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Rating: Some have openly criticized it with childish reasoning, some have labeled it as a simple children's tale, and there are even those who think it's merely a film for debutantes. However, there are those who don't think that way. A fundamental film and a crucial piece of a generation, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" represents the best that Hollywood has managed to invent in the last twenty years.
From Steven Spielberg's protégé, Robert Zemeckis, it was fair to expect a good movie, something like "Back to the Future," certainly not an absolute masterpiece. Yet, in cinema, often certainties get shattered, and this film is an example of that. The miracle of Zemeckis, his most successful film (not even "Forrest Gump" would match it), is an astounding parody of sappy Disney films, with references from Dumbo to Mickey Mouse (a truly successful parody, not a nonsensical one like "Shrek"), with a frantic use of special effects. Cartoons and real characters face to face. In reality (the film is from 1988), this blend of animated drawing and flesh-and-blood people was already experimented with, for about twenty minutes, in "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (the films of our youth), but the result, although decent, was quite crude. It is with Roger Rabbit that this sophisticated process of graphic elaboration takes a great quality leap. Yet, as technology opened its doors, Zemeckis's film was also the one that closed them. Among the merits of this film, is that of revolutionizing animated cinema by experimenting, in just 90 minutes, with everything that was there to experiment. A sort of summation of cinema's digitalization: after "Roger Rabbit", there was nothing more to say.
Previous cartoons immediately seemed old and obsolete (so much so that Disney would begin to use the first computerized image systems), and science fiction films seemed outdated and naive, so much so that successful productions like "Ghostbusters" suffered, because of "Roger Rabbit", a noticeable drop in audience approval ("Ghostbusters 2" was a half-flop).
Then, of course, there is a story. And it's not even that stupid, so in the background. Because the discovery of the killer (let's put it this way) is not obvious, and because reaching the final solution takes you through an uninterrupted whirlwind of gags orchestrated with rare perfection. From Rabbit in the bed of inspector Valiant to the first stunning five minutes where, unbeknownst to us, Roger Rabbit is starring in a hilarious Hollywood sit-com. Unbeatable gags, then taken as a model by many films to come (including "The Simpsons," especially for the way details are revealed), and an atmosphere, subtly melancholic, that perfectly echoes the rich and pastel tones typical of the Forties. Noteworthy, in this case, is the use of photography: it turns to brown, and it amplifies with dazzling colors when the absolute protagonists are the cartoons.
To a rich and well-varied cast (from the unforgettable Bob Hoskins to the memorable villain Christopher Lloyd), two key characters are added. The aforementioned Roger Rabbit, and his beautiful wife Jessica Rabbit. The power of cinema (the well-made one, though), a fake character like Jessica, besides having endured over the years, has become almost a human character. Perhaps it's because she is excellently drawn, perhaps because when she acts the coquette she looks into the camera and seductively tells us: "It's not my fault, I'm just drawn that way", perhaps because we've all had a bit of a naughty thought about her, perhaps because in a world made of showgirls, quiz assistants, models, dancers, fake and very fake, made-up and heavily made-up, women who are real but seem fake, a fake woman like Jessica Rabbit seems like the only real woman to us.
With that deliberately retro air, when Jessica comes on stage at the "Ink & Paint Club," seduces Hoskins/Valiant by grabbing him by the tie, for a moment we envy him a bit. Besides, she herself admits to her husband Roger that she loves him. But she says it winking: "Roger, I want you to know I love you. I've loved you more than a woman has ever loved a rabbit". She is a magnetic woman, in a film that is, among other things, a very successful parody of classic noir films from the Forties. All the stereotypes are respected: the private investigator, the murderer, the innocent believed guilty, and the femme fatale, Jessica Rabbit.
A milestone in animation cinema, a fundamental film for the history of cinema. A family entertainment, intelligent and not at all silly. Children can enjoy the comedic antics of the neurotic and clumsy rabbit, adults may enjoy rooting for the sneakily disguised villain. But there's a lot behind it. Parody, technical innovation, psychological character construction, breathless gags. At times, you can even sniff the scent of epicness.
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