Review of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) by Brian C — 01 Apr 2014

How in the hell could anybody dislike this movie? It's high-concept, big-budget, special effects driven Hollywood cinema at its most immersive, creative, exciting, and outright fun. A dead serious murder/detective story that just happens to involve living, breathing cartoon characters, is so funny in itself that even the cornier jokes work in context.

The animation is so seamlessly integrated with the live action, so fluid and multi-dimensional, that it creates a feeling of "anything can happen" better than any film I can think of. Bob Hoskins is wonderfully straight-faced as a disarmingly sympathetic hard-edged hero, and Roger Rabbit himself is such an oddball delight that he should have spawned his own series.

In fact, not only can't I believe this didn't spawn a sequel or two, it fills me with sadness that I can't see more of Toon Town and these wonderful characters; it could also be a blessing in disguise, since this perfect movie is such a stand-alone charmer, how could it be topped?