Who Framed Roger Rabbit? comes to us from director Robert Zemeckis, fresh off his success with the hit time-travel comedy film Back to the Future. Starring is Bob Hoskins, known throughout the internet as that guy who starred in that really, really, really bad Super Mario Bros. movie that was supposed to jump-start a "Nintendo Cinematic Universe", I guess. Hoskins stars as Eddie Valiant, a down-and-out detective recruited by RK Maroon of Maroon Cartoon to snap pictures of Roger Rabbit's wife, Jessica Rabbit, playing patty-cake with Marvin Acme, the guy that owns the home of all toons, "Toontown". Maroon does this due to the recently poor performances of Roger in his cartoons.
When Marvin Acme turns up murdered, seemingly by a toon, everyone points the finger at Roger. Roger goes into hiding in Eddie's office and secretly asks Eddie to clear his name and work the case. Eddie doesn't like working for or with toons, though. A toon that he doesn't remember killed his brother Theodore Valiant by dropping a piano on his head. Something that isn't supposed to be funny, but goddammit it just is. I'm sorry. Throughout the movie, Roger and Eddie duck and avoid the gazing and investigative eyes of Judge Doom, played by Christopher Lloyd. Doom and his band of weasels...literal fucking weasels...harass Valiant and follow him around in an effort to learn of Roger's whereabouts. Doom even reveals the one mixture that can effectively kill a toon, called "Dip". FILM TRIVIA: The ingredients that Eddie's friend names for Dip are actual ingredients used to clean ink off of paper and cellophane, so realistic cartoon killers. Fun stuff. It's also one of the first movies to showcase real life actors and cartoons on screen at the same time in such an integral part of the plot. So much so that it won an Academy Award for its work.
I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit simply because of its lunacy. It's also the only piece of media in the world today, the only piece of film in history, to showcase both Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse on screen at the same time. It was in Warner Bros' contract that Bugs Bunny had to appear on screen for the exact same amount of screentime as Mickey Mouse, a demand that Disney upheld. Daffy Duck and Donald Duck also have a scene together where they duel piano skills. The rest I don't want to spoil. You're just going to have to do the smart thing and watch it. You won't regret it. At least I hope you won't, because it's downright nuts.
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