'''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''' is a
1988 American film produced by
Amblin Entertainment and
The Walt Disney Company (released on its
Touchstone Pictures banner), which blends
traditional animation and
live action. The film takes place in a fictionalized version of
Los Angeles set in 1947, where animated characters (always referred to as "
Toons") are real beings who live and work alongside humans in the real world, most of them as actors in
animated cartoons. It is often considered the movie that brought upon the
modern age of animation in the United States.
At $70 million, ''Roger Rabbit'' was one of the most expensive films to date at the time of its release. The film proved a sound investment, earning over $150 million during its original theatrical release. The film is notable for offering a unique chance to see many cartoon characters from different studios interacting in a single film and for being one of the last appearances by voice artists
Mel Blanc and
Mae Questel from
animation's Golden Era. In addition, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' won four
Oscars at the
61st Academy Awards ceremony in
1989.
Plot
The movie opens as a ''
Baby Herman''
short subject, which in the
realm of this film is revealed to be a "
live action"
slapstick short in the midst of
production. This introduces the
film's title character, who plays the supporting comic foil to infant cartoon star (actually a grown man who appears to be a baby) Baby Herman. In the movie's milieu, cartoon characters are a cohabiting
sapient species alongside
human beings, though unlike them, are unbounded by the
laws of physics — but only when it's funny. Eventually, it is revealed that Marvin Acme, the owner of the
Acme Company and of
Toontown, has been murdered. All signs point to
Roger Rabbit, a Toon star at
Maroon Cartoons. Roger has recently been shown evidence that Acme and Roger's wife,
Jessica Rabbit, a sexy Toon ''
femme fatale'' (speaking voice by
Kathleen Turner, singing voice by
Amy Irving), had been playing
pattycake together (with Jessica moaning in a suspiciously sexual manner). This is tantamount to
infidelity in the eyes of a Toon.
The only person who can help clear Roger's name is
Eddie Valiant (
Bob Hoskins), a washed-up,
alcoholic detective who hates Toons because his brother, Teddy, died after a piano was dropped on his head by a Toon during a routine criminal investigation years before. Eddie is reluctantly forced into helping when Roger hides in his apartment. He soon finds himself shielding Roger from
Judge Doom (
Christopher Lloyd) of the
Toontown District Superior Court and his "Toon Patrol" henchmen, a group of weasels named Smartass, Greasy, Psycho, Stupid, and Wheezy. Meanwhile, Doom's giant Cloverleaf Corporation is plotting to buy out the L.A.
interurban railway (the
Pacific Electric, nicknamed "the red car") and replace it with
freeways. (This story line is based on the
General Motors streetcar conspiracy, an alleged effort to dismantle public transportation systems throughout the U.S.). With Acme dead and no will having been found, Toontown is in danger of being bulldozed in order to make way for the freeway. Eddie and Roger must find the will of the late Marvin Acme, which purportedly gives ownership of Toontown to the Toons, as per Acme’s solemn oath. Judge Doom is also trying to find the will in order to dispose of it, so he can destroy Toontown and build his freeway where the place once stood, making himself a profit out of the deal. If any Toons happen to get in his way, Judge Doom feels no qualms about subjecting them to the "
Dip": a mixture he’s concocted of
acetone,
benzene, and
turpentine, and the only sure way to kill a Toon. Eddie goes to the studios of Maroon Cartoons, Roger's employer, to help clear the rabbit's name. There he interrogates R. K. Maroon, who is shot twice in the back and is killed. Thinking the shooter to be Jessica Rabbit, playing Roger for a
patsy, Eddie chases the assassin all the way into Toontown, despite his trepidation; Eddie has not set foot in Toontown since brother Teddy’s demise. There Eddie discovers from Jessica that the assassin was actually Judge Doom, who also murdered Marvin Acme. The weasels are homing in on the two, and Bennie the Cab shows up in time to get them to safety. Once outside the tunnel leading to Toontown, Bennie skids on some Dip in the road dumped there by Doom and crashes into a light pole ejecting Eddie and Jessica out of him. Doom then kidnaps the two of them and takes them to the Acme factory. Roger then shows up in Eddie's battered car that he stole earlier, Bennie informs him that Doom has Jessica and Eddie at the Acme factory, and "drives" the two of them in Eddie's car to the factory.
In the film's climax, set in the Acme Warehouse, Roger manages to gain entry through the plumbing, but is ultimately caught after one of the weasels drops a ton of bricks on his head. Judge Doom then spews "dip" from a huge machine and tries to eradicate Roger and his wife, Jessica. He reveals his plans to then use his Dip vehicle to erase Toontown. To combat Doom's weasel henchmen using their one weakness, the normally hard-nosed Eddie draws upon his past experience as a clown at
Ringling Brothers circus and performs a slapstick comedy dance. In doing so, Valiant causes the weasels to literally
die of laughter. As the Weasels fly into Heaven, the dipmachine misfires, almost killing Roger and Jessica. Eddie turns it off, but has a battle ignited with Judge Doom. During the final battle with Eddie, Judge Doom is revealed to be a Toon himself after a
steam-roller flattens him, and he reinflates by using an air tank, revealing his Toon features. To Eddie's horror, Doom then reveals himself to be not just any Toon, but the very one who murdered Teddy Valiant, with red fiery pupils and a very squeaky voice. He fights Eddie by turning his limbs into a veritable toon arsenal such as buzzsaws and anvils. Just when it seems that Judge Doom is about to win, Eddie uses an Acme scissor-spring-loaded punch-glove mallet to knock open the drain valve on the Dip machine, drenching Judge Doom and draining the Dip out of the machine, saving Roger and Jessica. Doom melts away and the Dip machine breaks through the wall, entering Toontown. Fortunately, it drives right in front of a passenger
train almost instantly. Eddie then washes the Dip from the factory floor using the factory's hydrant system, and frees Jessica and Roger. The police soon arrive, and realize that Judge Doom was responsible for the murders of Maroon, Acme, and Teddy Valiant, though no one knows for sure who he really was, due to a rubber mask he wore over his toon face. Marvin Acme's will is found (Acme wrote it in "disappearing re-appearing ink", and Roger had inadvertently used the "blank" paper to write Jessica a love letter earlier in the story), and Toontown is handed over to the control of the Toons, who all cheer and
sing a chorus of "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile."
Production
The live-action sequences were
directed by
Robert Zemeckis and mostly filmed at
Cannon Elstree film studios in
Hertfordshire, England. Though Disney was the studio behind the film, the animated sequences were mostly done in
London because
Richard Williams refused to work in
Los Angeles.
[1] The film stars
Bob Hoskins,
Christopher Lloyd,
Joanna Cassidy and the voice of
Charles Fleischer. The screenplay was adapted by
screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from the
1981 novel ''
Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by
Gary K. Wolf, and the music was composed by perennial Zemeckis film composer
Alan Silvestri and performed by the
London Symphony Orchestra.
As many as 100 separate pieces of film were optically combined to incorporate the animated and live-action elements. The animated characters themselves were hand-drawn without
computer animation; analogue optical effects were used for adding shadows and lighting to the Toons to give them a more "realistic," three-dimensional appearance.
Since the animated Roger was added in post-production, Bob Hoskins was effectively acting against empty air during the shooting of his many scenes with Roger. (However, in one part, Hoskins momentarily directed his gaze at a 6-foot rabbit. To fix this error, the animators had Roger standing on the tips of his feet, thus eliminating any illusion; no one even questioned it.) In order to facilitate Hoskins' performance, Roger's voice actor Charles Fleischer (dressed in a Roger bunny suit) stood in for Roger in some scenes.
Much of the cinematography and several scenes of the film are a homage to
Roman Polanski's ''
Chinatown''. Probably one of the most obvious references is the scene in which Roger is shown the pictures of his wife cheating on him, which is very similar to the opening scene in Polanski's film. Also J.J. Gittes in ''Chinatown'' and Eddie Valiant are both pastiches of the same stock character, that of the hard-boiled private detective. Both plots involve a corrupt establishment and a femme fatale whose intentions are at first unclear to the protagonist and viewer.
Release
International premieres
★
October 18,
1988: '
France'
★
October 27,
1988: '
West Germany'
★
November 17,
1988: '
Netherlands'
★
November 24,
1988: '
Australia'
★
November 25,
1988: '
Spain'
★
December 2,
1988: '
Italy', '
Sweden' and '
U.K.'
★
December 7,
1988: '
Colombia'
★
December 15,
1988: '
Norway'
★
December 16,
1988: '
Finland' and '
Denmark'
★
December 22,
1988: '
Argentina'
★
December 24,
1988: '
Japan'
Critical reaction
Test screenings for the film proved to be unsuccessful, producer
Frank Marshall said that the audience was "17-18 year old guys with their dates", and it was also said that halfway through the three minute opening cartoon by
Richard Williams, everyone walked out of the theater. After that
Jeffrey Katzenberg said, "I saw my life flash before my eyes". However, as the film gradually got more complete, the reactions of later screenings got better and better.
Although test screenings proved disastrous, ''Roger Rabbit'' opened to generally positive reviews on
June 24 1988. Both
Gene Siskel and
Roger Ebert included the film on their lists of ten favorite films of 1988, with Ebert calling it "sheer, enchanted entertainment from the first frame to the last - a joyous, giddy, goofy celebration"
[1].
The movie won four
Academy Awards:
Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing;
Best Effects, Visual Effects;
Best Film Editing; and a Special Award for
Richard Williams for "animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters". The film received three further nominations:
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration,
Best Cinematography and
Best Sound.
Winner of 4
Oscars:
★ Film Editing — Arthur Schmidt
★ Sound Effects Editing — Charles L.Campbell, Louis L.Edemann
★ Visual Effects — Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones, George Gibbs
★ Special Achievement Award — to Richard Williams For The Animation Direction Of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
3 additional nominations:
★ Art Direction — Art Direction: Elliot Scott; Set Decoration: Peter Howitt
★ Cinematography — Dean Cundey
★ Sound — Robert Knudson, John Boyd, Don Digirolamo, Tony Dawe
The movie has a 100% "freshness" rating at
Rotten Tomatoes.
Controversies and Easter eggs
Several
Easter eggs were hidden in the film by its animators. Tape-based analog video such as
VHS did not reveal these, but technologies with better image quality, such as the
laserdisc, were said to reveal, amongst others, the phone number of then Disney CEO
Michael Eisner. Also, when Benny the Cab wrecks at night and Eddie and Jessica roll out, there are two separate frames (2170-2172 on side 4 of the laserdisc version), within two seconds of each other, showing a blurry shot of her with no underwear. Disney recalled the laserdisc and issued another disc, later claiming that it was an incorrectly painted cel. Disney also stated that the cel in question could be seen on the new disc and on the VHS version.
Two DVD versions edit the scene where Jessica Rabbit rolls out of the cab after Benny the Cab crashes. The 1999 DVD version reanimated the scene so that way Jessica is wearing white panties underneath her dress. When the DVD set was reissued in 2002, the scene was reanimated so that way a piece of Jessica's skirt strategically covers Jessica as she rolls down the hill.
Just before Eddie falls off the building, the words "For Good Times, call Allyson Wunderland" can be seen on the wall behind him.
A brief scene consisting of the toon Baby Herman passing by a female (human) extra on the set of the opening cartoon and sticking his middle finger up her dress, and then coming back from under the dress with a drool of spit on his lip. This was edited out of the first DVD edition of the movie, though it can be found on editions of the
VHS,
laserdisc, and
DVD issues.
In the sequence where
Bob Hoskins is seen falling an incredibly long distance flanked by
Mickey Mouse and
Bugs Bunny, Bugs at one point does a finger twiddle with the hand holding his carrot. For one frame in the middle of this, animator
Dave Spafford deliberately drew Bugs as
flipping Mickey off, and requested that the animator working on Mickey respond with a shocked expression.
Gary Wolf, author of the original novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?,'' corresponded with many fans of the film through written letters and the
Internet, compiling an exhaustive listing of the many hidden "easter eggs" in the film and in the later ''Roger Rabbit'' short films. Wolf also sued Disney in 2001 for unpaid earnings related to the film.
In the piano duel scene with
Donald Duck and
Daffy Duck, Daffy says "I've worked with a lot of wise-quackers, but you are despicable." and Donald supposedly replies, in his kazoo-like voice "God damn stupid
nigger...."
Snopes, a noted debunking website, debunks this with the closed-captioning which records Donald as saying "Goddurn stubborn nitwit," though Snopes actually believes he's saying something akin to his typical exclamation, "Doggone stubborn little...That did it...waaagh!" as is heard in many old Disney cartoons. The Vista Series DVD release uses the latter quote in its closed-captioning.
[2]
Animated characters
Main cartoon characters
These characters were all created for and made their first appearances in the film.
★
Roger Rabbit
★
Jessica Rabbit
★
Baby Herman
★
Benny The Cab
★
Judge Doom
★
The Toon Patrol
★
Lena Hyena
★ Bongo, the Ape Bouncer of the Ink & Paint Club
Cartoon characters that make cameo appearances
These characters had all appeared in either film or cartoon shorts made by various studios.
Disney
★
Mickey Mouse
★
Minnie Mouse
★
Donald Duck
★
Daisy Duck
★
Goofy
★
Pluto
★
Black Pete
★
Horace Horsecollar
★
Clarabelle Cow
★
Clara Cluck
★
Peter Pig
★
Toby Tortoise
★
Brer Bear from ''
Song of the South''.
★
Hummingbirds from ''
Song of the South''
★
Sis Moles from ''
Song of the South''
★
Dumbo
★ Crows from ''
Dumbo''
★ Various ''
Fantasia'' characters: broomsticks from ''
The Sorcerer's Apprentice'', a dancing hippopotamus and ostrich from ''
Dance of the Hours'', and cherubs and Pegasus from ''
The Pastoral Symphony''
★
Jose Carioca from ''
Saludos Amigos'' and ''
The Three Caballeros''
★
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
★
Pinocchio
★
Jiminy Cricket
★
The Queen (appearing as the Witch) from ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''
★
Bambi from ''
Bambi''
★ The
Big Bad Wolf and the
Three Little Pigs
★
The Reluctant Dragon
★ The Singing Harp and Willie the Giant from ''
Fun and Fancy Free''
★ Bill, the lizard with a ladder from ''
Alice in Wonderland''
★
★
Maleficent's goons from ''
Sleeping Beauty''
★
★ Mr. Toad and Cyril Proudbottom from ''
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad''
★
★ The penguin waiters from Disney's ''
Mary Poppins''
★
★ Peter from the ''
Peter and the Wolf'' segment of ''
Make Mine Music''
★
Tinkerbell★ from ''
Peter Pan''
★
★ Danny, the sheep from ''
So Dear to My Heart''
★
★ The orphans from ''
Orphan's Benefit''
★
Ferdinand The Bull
★ Jenny Wren from ''
Who Killed Cock Robin''
Warner Bros.
★
Bugs Bunny
★
Daffy Duck
★
Porky Pig
★
The Road Runner★
★
Wile E. Coyote★
★
Yosemite Sam
★
Speedy Gonzales★
★
Tweety Bird
★
Sylvester
★
Foghorn Leghorn
★
Marvin the Martian★
★ The Do-Do Bird
★
Sam Sheepdog★
MGM
★
Droopy Dog
★
Screwy Squirrel is mentioned
Paramount Pictures/Fleischer Studios
★
Betty Boop
★
Koko the Clown
Walter Lantz
★
Woody Woodpecker
★
Chilly Willy and
Dinky Doodle are mentioned
(
★ ) Denotes
anachronisms; these characters (or, in the cases of characters such as Tinkerbell, the animated versions of them that appear in the film) were created after 1947. But as screenplay writer Peter S. Seaman said, "The aim was entertainment, not animation history."
Cast
Human actors
Toon voice actors
Legacy
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is seen as a landmark film that sparked the
most recent era in American animation. The field of animation had suffered a recession during the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where even giants in the field such as
The Walt Disney Company were considering giving up on major animated productions. By the time the 1970s ended and the 1980s began, many filmgoers were now wanting to see more R-rated, raunchy, adult-oriented films. This expensive film (production cost of $70 million - a staggering amount for the time) was a major risk for the company, but one that paid off handsomely. It inspired other studios to dive back into the field of animation; it also made animation acceptable with the movie-going public. After ''Roger Rabbit,'' interest in the history of animation exploded, and such legends in the field as
Tex Avery,
Chuck Jones, and
Ralph Bakshi were seen in a new light and received credit and acclaim from audiences worldwide. It also provided the impetus for Disney and Warner Brothers' later animated television shows such as
Darkwing Duck,
Animaniacs and
Tiny Toon Adventures.
The film featured the last major voice role for two legendary cartoon voice artists:
Mel Blanc (voicing Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny,
Tweety Bird and also
Sylvester in a one-line cameo) and
Mae Questel (voicing Betty Boop, but not Olive Oyl, who did not appear in the film). Blanc (who would shortly pass away at the age of 81) did not do Yosemite Sam's voice in the movie, done instead by
Joe Alaskey. (Blanc had admitted that in his later years he was no longer able to do the "yelling" voices such as Sam's, which were very rough on his vocal chords in old age. There was a Foghorn Leghorn scene recorded but cut which also utilised Alaskey for the same reason.) Blanc also does Porky Pig, who gets the last line of the film, dressed as a police officer.
The film was also the next-to-last screen appearance for veteran actors
Alan Tilvern, who portrays R.K. Maroon in the film, and
Stubby Kaye, who plays Marvin Acme. Tilvern appeared in only one other production before his retirement, the 1993 television version of ''
Porgy and Bess'', in which he played the non-singing role of the Detective. Alan Tilvern died in 2003. Stubby Kaye, best known for playing Nicely Nicely Johnson in the original stage and screen versions of ''
Guys and Dolls'', died in 1997.
Despite being produced by Disney (in association with
Steven Spielberg's
Amblin Entertainment), ''Roger Rabbit'' also marked the first (and to date, only) time that characters from several animation studios (including
Universal,
Walter Lantz Studios,
Paramount Pictures,
Fleischer Studios,
MGM (though the characters are owned by
Turner Entertainment since 1986),
Republic and
Warner Bros.) appeared in one film. This allowed the first-ever meetings between
Bugs Bunny and
Mickey Mouse. A contract was signed between Disney and Warner stating that their respective icons,
Mickey Mouse and
Bugs Bunny, would each receive exactly the same amount of screen time (they also had the same number of lines). This is why the script has Bugs, Mickey, and Eddie together in one scene falling from a skyscraper. (However, Bugs Bunny can be seen for a second in the studio lot near the beginning of the film, and so it would seem that Bugs Bunny technically had longer screentime. But Mickey has a second of free time before Bugs arrived making it equal.) Also the
speakeasy scene features the first and only meeting of
Daffy Duck and
Donald Duck performing a unique dueling piano act. Finally the unique pairing is given a final send off at the end of the film when
Porky Pig faces the audience and says the traditional Warner Brothers animation closing line, "That's all, Folks!" just before
Tinkerbell appears to tap the scene in the traditional Disney ending manner.
Eventually, several additional animated shorts featuring Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, and Baby Herman would be released. These shorts were presented in front of various Touchstone/Disney features in an attempt to revive short subject animation as a part of the movie-going experience. These shorts include ''
Tummy Trouble'' released in front of the blockbuster ''
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids'' (this was also included on the original video release of the film), ''
Roller Coaster Rabbit'' shown in front of the hit ''
Dick Tracy'' and ''
Trail Mix-Up'' shown in front of the soon forgotten ''
A Far Off Place''. They were all released on video in 1996 on a tape called ''
The Best of Roger Rabbit'', and in 2003 on a special edition DVD of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. ''Tummy Trouble'' was produced at the main
Walt Disney Feature Animation studio in
Burbank, California, while ''Roller Coaster Rabbit'' and ''Trail Mix-Up'' were produced at the satellite studio located at
Disney-MGM Studios in
Orlando, Florida.
In 1989,
Marvel Comics commissioned a special
graphic novel as a novelization in comic-book form. The novel featured several ideas for the plot scrapped from the original film, such as Roger and Eddy actually making a getaway in Dooms' squad car (until the engine blows up after Roger constantly hammers the pedals), as well as the deleted Pighead sequence featured on the Laserdisc version of the DVD releases (as well as on its first broadcast on CBS). Today, these Graphic novels are collectors' items due to their rarity.
In 1991, the
Disney Imagineers began to develop a new land for the
Disneyland theme park in
Anaheim, California, completely based on the Toontown of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''.
Mickey's Toontown opened in 1993 and spawned "Toontown" (without the ''Mickey's'' prefix) at
Tokyo Disneyland in
Japan. The Californian and Japanese Toontowns feature a ride based on Roger Rabbit's adventures, called
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.
The film was referenced in the
2000 film, ''
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'', which has some elements similar to ''Roger Rabbit''.
Merchandising
The success of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' led to a moderate degree of merchandising for the film. In
October 1989,
McDonald's made a
Halloween themed certificate offer for a free
VHS copy of the film as well as a Roger Rabbit
doll. Other memorabilia included
cookie jars,
Christmas ornaments,
music boxes,
snow globes,
pinback buttons, three videogames, and a
novelization of the film. While much of the merchandise was produced throughout the
1988–89 promotion of the film, other items would later be offered as commemorative collectibles in celebration of Disney-related anniversaries.
See also
★
Great American Streetcar Scandal, the scandal that this film is partially based on (and parodies)
★
Roger Rabbit, the character
★
Cool World, another live-action/animated film that takes place in the same time period
★
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, video game for
NES
References and footnotes
★ "Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit". (2003). ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', Vista Series [DVD]. Burbank: Buena Vista Home Video.
★ Gray, Milton (1991). ''Cartoon Animation: Introduction to a Career''. Lion's Den Publications. ISBN 0-9628444-5-4.
★ ''Chuck Jones Conversations''. Edited by Maureen Furniss. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-729-4.
1. Stewart, James B ''DisneyWar'', page 87. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 978-0-74-326709-0
2. http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/donald.htm
External links
★
Disney's official site for this film
★
★
Filmsite.org - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
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