So where did it begin? You have to cast all the way back to
the 1980s.
Coming into the business as a sort of protégée to Steven
Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis hit the big-time as a director in the mid-80s with
two solid hits; 1984’s Romancing The Stone (which capitalised on Spielberg’s
success with Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)) and then a year later with Back To
The Future. For Zemeckis’ next feature film, he cast Bob Hoskins, Charles
Fleischer, Kathleen Turner (from Romancing The Stone) and Christopher Lloyd
(from Back To The Future) in an adaptation of Gary K Wolf’s story, Who Censored
Roger Rabbit?, this time retitled as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the lack of a
question mark in the title is the result of Hollywood superstition as it’s
believed film’s with question marks in the title never do well).
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is really more the story of Eddie
Valiant (Hoskins) an alcoholic private eye in Los Angeles in 1947. His brother,
Teddy (Eugene Guiterrez), died during an investigation in Toon Town; a
neighbourhood inhabited by cartoon characters (or Toons). This not only
accounts for Eddie’s alcoholism but also his prejudice towards Toons. When one
of the most famous Toons, Roger Rabbit (Fleischer) discovers his wife Jessica
(Turner/singing voice Amy Irving) playing “pattycake” (actual pattycake, by the
way, not a euphemism) with industrialist Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), Roger flies
off the handle; which doesn’t look so good when Acme turns up murdered and
Eddie is assigned to the case.
On the one hand, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an homage to
classic American animation, mainly Disney and Warner Brothers, but also nods to
other studios, particularly the Fleischer Brothers. On the other hand, the film
is also a tribute to Film Noir. A style of film mainly from the 1940s and 50s,
stereotypically involving hard-boiled private eyes, slinky femme fatales and
dangerous villains in rain-soaked urban streets almost always in
black-and-white.
The animation is probably what stands out in most people’s
minds. This was by no means the first film to mix live-action actors and
animated characters. Such ideas go back decades before this film. But it was
done on a scale that was completely unprecedented. Robert Zemeckis may have
been the credited director, but perhaps a large share of credit for the film
creatively must also go to animation director, Richard Williams. Williams is a
particular hero for many animation aficionados. His work may be very eclectic
in styles, but it’s always clear when watching his work that you are watching a
master perfectionist. His feel for movement and realism is unsurpassed, even to
the extent that it’s his downfall. The film that got him noticed for his was
his pet project, The Thief And The Cobbler. A work that he started in the 1960s
and, owing to limited means and his painstaking attention to detail and
quality, was still being worked by the time of Roger Rabbit, some twenty-five
years later. The success led to Cobbler being given more time by major studios,
only for Williams to be kicked off his own film for taking too much time and
the film to be pushed out uncaringly with generic music and rushed animation.
Search for the “Recobbled Cut” of The Thief And The Cobbler online and treat yourself
to a good look of what might have been one of the greatest animated films ever
made.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is covered in animation, some of it in
staggering quality. The famous “piano duel” between Daffy and Donald Duck is a
remarkable example of the two melding mediums of live-action and animation
(even the reflections of their “hands” on the glossed piano surface are
meticulously animated) and pretty much any iconic cartoon character turns up
(the film marks the first simultaneous on-screen appearance of both Bugs Bunny
and Mickey Mouse) along with some interesting new characters. Roger Rabbit
combines the slapstick humour (and species) of Bugs with the child-like lovability
(and clothing) of Mickey. A truly composite cartoon hero, whilst his wife
Jessica may be the icon (for better or worse) of animated sex symbols, being a
wildly exaggerated take on Noir Femme Fatales (her legendary entrance, an
homage to Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946))
On the other hand, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is also an
exploration of America (especially LA and Hollywood) in the 40s. Eddie’s
prejudice towards Toons seems almost akin at times to racism, still widespread
in America at the time and a theme
explored in other post-modern takes on Film Noir (such as Barton Fink (1990))
and the film also alludes to LA’s famously crowded modern transportation
system. At the start, Eddie, whilst stealing a ride on the back of a tram,
remarks the city has the best public transport in the world. Meanwhile, the
villainous Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd, performing a million miles away from
Back To The Future’s kindly but eccentric “Doc” Emmett Brown) gives a brilliant
monologue about his dream of a future with freeways filled end-to-end with
fast-food stop-overs and gas stations (a look into transport’s future) “My god,
it’ll be beautiful!”.
Whilst the idea that animated films, especially American
ones, aren’t just made for children to enjoy may be scoffed at, Who Framed
Roger Rabbit is one of the few classics where this belief is generally upheld.
Smart, funny and interesting, the film is credited with helping to bring about
a second golden age for American animation, both for Disney (Who would produce
a string of critically acclaimed animated super-hits for much of the 90s) and
for Warner Brothers (Spielberg would go on to further his love for animation,
producing nostalgic animated TV shows, such as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs
and Taz-Mania) and its ability to inspire such greatness is not undeserved.
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