By KAITLYN HENSON
Staff Writer
Since the early days of animation people in Hollywood have often experimented with combining the mediums of live-action and hand-drawn characters into the same scene. Movies such as Mary Poppins (1964), Space Jam (1996), and Enchanted (2007) are all famously known for the combination of the two mediums with seamless composition and lively storytelling and characters. But we shouldn’t forget the one film that pioneered this area of the industry, and forever changed the way we see live-action animated movies – Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film set in the 1940s during the Golden Age of animation. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and was distributed by a plethora of different companies, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, FilmFlex, and the infamous Walt Disney Studios. It follows the story of private detective Eddie Valiant who, after a toon killed his brother, grew a distaste for the ridiculous positivity and laughter of the cartoon characters he runs into on a daily basis. But when toon Roger Rabbit is framed for the murder of Toon Town’s mayor, it’s up to Eddie and Roger to work together to solve the crime before Toon Town is destroyed by the villainous Judge Doom.
This film changed the scene of live-action and animation movies by using technological advancements never before seen in a production like this. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of the first feature-length films to be able to achieve the illusion of actors interacting with cartoon characters through shading, eye contact, objects being lifted in the air, and several other techniques. It’s incredible the amount of work that was put into this film, let alone the achievement of bringing together cartoon characters from different companies (especially Walt Disney Studios) into the same scene. It’s immaculate and an extraordinary achievement made by the brilliant minds behind this fascinating movie.
I first watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit in my film studies class at school, and immediately fell in love with it. It’s truly a love letter to animation as it brings in classic cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Betty Boop, Yosemite Sam, and even Dumbo all in the same movie. It also perfectly adds original cartoon characters such as Roger Rabbit himself, Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman, and Benny the Cab. They all feel original and blend perfectly with the other iconic characters as they’re all sucked into this conflict of murder and mystery.
I also found it fascinating how the whole narrative of Who Framed Roger Rabbit is centered around real-life people and animated characters living together in the same world, and how the threat towards Roger Rabbit can possibly lead to the end of the beloved Toon Town where the toons live. Everything about this narrative and the way it was executed, not to mention the message it portrays about people’s perception of cartoons, is absolutely benevolent and it enthralled me with every second of the movie playing.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot in this because you have to truly experience this movie yourself to get the full experience. I’ve never quite seen a movie like this before and I daresay we won’t get a movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit ever again. It holds up so well in our modern-day and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a fascination with animation, murder, mystery, and the love for the classic cartoons.