" with Acme. We have a baby smoking a cigarette, a cartoon character getting murdered and we see the scene of the crime. It's these examples that just show that this isn't a movie for young kids to see.
Not only is the plot adult, but there are also suspenseful and even intense moments. For example, we have the scene where someone is shot, we see the gun and the bullet hit the person.
The acting in this is top notch. Bob Hoskins is a fantastic lead actor in this. When you read the description of his character, you wouldn't believe to have any sympathy for him. But as Eddie grows in the film, we do feel for him and that's because of his performance. Christopher Lloyd is a very entertaining and convincing villain in his performance of Judge Doom. You know Judge Doom is bad news from when he first appears and Lloyd plays that throughout the entire film. He doesn't try to get us and sympathize with Doom because he [Christopher Lloyd] knows we shouldn't. I feel that Joanna Cassidy wasn't used as much in the film as she could've been but she shined in every scene she was in. All of the actors were acting with nothing when their characters were talking to the Toons so I have respect for them to be able to pull that kind of task off so effortlessly.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is enormously entertaining, funny and thrilling. An amazing movie to watch and if you have the chance to watch it, do it. It's worth it.
Rating: 5/5
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