Who Framed Roger
Rabbit – 25th Anniversary Edition (1988/Disney/Touchstone Blu-ray +
DVD)
Picture: B & B- Sound: B
& B- Extras: B- Film: A-
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit is most definitely one of my favorite films of all time. The film has
a fine balance of humor, mystery, suspense, drama, and innovative story
telling. The film set itself apart from
others as it used a combination of live action filming and animation. As the two mediums converged audiences were
treated to a fantastically beautiful world (concept) where reality and
animation were one. What was once a flat
2-D existence now allowed animated creatures to jump from the paper into our
daily lives. It was amazing and as a
child I wanted nothing more than for it to be true.
Watching the film 25 years later I can say it holds all of the same
heart and ingenuity that I remember from back in the day. The film feels timeless (perhaps due to its
1930’s setting) and still garners all of the same laughs and gasps that it did
25 years ago.
The story follows acclaimed (though floundering) animation star Roger
Rabbit (Charles Fleischer) as he sets
out to clear his name after he was framed for the death of Mr. Acme. Recent times have not been kind to Roger, he
was drawn to make people laugh, but how can he go on as he is framed for murder
and his bodacious wife [Jessica Rabbit; voiced by Kathleen Turner] is
supposedly cheating on him? Times are
rough, but Roger swears to pull through enlisting the help of Private Detective
Eddie Valiant (live action Bob Hoskins).
Valiant was the guy to go for toons, or at least used to be. Years earlier Eddie’s brother was murdered by
a toon, something he never got over and slowly sank into an alcohol laced
despair; swearing off toons. Through an
odd series of events Roger convinces Eddie to help him clear his name; quickly
transforming the film into a buddy flick.
This Robert Zemeckis film is not only brilliant for its stunningly
immersive storyline, but also due to its technical achievements. The film flows with ease as the audience is
convinced that the live action characters are interacting with the animated
ones; never seeming as if they are speaking to stagnant cardboard cutouts. It is a style of filming that was no mistake
(nor easy) as Zemeckis purposefully had the characters move around as the
camera panned 360 degrees; giving an
ultimate sense of reality and bringing the characters to life.
From beginning to end I felt fully immersed in the film. It’s blend of comedy and drama are done
extremely well transporting the audience to a different world and time. What I am most shocked about is how/why my
parents let me watch this? It is full of
innuendo and adult jokes, but I suppose it is over most children’s heads as it
was over mine. I focused more so on the
fun of the film.
The technical features on Roger
Rabbit are not as perfect as we would expect from a Disney/Touchstone
release, but well done nevertheless. The
1080p Widescreen release is solid with moderate amounts of grain. The picture is clean and clear for the most
part, but there is a degree of flickering with the animation which is
suggestive of the limitations of the time.
The colors are as bright as ever and make the animated characters pop. I feel the black levels are weak throughout
the film putting a damper on an otherwise nice image; seeing how much of the
film takes place in dark alleys and shadows this was not a welcome issue. The detail throughout the film is one of the
nicer qualities as ever fiber, hair and wrinkle come through with ease. The sound is a 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio lossless
track that gets the job done, but is not without issues as AGAIN the
limitations of the time plague this transfer.
The difference between live action and animated dialogue is strangely
apparent making for a disjointed track at times. The cartoon sound effects pop, as does the
musical score; though I again didn’t feel the film was at its best.
The Blu-ray’s quality far outweighs the DVD included.
Most (if not all) extras are in standard definition and ported over
from the previous DVD release.
The extras include:
Audio Commentary
Who Made Roger Rabbit
Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit [best featurette as it
gives a nice behind the scenes look]
Roger Rabbit Shorts (all three)
Deleted Scenes
Before and After
Toon Stand Ins
On Set! Benny the Cab
Toon Town Confidential
One of my favorite films and I am sure it will be one of yours as
well.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
