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An instant emotional connection is made with children, because they play with toys and wonder what happens when they leave the room - do the toys come to life? And an instant emotional connection is made with adults because we've all thrown toys away, and wondered, if the toy really is alive as we suspected as children, did we just break that toy's heart? If you're doing your Spring cleaning, give this film a miss, as it will give you guilt issues that could drown you. But otherwise, this film is a classic both for children and adults. I loved it when I was 11 and I love it even more now.
It's full of clever details and magical ideas, it's very witty and utterly absorbing. The characters are funny even though they each have one personality trait. But then there's Woody (vo - Tom Hanks). This is a Disney children's film, and yet there's Woody, the flawed hero. And he's wonderful. Clever, disdainful, emotional, conniving, jealous, petty, fallible, irritable, sweet, caring, he's a fantastic lead, detailed and believable, and he's a toy. It's wonderful to have a lead who is both clever and brave, but also underhand and snide.
Woody makes a great double act with Buzz the spaceman action figure (vo - Tim Allen), a deluded new toy who may replace Woody as Andy's favourite toy and bring Woody's tiny world crashing to the ground. Emotional, magical, thrilling, funny... Pretty much perfect.
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A film where the pre-feature cartoon actually segues into the live action main film as part of the plot is a level of fun so high, it's genius. In 1940's LA, cartoon characters walk past humans as if this is perfectly normal, instantly setting up the insane world we have been drawn into. Scenes are filled with smart visuals and references, and you'll be glued to the screen in case you miss anything.
The plot focuses on washed up detective Eddie (who hates toons ever since one dropped a piano on his brother, a ludicrous heartbreak masterfully played completely straight) who has to prove that irrepressible cartoon star Roger Rabbit is innocent of murder. The mix of cartoons with a noiry detective story is gleeful brilliance, unlike anything seen before, or unfortunately, since.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit has every ingredient that makes a great film. It's witty and full of clever details. The twisting plot sets everything up so payoff is extremely satisfying. There's a strong emotional anchor in alcoholic Eddie, who hasn't got over his brother's murder. Despite the presence of femme fatale Jessica Rabbit, romance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit is underplayed, but present in the relationship between Eddie and Dolores, which is believable and sweet (a rare treat).
And that brings us to the characters. They're all brilliantly set up and completely rounded, although of course, toons are all slightly insane and mean spirited, and Toontown is just freaky. Roger is incredibly annoying, but that works as he bounces off of straight man Eddie, often literally. Bob Hoskins is fantastic as Eddie, conveying an entire emotional range with a glance, while Christopher Lloyd is perfectly psychotic as Judge Doom, the man who has found a way to kill toons, and does so without a trial. Who doesn't still shudder in terror at the memory of the boot scene? And yes, you do forget that over half the cast aren't really there. Technologically, it's flawless.
It's a masterpiece all round. Who Framed Roger Rabbit can traumatise generations with the destruction of a cartoon boot, leave them in hysterics throughout or chill in a flash, and have Warner's Bugs Bunny and Disney's Mickey Mouse or Daffy and Donald Duck sharing scenes. It remains eminently quotable years after viewing (if you want to go that long without watching it again) and has humans using toon logic to escape situations, while retaining that emotional anchor. This film has everything going for it and I don't want to sound hackneyed, but they just don't make 'em like this any more.
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