Flesh and blood humans have been appearing in films ever since they first had light shone through them on the way to some reflective screen more than a century ago. Animated characters -- of the cartoon variety -- have been doing so for seventy-some years.
Yet, other than a few exceptions -- notably Gene Kelly and Jerry the mouse (from "Tom and Jerry") in 1945’s "Anchors Away" and Dick Van Dyke cavorting with some cartoon types in 1964’s "Mary Poppins" -- the two weren’t mixed together that often during all of those intervening years.
Of course most of that was due to technical limitations of making such pairings appear even remotely realistic. That was, of course, until 1988 when high-tech director Robert Zemeckis, an imaginatively inventive visual effects crew and actor Bob Hoskins joined forces to make "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Utilizing what at the time was state of the art mechanical and visual effects, the humans and their cartoon counterparts not only appeared on the same visual plane, but also physically and -- more importantly --believable interacted with each other.
Paving the way for interactive effects in many later films (before the digital repositioning available in movies such as "Forrest Gump"), "Roger Rabbit" received a special achievement award Oscar for its visuals, as well as three other traditional Oscars (for Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects and Editing) out of six total nominations.
An imaginative retreading of the old gumshoe stories from the ‘30s and ‘40s, the film pleased both kids and adults alike to the tune of around $350 million worldwide. Featuring lots of fun cameos by other better known cartoon characters (Bugs, Donald, Daffy, Porky Pig, Mickey Mouse, etc...) and some lesser ones (Betty Boop), the film has what it takes to entertain the little ones, while the plot and moody atmosphere appeals to adults. It’s a great combination and it’s what makes this now eleven year old film still work despite the once staggering effects now looking somewhat dated (but still effective).
While director Zemeckis’ name might not be of the household variety -- such as is the case with Spielberg, Coppola, or Scorsese -- this highly entertaining film -- along with the likes of "Contact," the "Back to the Future" films and "Forrest Gump" -- certainly show he’s one of the more accomplished and inventive filmmakers working today. We highly recommend this fun and still entertaining picture.
As far as the disc itself, both the visual and aural components are topnotch. Considering its groundbreaking visual effects, however, the supplemental materials (a lone theatrical trailer that's listed on the DVD case, but we couldn’t find it) are considerably lacking and should have not only included information on those effects, but also a running audio commentary by director Robert Zemeckis.
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