Idk what your opinion on Wicked Part I was, but man when I saw that movie last week, that was truly an experience for the big screen. Somehow managed to be theatrical and cinematic at the same time.
If you've seen the Wizard of Oz and also Wicked, you might enjoy Disney's Return to Oz, which most Oz fans feel is the closest to the L. Frank Baum books. Return is closely based on the third sequel, Ozma of Oz, which stuff from the second, The Marvelous Land of Oz.
😎👍 That closing scene, beginning at 33:21 was one of the most expensive in movie history, not because of all the effort it took to draw it, but because of all the legal wrangling it involved in order to get five different major studios to go along with it: Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc), Warner Brothers (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck etc), Paramount (Betty Boop, Koko The Clown etc), MGM (Droopy Dog) and Universal (Woody Woodpecker). That sort of cross-studio cooperation will probably never happen again. Robert Zemeckis has said in interviews that making this film was the most exhausting experience of his career, and when you consider everything else he's directed, that's saying something. 🐰
Fun Fact: In the original script, Judge Doom would've been revealed to be the unseen hunter who shot Bambi's mom, the only truly evil toon. It was cut because they felt his true identity was better left a mystery.
This movie is so good. A crossover between Disney, Warner Bros, and others the likes of which we'll never see again. The way it blends 2D animation and live-action was revolutionary for the time and still is. And Judge Doom is still an amazing villain with one of the best twists ever.
Not just revolutionary, but daring to the point of recklessness. There had been many films before this that blended live action and traditional animation, but there were a lot of hard-learned and generally accepted rules in the industry on how to do it: what you could reasonably do and what you could not. When Zemeckis and his team made *this* film, however, they *deliberately* set out to break every single one of those rules, and do things that everyone had always thought could simply not be done.
Also, if you check the first office scene it says a lot about Eddie’s brother. On the desk there’s a Betty Boop doll, hinting that he had a soft spot for her which is why Eddie is good to her even though he hates toons. Btw the office scene was all done in one shot where they moved the blinds to transition from night to day.
That pan around the office is the perfect example of the storytelling staple “show, don’t tell.” We get everything we need to know about Eddie’s backstory there.
Also you see a picture of Eddie and Teddy as kids with there dad, who was a Ringling Bros. clown, setting up Eddie's slapstick at the end. I missed that for YEARS.
There's a theory that in the eyes of the toons, being funny is the most attractive quality. That's why Jessica fell for Roger and why Betty Boop said SHE'S the lucky one. Roger being a genuinely good guy, too, probably helps.
To be fair, people do appreciate those who have, at least, a decent sense of humor or they’ll label you as a downer otherwise. Plus, any woman loves a man who can make her laugh since it shows that you too know how to have fun and can lift her spirits up, especially during troubled times. Hence the phrase: “Laughter is the best medicine.”
That's not a theory, that's a fact. Also, Roger is a big studio star, while Jesica is a lounge singer. Because Jessica isn't funny. (well isn' AS funny).
@@3RayfireShe isn’t really supposed to be funny beyond the occasional sexual innuendo. She’s supposed to be a sex symbol. They had pin up illustrations back then.
Roger’s also pretty much living the toon American dream: he’s got a steady acting job, and is reasonably well known and popular, while Jessica is singing at a toon review joint that’s basically small time stuff. So yeah, Roger’s the catch, while Jessica isn’t just a pretty face.
@@destroyerblackdragon Right she's the Red Hot Riding Hood, representative. But she's still a toon. So "Oh My GOD IT'S DIIIIIIP!" and Booby Trap are where her humor is, not to mention the effect on others.
A few fun in-jokes: THE DIP is just turpentine and methylated spirit. The substance they used to erase paint on old animation cells. Above the ToonTown tunnel is a carving of Felix The Cat, a cartoon from the 20s. Mickey and Bugs get exactly the same amount of screen time and dialogue, as per a contract between Disney and Warner Bros. Doom wears a massive glove when DIPping the shoe, jumps back when THE DIP spills in the bar and Eddie calls him as crazy as a toon on multiple occasions. You even said "for a guy who hates toons, he sure has a lot in his employ". This is all foreshadowing the twist. The guy in the bar who said hi to his invisible rabbit friend Harvey is referencing an obscure play from the time about a man with an invisible friend who's a rabbit named Harvey. This visual later inspired Donnie Darko
Harvey was a Broadway play in active production from 1944 to 1949, and this film was set in 1947, which would have been smack dab at the height of its popularity. Even I'd heard of Harvey as a kid in the 80's. I've never seen the play nor the movies, but I still knew about Harvey 40 years after it came out, so people while it was actively performing? I don't think it was that obscure.....
@@MagsonDareNot only was it an incredibly popular Broadway play, in 1950 it was also made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart. I remember watching it with my dad when I was a kid (my dad would’ve been 8 when the movie came out and went to see it).
@@SuddenReal There was a mind-entity character in Farscape that got named Harvey by Ben Browder's character. To be honest, although I'd seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a kid, I think Farscape was where I first noticed the reference.
Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant) is one of the all-time greats. He basically had to pantomime all his interactions with Roger and the other toons. When he was asked if he'd have trouble acting with nothing really there, he said, "Not to worry. Many of the actors I've worked with weren't really there." Your hair looks just fine, by the way.
He later said that needing to basically hallucinate the toons the whole time messed with his head for a while. I believe he wound up taking a break from working because of that (and possibly the broken ribs from the scene where he was tossed out of the club). He was also operating the handcuffs whenever Roger was cuffed to him and moving around.
People talk about Citizen Kane, but this may be the most impressive achievement in filmmaking. The mind-boggling interactions between the toons and the real-world. The watertight script. The sight gags. The homage to the animation of the first half of the 20th century… And the amazing performance by Bob Hoskins. This should be recognized as the best movie of all time.
There is a video here on UA-cam where they explain how this movie was made. The sheer craftmansship that went into making this movie is outstanding. I loved this movie as a Kid. A Masterpiece that stands alone!
One of my favorite movies from my childhood! Winner of 3 Oscars: Best Visual Effects Best Film Editing Best Sound Editing. It made $330 million dollars against a $40 million dollar budget.
I appreciate the detail that because he shot the bottle, he wasn't able to shoot doom, because the only bullet that was a competent tracker was the one that destroyed the bottle.
There is documentary about how they did this movie - it is mind-blowing how much work went into making this movie. Everything is practical - they had to come up with a hidden way to move things for the animated characters to interact with and every frame for the animation had to be hand-painted afterwards. Despite the amount of work involved, they tried to have as much interactions between real things and the cartoons as possible and as realistic as possible. The phrase "Bumping the Lamp" used by animators and meaning going way out over what is expected originates in the scene with the cuffs in the pub with the swinging lamp casting constantly changing shadows through the whole scene - the shadows cast "on" and "from" Roger are perfectly synchronized with the real filmed shadows by the animators. I would highly recommend to watch the documentary - the ingenuity is unbelievable.
So this movie is a very thickly veiled (through most of it anyway) metaphor based on how General Motors and Ford Motor Company, two of the largest companies in the world at the time (and even now, really), heavily lobbied, lied, cheated, and stole to kill off public transportation throughout the early-to-mid 20th century in the US, as well as (to a lesser extent) the rest of North America. They constantly bought out rail companies, cab companies, bus companies, etc. under the guise of helping them to run more efficiently through the magic of capitalism, only to disassemble, decommission, and sunset all the programs they bought out. They also helped fund the highway system, all in a long-term gamble to force Americans to be more dependent on cars. Unfortunately it had been a successful endeavor long before this movie was released, but pairing the premise with a murder mystery based on the wonder of cartoons was a killer way to reframe (teehee) the story.
I love how the penguins carry the real trays. Basically they have 6-7 feet under the set where people are walking around with trays on sticks and they just animate the penguins later. Looks so good and that's how they do everything. Making physical props move and then animate over it later.
Actually even Jessica is descended from Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood. A tradition continued on Animaniacs with Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, a character so HOT she only got three appearances in the entire show.
They worked really hard to ONLY have cartoon characters who had appeared up until 1946. There was one cartoon, I don't remember which one, that just missed the cut-off but they snuck him in by putting his face on the tunnel portal going to Toontown.
I, for one, thing the offices of US Congressmen and Senators should be outfitted with such so they can't point to the cost of rent in DC for why they need such salaries.
There are behind the scenes specials and making-of documentaries that explain a lot of the technical aspects of how they filmed the live-action scenes with the animations in mind, so they could go in later to draw in the cartoons, frame by frame. It took an insane amount of planning and execution, but it was all worth it. More recently, just a couple years ago, Disney+ has a show called "Prop Culture" that looked at props from various films. One episode is about Roger Rabbit, and includes the real car that was under the toon taxicab, and the Roger Rabbit on-set stand-in, and others. Super interesting.
Fun little side note: When Disney was approached about having their characters along side Warner Bros in the movie, they only agreed to allow it as long as the airtime for their characters was equal to their WB counterparts. So that is why you only ever see Bug and Mickey at the same time. Same goes for Daffy and Donald.
This is actually based on a true story. Los Angeles’ Red Cars used to be one of the best public transportation system in the nation before a conglomeration of gas stations and auto dealers bought it just to dismantle it to increase their revenue.
Yeah, it's hilarious they made a whole cartoon noir film over the construction of the CA Highway system. Especially considering how Doom thinks it will be so efficient.
On a VERY dark note: the toons are a metaphor for minorities (mainly blacks). Toon entertainers in secret mixed-race clubs, open abuse by the police, and the IRL LA neighborhoods torn up to build the freeways weren't called Toontown . . . to bigots of the day, the name started with a "C".
Yeah, not a true story. The P.E. died because except for two years during WWII, it ran - ironically - in the red from 1912 on. And National City Lines never owned the P.E.
I was a child when I first saw this movie, and I have two things to say about it from then: First, Judge Doom absolutely terrified me when I was young. I loved watching the movie but I always had to run into the other room and cover my ears when his toon nature was revealed (the voice, the voice); and two, apparently I was ENTRANCED whenever Jessica Rabbit was on the screen. I was about 7 or 8 when I saw it, so that checks. Brilliant movie, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
This movie was a technical masterpiece at the time, they did some innovative things to make it work 🙂 for those who are interested watch Making of who framed roger rabbit, I think its on youtube and they show some of the stuff they did to make it work 🙂
one of my favorite films as a kid, i remember going to disneyland getting excited to go to toontown to ride the roger rabbit ride there. then coming home and watching this over and over again lol i think i remember watching honey i shrunk the kids and in the beginning or ending credits there was a roger rabbit short film playing. anyways such a good film! watching the behind the scenes was really interesting too. i think if you watch corridor digital they did a vfx reaction to how they made roger rabbit. but yea glad you enjoyed watching it
Fun fact: this movie is loosely based on a book called Who Censored Roger Rabbit. And it's a very rare case wherein the author of the book, Gary K. Wolf, acknowledged that the movie is BETTER than the book. In fact, he wrote a sequel book in which the events of the first book were revealed to be all a dream.
Rest In Peace Mel Blanc 1908-1989 Elliot Scott 1915-1993 Pat Buttram 1915-1994 Stubby Kaye 1918-1997 Mae Questel 1908-1998 Roddy McDowall 1928-1998 Gene Siskel 1946-1999 who was a famous film critic Chuck Jones 1912-2002 Alan Tilvern 1918-2003 Tony Pope 1947-2004 Joe Ranft 1960-2005 Robert Knudson 1925-2006 Louis Edemann 1946-2006 Wayne Allwine 1947-2009 Don Lane 1933-2009 Roger Ebert 1942-2013 who was a famous film critic Richard LeParmentier 1946-2013 Charles L Campbell 1930-2013 Peter O’Toole 1932-2013 Bob Hoskins 1942-2014 Robin Williams 1951-2014 Richard Corliss 1944-2015 he was also a famous film critic Christopher Lee 1922-2015 Joe Alaskey 1952-2016 June Foray 1917-2017 Ron W Miller 1933-2019 Russi Taylor 1944-2019 Richard Williams 1933-2019 David Lander 1947-2020 George Gibbs 1937-2020 Dale Baer 1950-2021 Charles Grodin 1935-2021 Peter Howitt 1928-2021 Paul Reubens 1952-2023 Arthur Schmidt 1937-2023 Peter Renaday 1935-2024 and Robert Watts 1938-2024, Paul Reubens and Peter Renaday did the test run, Robin Williams, Charles Grodin, Christopher Lee, Peter O’Toole, Roddy McDowall and Don Lane were considered for this movie
Fun fact: The tunnel that leads to Toon Town is the exact tunnel from Back To The Future Part 2 where Marty was finally able to get the Sport's Almanac back from Biff. Also in Back To The Future Part 2 there's some easter eggs from this movie including in 2015 Charles Fleischer who voiced Roger Rabbit playing Terry who told Marty he wishes he could back in time to place a bet as well as a plush of Roger Rabbit in the antique store.
The voices of the bullets for Eddie's Toon Gun were also the old guys around the poker table at the saloon Marty and Doc Brown visited in Back to the Future III.
I love this movie, but damn did Judge Doom scare me as a child. Christopher Lloyd really nailed it in that part. It's crazy that in just a few years he played Doc Brown in "Back to the Future", Judge Doom in this movie and Fester in "The Addams Family" (which you have to see if you haven't already). Three quite iconic characters and he was brilliant in all of those movies.
And a few years after that, did the voice of Hacker on PBS' "Cyberchase". He was also the kidnapper/thief/drifter in 1993's "Dennis the Menace" where his physical comedy chops were on full display.
The head Weasel is Voiced by Squigy,,,half of Lenny&Squigy from Laverne&Shirley beloved tv series he's also the Principal in one of the Scary Movie's🌎📽️🎶🎶🎶
I love this reaction for a couple reasons!! The editor fact checking the history and the movie is imo amazing. And watching Ange's reactions to the various cameos is wonderful, like watching for the first time as a kid.
Doom gave very large clues when he revealed the Dip. The mixture isn’t dangerous to humans (as long as you wash it off ) but they’re chemicals used to clean ink and paint out of brushes. Doom didn’t need to use the rubber gloves to dip the shoe. At the end, when the barrel of dip spilled, Doom panics as it floods towards him. Then when he slips on the fake eyes, he doesn’t fall like a human, he hangs for a few seconds paddling his feet then falls like a toon. When he gets up, he’s hiding his eye because he lost the fake eye he was using to hide his toon eyes.
Among other things, this movie is a brilliant spoof of the "film noir" style of detective story after WWII, with a hard-drinking detective and a fem fatale who might or might not be the villain. And Jessica has her hair hanging over part of face, a peculiar style associated with "pinup girl" Veronica Lake of that era. In the Roadrunner cartoons, the coyote is always getting his evil tools, guns, etc. from the Acme Company. (Which in the days of telephone yellow page commercial directories, meant the name would be near the head of the list.) Also, Bugs Bunny often insulted other characters by calling them "maroons," a corruption of "morons," hence the name of one of the studios here. My very first crush back in kindergarten days was on Mighty Mouse. Then I moved on to Disney's Peter Pan (not the Mary Martin version as per the play version). So yes, crushes on cartoons are possible.
I remember seeing this in the cinema when it came out. The effects were absolutely Amazing, and they still stand up today. There is a documentary about how they made props for each effect, did the filming then the animators hand painted each cell so that the toon covered up the props. Remember there was No CGI back ehen this was made. For Benny the Taxi they actually made a small remote controlled car for Bob to sit on, then filmed him driving around.... Then painted Roger next to him in the car. You could never afford to do this in films today.
The Prohibition Era was between the years of 1920-1933. By 47, which is 2 years after WW2 by the way, Prohibition was well over. The Ink and Paint Club is a nightclub from that era.
I saw this when I was very young and there are just those moments are that are very impressionable. Then during the quarantine days and being sick I watched this a little more learned and ended up reading a lot about it and I am so impressed with the entire process. And the clear devotion the crew had in crafting it. If I had to pick though it's Hoskins. What an underrated actor. He was also very spatially aware and consider this was before green screen was commonplace. Or mocap. My understanding was this was his contribution where would contest that they needed to establish the measurements of everything thus they did. He had for example pointed out the magnet that would surround his body and how he needed to know how wide so he would in turn where his hands and fingers would be placed. Or Roger's measurements and specifically his neck and where that would be adjacent to him and his own hands whenever he would strangle him. Knowing of course none of this was actually there so Hoskins was acting all that spatial building out too in addition to the character acting. That's just great to me and it is a shame we do not hear as much about him these days.
Yeah, I have always maintained that Hoskins should have got a Best Actor nomination for this. When you watch the documentaries on how this film was made you realize how crazy good his performance was.
11:30 The "Portable Hole" from DnD was inspired by a Looney Tunes short called "The Hole Idea". The difference is that the DnD Portable Hole is a storage item like the Bag of Holding, whereas the cartoon Portable Hole is an actual hole that lets you reach the other side of whatever object you stick it on.
Actually, the original description from earlier editions makes it unsure whether it was intended to be a extraplanar storage, or a 6’ wide hole that cut through 10’ of an obstruction. Most editions have it the extraplanar storage, but 4th edition did have it a hole through substances, like the cartoons.
I loved watching this movie at the theater. I was in my late 20s. I can't tell you how amazing it was to see all these toons together in a movie. Something we never saw before & will never see again.
9:30 No, this story of "greed, sex, and murder" wasn't intended as a kids movie. It was released by Touchstone Pictures, for Disney's more mature content. 12:20 Christopher Lloyd played Judge Doom here, and Doc Brown in "Back to the Future". 26:50 Jessica knew how unreliable Roger was. That's why she knocked him out. 33:10 Jessica loves him more than any woman's ever loved a rabbit. I got the bestiality reference, but I learned of an alternate meaning of "rabbit" only a couple months ago. 35:50 The film had one 1940s reference that one might not have gotten in 1986, and one is even less likely to get today: "Say `Hello', Harvey." It was a play and then a movie about a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey. Your final question: I watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" when it was first released, probably in 1986.
I have been watching this movie since I was a kid. This is such a gem. It's super funny, but it also genuinely nails the tone of a good noir flick, including a surprising mystery at the core of it. You should definitely check out some behind-the-scenes visual effects breakdowns, because the amount of work that went into making the toons feel physically present on set is seriously impressive -- a real labor of love.
Betty Boops voice was done by Mae Questal an original Voice For Betty Boop,,,,i believe this was her last performance before her passing RIP,,,She also was in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as Aunt Bethany🌎📽️🎶🎶🎶
The huge thing about this movie was that Disney and WB only agreed to have their cartoons in the same movie if they had the exact same amount of screen time. That's why we get scenes with Mickey and Bugs together, or Donald and Daffy Duck
"Paint from the rabbit's glove" because 2D animation was hand-painted prior to the CAPS system used beginning with Rescuers Down Under. The paint to a toon is like a fingerprint to us. Cloverleaf was named because of the shape of highway exits. In the '50s and '60s they were commonly called cloverleafs because of how they look from an overhead map. That went over my head as a kid but for adults at the time the movie came out it was a clue, especially with them buying all the trolly cars.
I love that you give these older films a chance and have an appreciation for visual effects. If you get the chance, you should look up some bts footage for Roger Rabbit. The amount of work that went into it is just unreal, and they didn't shy away from shooting it like a full live action film with complex camera movements. The club scene in particular is a wonder to watch.
Movie crossovers had happened before with films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. But this movie was big because it was also a studio crossover between Disney and Warner Brothers. The only reason this was possible is because Disney was struggling in the 80s (the Little Mermaid changed it all for them). Also, one fun little bit in this movie that most people miss on their first watch, is when we get that first pan around Eddie's office there are photos and articles that reveal Eddie and his brother were in the circus before they were private investigators. That's why Eddie was so good at making the Weasels laugh.
While the technical achievements of this film are well known, the under appreciated aspect of it is how insanely tight the writing is… from the witty dialogue to the subtle foreshadowing of almost every future reveal, it is evident the amount of genius went into the script as well. And the capper for me has always been that scene you reference, which I think could be the greatest example of “show, don’t tell” cinematography in history. That “simple” 30-second sweep around the brothers’ desks tells SO much… the dust symbolizing Eddie’s refusal to let go of his memories, the newspaper articles showing why Roger would seek Eddie out in his time of need (the Valiant brothers weren’t just dealing in petty matters: they were able to foil a kidnapping plot against Uncle Scrooge’s nephews and clear Roger’s personal hero Goofy of federal espionage charges…?), the picture of the Valiant family as circus clowns explaining Eddie’s slapstick skills later in the film rounding back around as dark becomes light to the empty bottle and Eddie fast asleep having drank until a very late hour. Every aspect of this movie is pretty close to perfect.
What a great way to celebrate my birthday. One of my favorite reactors watching one of my favorite movies. Thanks for the great reaction as always Ange.
In the year leading up to the release of these film, it was the talk of several sci-fi conventions! Everyone couldnt wait for the premiere to see how they incorporated life-like animation in to a real action film!
6:44 - The Pengui waiters are also a Disney reference. In Disney's Mary Poppins, there is a part where Mary and Dick Van Dykes character goes to a cafe where they are served by penguins.
Fun Fact! While the identity of the toon that Judge Doom was wasn't revealed, an early draft for Who Framed Roger Rabbit had him be revealed as Man, aka the hunter who shot Bambi's mom.
That's not a performance outfit. Her performance dress has sparkles. And consider that most toons only have one outfit. How many times have you seen Donald not in a sailor outfit, Mickey in red pants with suspenders, Huey, Dewey, and Louis in color coordinated t-shirts?
That carries on today (saving time, effort, and therefore money on animation). I guess it’s just more noticeable with Jessica, though, because she has a more specifically purposed outfit, in comparison to many other characters’ mainstay outfits.
11:15 … Yosemite Sam delivering the line, “My biscuits are burning!” We get that line repeated from Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2 when he tries to put out the lit dynamite fuse by sitting on it. I loved the shock on your face when Baby Herman said his line Angelina: “You have a what and a three year old huh?!”
You really want to know when I first saw this movie? I was 15 and saw it in the theater on opening day. Rode my bike from home to the mall (about 20 minutes away). Ticket price was $4.25. 😅
Saw it in theatres and you don't even know the generational trauma caused by that poor shoe getting Dipped. Kids at school were literally shell-shocked the week after it came out. But yeah, a lot of the humor went way over our heads, though of course my parents had no such problems.
Interesting bit of location: The tunnel that leads into Toontown at 24:11 would be reused later by director Robert Zemeckis for Back to the Future Part II (1989) as the tunnel where Marty tries to get back the almanac while Biff is driving to and from the high school for the school dance.
Disney and Warner Bros agreed to feature their iconic characters as long as they all had equal amount of screentime whenever they appeared together, thus the Daffy & Donald piano-duo/duel, and Mickey & Bugs' skydive
Another fun fact: This is the first movie that had animation and real actors interacting with each other. At the time, there was no other movie ever made like this one.
You might need some qualifiers there because this film was far from the first interaction between cartoon and live actors - Disney in particular made a regular habit of it (Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon, etc). Gene Kelly danced alongside Jerry Mouse in Anchors Away all the way back in 1945. Certainly it had never been done before at this scale, or to such an intricate and technically high standard.
I still remember quoting the "nose plugs would be nice!" line to my mom at a swimming pool birthday party when I was like 6, and her actually going and getting me some because she didn't get the reference. Bless that woman and bless this movie, lol.
the making of Who framed Roger Rabbit ua-cam.com/play/PLBl8b1yEH9Ped9AWMFx6Vli4puzXqo3po.html I like how detailed the animation was. Also, that it was hand; drawn and added post-production.
We would watch this to see who could name the most cartoon characters and bonus points if they could name the original voice actors. Betty Boop was one of the first cartoons and was voiced by Mae Questel who was also Aunt Bethany in "Christmas Vacation". She came out of retirement in her late 80's to do Betty Boop again. Jessica Rabbit was voiced by Kathleen Turner, but her singing voice was the actress, Amy Irving. To be able to use the different cartoons between Disney and Warner Bros., they had to have the same screen time, that's why you see Mickey and Bugs, and Daffy and Donald together. There are several other references to be made, it's hard to mention them all here.
PG of the 80s was a different breed. PG-13 was a very recent development ("Gremlins", which Spielberg produced, had ruffled the feathers of many parents but tone-wise it was an outlier) so you get these well-crafted films that mix childlike energy with more maturity and not yet having to worry about offending everyone. We will get films like that again; the world just has to do some shifting and learn some valuable lessons from the 2010s/2020s.
This movie is one of my all time favorites. I watched it as a kid when it came out and missed all the adult jokes and double entendres. But loved the slapstick humor and visual jokes. Then didn't see it for years until my freshman year in college. And then I was surprised at all the other jokes i didn't get. The fact this movie pulled that off shows the great writing. Plus the blending of animation and live action still holds up wonderful today!
As for how they managed to make the toons interact with the sets and props: Wires and strings pulling on furnitures and objects, and the characters and their shadows were added during editing. So when the weasels, for example, are pointing guns, the gun props are litereally held up in the air using strings
...although for scenes such as when that weasel is speaking to Eddie whilst the latter is by the sink, the gun was attached to a mechanical arm (the weasel was drawn over the arm, concealing it and leaving only the gun visible), which allowed for more precise, steadier movements than would have been feasible using the marionette puppet-style movement used for the guns when the weasels first enter Eddie's office and are simply walking around. A similar mechanical arm was used for Baby Herman's cigar (or "stogie", as he called it) whilst he was in that pram, as well as for the scene in which Roger is given that drink in R.K. Maroon's office in the scene in which he is in shock from having just seen the patty-cake pictures.
Part of the reason Christopher Lloyd was cast as Judge Doom was so Universal couldn't make _Back to the Future: Part II_ with a different director than Zemeckis. While based on the novella "Who Censored Roger Rabbit," this movie takes more from the script of the unmade _Chinatown_ sequel _Cloverleaf_ , about the LA public transportation system being bought out by shell companies run by Big Oil and Detroit automakers to put in freeways and make everyone buy cars.
1. First time I saw this was in the middle of the ocean. My ship (USS Tripoli LPH-10) was doing a "Tiger Cruise". That's where crew members could bring "male only" family/friends to join us from Hawaii to San Diego. There were displays set up on the hanger bay. For entertainment there was an area to watch movies. This was one of them. 2. There had to be equal time for Disney and HB characters. 3. LOVE the adult inuendo 4. Kathleen Turner is the voice for Jessica Rabbit. 5. One of the cartoon bullets is the voice of Pat Buttram. He played Mr. Haney on "Green Acres". 6. This was Mae Questel's/Betty Boop's third to last gig. Her last was" Christmas Vacation". (RIP)😇 7. To make it look more realistic they painted shadows into some scenes. 8. The tunnel going into Toon Town is the same one they use in the "Back to the Future II". 9. Favorite character is the Baby
In the bar scene with the judge, he backs away when the barrel tips, if he created it he knows it doesn't effect humans yet he backed up. This is a dead give away that he is a toon. I also love that Angelina said "waste of a bullet" when Valliant wastes the only compidant bullet.
Unless I'm mistaken, "The Wizard of Oz" would have been the first movie to use a multiverse concept, as Deadpool recently pointed out. Back in the day, the PG-13 rating didn't exist, so PG actually meant something. Also, is it just me, or does this woman remind anyone else of Sisu's human form from "Raya and the Last Dragon"?
I watched this on VHS more times than I can count as a kid! My Mom liked it too and wasn’t too annoyed I played it so often. Edit: Oh and this was the first years of the 90’s sometime.
@ that’s awesome! What a great first memory. One you can relive by watching a timeless movie like Rodger Rabbit. I was only 4 when this came out so I missed it in theaters :( But we rented it from Blockbuster then my Mom bought it for me. Still good memories of my Mom, God rest her Soul :)
One of the very few reviews to recognize the challenges of this film, using practical effects and gags for the toons to appear to interact with real world objects. I remember seeing a making of documentary that shows some scenes and I think the piano dual has a video online of how it looked prior to Daffy and Donald being animated over it so its basically two pianos that look to be self destructing.
I used to watch this movie when I had it on VHS in the 90s but it was dubbed in German while living in Egypt. I have an uncle in Switzerland and he got it as a gift when he came to Egypt for the holidays
So glad you enjoyed his awesome film! It never fails to astonish and amaze and amuse, even in this day and age. Actually, Jessica wasn't joking or being melodramatic when she complained about how hard it is for her to look the way she does. For one thing, she didn't choose to look that way -- whoever drew her is responsible for that. Also, her appearance very much works against her in the 'culture' of her fellow toons. For them, the most valued trait is humour -- the ability to make people laugh. Being sexy just isn't important or appealing to them, and it's very hard for Jessica to be funny. That's why she's been relegated to singing lounge acts at the toon version of Harlem's Cotton Club. It's also why toons think she's mighty lucky to have married Roger. He's an expert at being funny, which makes him (in their eyes) an A-list star. Perhaps it would've been clearer if Jessica had said it's hard being a -toon- and looking the way she does.
i loved how theatrical movies used to be... we need more of these again
Idk what your opinion on Wicked Part I was, but man when I saw that movie last week, that was truly an experience for the big screen. Somehow managed to be theatrical and cinematic at the same time.
Same
When they actually had ideas instead of just remaking old moves or making unnecessary sequels.
If you've seen the Wizard of Oz and also Wicked, you might enjoy Disney's Return to Oz, which most Oz fans feel is the closest to the L. Frank Baum books. Return is closely based on the third sequel, Ozma of Oz, which stuff from the second, The Marvelous Land of Oz.
😎👍 That closing scene, beginning at 33:21 was one of the most expensive in movie history, not because of all the effort it took to draw it, but because of all the legal wrangling it involved in order to get five different major studios to go along with it: Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc), Warner Brothers (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck etc), Paramount (Betty Boop, Koko The Clown etc), MGM (Droopy Dog) and Universal (Woody Woodpecker). That sort of cross-studio cooperation will probably never happen again. Robert Zemeckis has said in interviews that making this film was the most exhausting experience of his career, and when you consider everything else he's directed, that's saying something. 🐰
Fun Fact: In the original script, Judge Doom would've been revealed to be the unseen hunter who shot Bambi's mom, the only truly evil toon. It was cut because they felt his true identity was better left a mystery.
Intresting. I like the way they went with him.
that should have been left in
It's not that he was "truly evil" it's that he was a regular toon that was only given bad roles, so he went crazy.
Ouch, that idea alone is just as insane. I never would’ve thought of anything like that.
thats pretty funny but hes way scarier just not knowing more about his past
This movie is so good. A crossover between Disney, Warner Bros, and others the likes of which we'll never see again. The way it blends 2D animation and live-action was revolutionary for the time and still is. And Judge Doom is still an amazing villain with one of the best twists ever.
Well, we do have the Chip n’ Dale movie that serves as an unofficial successor to this film. I think that should count for something.
And Max Fleischer and hannah barbera as seen on Betty Boop and Droopy
Not just revolutionary, but daring to the point of recklessness. There had been many films before this that blended live action and traditional animation, but there were a lot of hard-learned and generally accepted rules in the industry on how to do it: what you could reasonably do and what you could not. When Zemeckis and his team made *this* film, however, they *deliberately* set out to break every single one of those rules, and do things that everyone had always thought could simply not be done.
@@SorenAlba54which chip and dale movie? i haven’t heard of it and would love to watch
@@monkeydgarpppp The live-action one that was out a few years ago on Disney+. You should see it next to Rescue Rangers
"Dabblin' in watercolors, Eddy?" - favorite underrated joke from the movie
My favorite is "I would have been here sooner but I had to shake the weasels."
Also, if you check the first office scene it says a lot about Eddie’s brother. On the desk there’s a Betty Boop doll, hinting that he had a soft spot for her which is why Eddie is good to her even though he hates toons.
Btw the office scene was all done in one shot where they moved the blinds to transition from night to day.
That pan around the office is the perfect example of the storytelling staple “show, don’t tell.” We get everything we need to know about Eddie’s backstory there.
Also you see a picture of Eddie and Teddy as kids with there dad, who was a Ringling Bros. clown, setting up Eddie's slapstick at the end. I missed that for YEARS.
It will always be crazy seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs bunny on screen together, same with Donald Duck and Daffy duck, this movie is revolutionary
...and it's very unlikely to be seen again...
There's a theory that in the eyes of the toons, being funny is the most attractive quality. That's why Jessica fell for Roger and why Betty Boop said SHE'S the lucky one. Roger being a genuinely good guy, too, probably helps.
To be fair, people do appreciate those who have, at least, a decent sense of humor or they’ll label you as a downer otherwise. Plus, any woman loves a man who can make her laugh since it shows that you too know how to have fun and can lift her spirits up, especially during troubled times. Hence the phrase: “Laughter is the best medicine.”
That's not a theory, that's a fact. Also, Roger is a big studio star, while Jesica is a lounge singer. Because Jessica isn't funny. (well isn' AS funny).
@@3RayfireShe isn’t really supposed to be funny beyond the occasional sexual innuendo. She’s supposed to be a sex symbol. They had pin up illustrations back then.
Roger’s also pretty much living the toon American dream: he’s got a steady acting job, and is reasonably well known and popular, while Jessica is singing at a toon review joint that’s basically small time stuff. So yeah, Roger’s the catch, while Jessica isn’t just a pretty face.
@@destroyerblackdragon Right she's the Red Hot Riding Hood, representative. But she's still a toon. So "Oh My GOD IT'S DIIIIIIP!" and Booby Trap are where her humor is, not to mention the effect on others.
Jessica Rabbit not being a rabbit is still the funniest reveal to me because, duh, she took her husband’s last name lmao
A few fun in-jokes:
THE DIP is just turpentine and methylated spirit. The substance they used to erase paint on old animation cells.
Above the ToonTown tunnel is a carving of Felix The Cat, a cartoon from the 20s.
Mickey and Bugs get exactly the same amount of screen time and dialogue, as per a contract between Disney and Warner Bros.
Doom wears a massive glove when DIPping the shoe, jumps back when THE DIP spills in the bar and Eddie calls him as crazy as a toon on multiple occasions. You even said "for a guy who hates toons, he sure has a lot in his employ". This is all foreshadowing the twist.
The guy in the bar who said hi to his invisible rabbit friend Harvey is referencing an obscure play from the time about a man with an invisible friend who's a rabbit named Harvey. This visual later inspired Donnie Darko
Harvey was a Broadway play in active production from 1944 to 1949, and this film was set in 1947, which would have been smack dab at the height of its popularity. Even I'd heard of Harvey as a kid in the 80's. I've never seen the play nor the movies, but I still knew about Harvey 40 years after it came out, so people while it was actively performing? I don't think it was that obscure.....
@@MagsonDareNot only was it an incredibly popular Broadway play, in 1950 it was also made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart. I remember watching it with my dad when I was a kid (my dad would’ve been 8 when the movie came out and went to see it).
@@charlesedwards2856I was going to mention the movie. That's how I knew about the six foot tall invisible rabbit.
@@MagsonDare Funny how long popculture references have been around (and how quickly they fade nowadays).
@@SuddenReal There was a mind-entity character in Farscape that got named Harvey by Ben Browder's character. To be honest, although I'd seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a kid, I think Farscape was where I first noticed the reference.
The sweeping brooms are from the "Sorceror's Apprentice" segment of Disney's "Fantasia".
9:55 not her calling actual photographs "screenshots" 🤦🤣
I mean, what is a photograph if not a screenshot of the real world?
@@robertfalk3767 Real life doesn't take place on a screen.
@benn454 Modern-day digital photography might as well be screenshots
@@benn454 I think that might only be true for older Millennials, Gen X and Boomers.
Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant) is one of the all-time greats. He basically had to pantomime all his interactions with Roger and the other toons. When he was asked if he'd have trouble acting with nothing really there, he said, "Not to worry. Many of the actors I've worked with weren't really there." Your hair looks just fine, by the way.
Mario and Smee
@@marcusfridh8489 He was perfectly cast for Mario, too bad that movie was horrendous.
He later said that needing to basically hallucinate the toons the whole time messed with his head for a while. I believe he wound up taking a break from working because of that (and possibly the broken ribs from the scene where he was tossed out of the club). He was also operating the handcuffs whenever Roger was cuffed to him and moving around.
People talk about Citizen Kane, but this may be the most impressive achievement in filmmaking.
The mind-boggling interactions between the toons and the real-world. The watertight script. The sight gags. The homage to the animation of the first half of the 20th century…
And the amazing performance by Bob Hoskins.
This should be recognized as the best movie of all time.
if not for that bias against animation in the west
There is a video here on UA-cam where they explain how this movie was made. The sheer craftmansship that went into making this movie is outstanding.
I loved this movie as a Kid. A Masterpiece that stands alone!
you will never see a movie like this again. that deal between Warner and Disney was unrepeatable. Only Zemeckys and Spielberg could do it
Bob Hoskins' son was mad that his dad hung out with all of these famous cartoons without getting to meet them as well.
One of my favorite movies from my childhood!
Winner of 3 Oscars:
Best Visual Effects
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Editing.
It made $330 million dollars against a $40 million dollar budget.
Shoulda got Best Adapted Screenplay too: there's just SO MUCH set ups and payoffs and subtle jokes and throughlines, masterpiece
I appreciate the detail that because he shot the bottle, he wasn't able to shoot doom, because the only bullet that was a competent tracker was the one that destroyed the bottle.
There is documentary about how they did this movie - it is mind-blowing how much work went into making this movie. Everything is practical - they had to come up with a hidden way to move things for the animated characters to interact with and every frame for the animation had to be hand-painted afterwards. Despite the amount of work involved, they tried to have as much interactions between real things and the cartoons as possible and as realistic as possible. The phrase "Bumping the Lamp" used by animators and meaning going way out over what is expected originates in the scene with the cuffs in the pub with the swinging lamp casting constantly changing shadows through the whole scene - the shadows cast "on" and "from" Roger are perfectly synchronized with the real filmed shadows by the animators. I would highly recommend to watch the documentary - the ingenuity is unbelievable.
So this movie is a very thickly veiled (through most of it anyway) metaphor based on how General Motors and Ford Motor Company, two of the largest companies in the world at the time (and even now, really), heavily lobbied, lied, cheated, and stole to kill off public transportation throughout the early-to-mid 20th century in the US, as well as (to a lesser extent) the rest of North America. They constantly bought out rail companies, cab companies, bus companies, etc. under the guise of helping them to run more efficiently through the magic of capitalism, only to disassemble, decommission, and sunset all the programs they bought out. They also helped fund the highway system, all in a long-term gamble to force Americans to be more dependent on cars. Unfortunately it had been a successful endeavor long before this movie was released, but pairing the premise with a murder mystery based on the wonder of cartoons was a killer way to reframe (teehee) the story.
So, 1947 would set this movie's plot in the immediately post-World War 2 era.
The Great Depression was the 1930s, and Prohibition was the 1920s.
I love how the penguins carry the real trays. Basically they have 6-7 feet under the set where people are walking around with trays on sticks and they just animate the penguins later. Looks so good and that's how they do everything. Making physical props move and then animate over it later.
Paint is on Roger's glove because animation in those days involved hand painted cels. Its also why the toon club is called The Ink and Paint Club
Actually even Jessica is descended from Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood. A tradition continued on Animaniacs with Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, a character so HOT she only got three appearances in the entire show.
I remember Red Hot Riding Hood from when I was a kid and immediately got the reference when they paid homage to it in The Mask
It was so amazing seeing cartoon characters in a live action world, mainly Disney and Warner Bros characters. It’s truly a great time.
They worked really hard to ONLY have cartoon characters who had appeared up until 1946. There was one cartoon, I don't remember which one, that just missed the cut-off but they snuck him in by putting his face on the tunnel portal going to Toontown.
Eddie's bed is called a Murphy bed. They were common back in the day in small cheap apartments
I, for one, thing the offices of US Congressmen and Senators should be outfitted with such so they can't point to the cost of rent in DC for why they need such salaries.
@travissmith2848 Since you replied to me I'm going to tell you that's stupid.
When we first showed this film it was in December 1988, it was massively popular. so much fun. I'm screening it at my local cinema on 22nd Dec 2024.
There are behind the scenes specials and making-of documentaries that explain a lot of the technical aspects of how they filmed the live-action scenes with the animations in mind, so they could go in later to draw in the cartoons, frame by frame. It took an insane amount of planning and execution, but it was all worth it.
More recently, just a couple years ago, Disney+ has a show called "Prop Culture" that looked at props from various films. One episode is about Roger Rabbit, and includes the real car that was under the toon taxicab, and the Roger Rabbit on-set stand-in, and others. Super interesting.
This is a movie that I appreciated as a kid for how fun it is, but was also able to appreciate as an adult for how well-made and well-shot it is.
Fun little side note: When Disney was approached about having their characters along side Warner Bros in the movie, they only agreed to allow it as long as the airtime for their characters was equal to their WB counterparts. So that is why you only ever see Bug and Mickey at the same time. Same goes for Daffy and Donald.
And that's why there was no winner to the ducks piano duel at the Ink and Paint Club. They were required to be equal winners/losers.
False
@@HiddenWindshield That makes sense, well said.
What about Dumbo then?
@@Engist18 Ahh, But she was there with Porky lol
"I know him, he's in something."
Christopher Lloyd is in EVERYTHING. 🤣
This is actually based on a true story. Los Angeles’ Red Cars used to be one of the best public transportation system in the nation before a conglomeration of gas stations and auto dealers bought it just to dismantle it to increase their revenue.
Yeah, it's hilarious they made a whole cartoon noir film over the construction of the CA Highway system. Especially considering how Doom thinks it will be so efficient.
All across the US, GM bought up streetcar systems and dismantled them to boost sales of buses. We have never recovered from that.
On a VERY dark note: the toons are a metaphor for minorities (mainly blacks). Toon entertainers in secret mixed-race clubs, open abuse by the police, and the IRL LA neighborhoods torn up to build the freeways weren't called Toontown . . . to bigots of the day, the name started with a "C".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
Yeah, not a true story.
The P.E. died because except for two years during WWII, it ran - ironically - in the red from 1912 on.
And National City Lines never owned the P.E.
I was a child when I first saw this movie, and I have two things to say about it from then: First, Judge Doom absolutely terrified me when I was young. I loved watching the movie but I always had to run into the other room and cover my ears when his toon nature was revealed (the voice, the voice); and two, apparently I was ENTRANCED whenever Jessica Rabbit was on the screen. I was about 7 or 8 when I saw it, so that checks. Brilliant movie, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
This movie was a technical masterpiece at the time, they did some innovative things to make it work 🙂 for those who are interested watch Making of who framed roger rabbit, I think its on youtube and they show some of the stuff they did to make it work 🙂
one of my favorite films as a kid, i remember going to disneyland getting excited to go to toontown to ride the roger rabbit ride there. then coming home and watching this over and over again lol i think i remember watching honey i shrunk the kids and in the beginning or ending credits there was a roger rabbit short film playing. anyways such a good film! watching the behind the scenes was really interesting too. i think if you watch corridor digital they did a vfx reaction to how they made roger rabbit. but yea glad you enjoyed watching it
To allow the crossover cameos, Disney required "equal screen time." Which is why Micky/Bugs, and the Daffy/Donald shared scenes together.
This movie will forever be in my Top Five. It really is a perfect love letter to anyone who's ever loved cartoons.
The Penguins waiting on tables are from Disney's "Mary Poppins". I suggest you give it a viewing.
Fun fact: this movie is loosely based on a book called Who Censored Roger Rabbit. And it's a very rare case wherein the author of the book, Gary K. Wolf, acknowledged that the movie is BETTER than the book. In fact, he wrote a sequel book in which the events of the first book were revealed to be all a dream.
An especially impressive retcon when you consider the book was set in _1980_
Rest In Peace
Mel Blanc 1908-1989
Elliot Scott 1915-1993
Pat Buttram 1915-1994
Stubby Kaye 1918-1997
Mae Questel 1908-1998
Roddy McDowall 1928-1998
Gene Siskel 1946-1999 who was a famous film critic
Chuck Jones 1912-2002
Alan Tilvern 1918-2003
Tony Pope 1947-2004
Joe Ranft 1960-2005
Robert Knudson 1925-2006
Louis Edemann 1946-2006
Wayne Allwine 1947-2009
Don Lane 1933-2009
Roger Ebert 1942-2013 who was a famous film critic
Richard LeParmentier 1946-2013
Charles L Campbell 1930-2013
Peter O’Toole 1932-2013
Bob Hoskins 1942-2014
Robin Williams 1951-2014
Richard Corliss 1944-2015 he was also a famous film critic
Christopher Lee 1922-2015
Joe Alaskey 1952-2016
June Foray 1917-2017
Ron W Miller 1933-2019
Russi Taylor 1944-2019
Richard Williams 1933-2019
David Lander 1947-2020
George Gibbs 1937-2020
Dale Baer 1950-2021
Charles Grodin 1935-2021
Peter Howitt 1928-2021
Paul Reubens 1952-2023
Arthur Schmidt 1937-2023
Peter Renaday 1935-2024
and Robert Watts 1938-2024, Paul Reubens and Peter Renaday did the test run, Robin Williams, Charles Grodin, Christopher Lee, Peter O’Toole, Roddy McDowall and Don Lane were considered for this movie
So many greats
And RIP good Disney movies
Fun fact: The tunnel that leads to Toon Town is the exact tunnel from Back To The Future Part 2 where Marty was finally able to get the Sport's Almanac back from Biff. Also in Back To The Future Part 2 there's some easter eggs from this movie including in 2015 Charles Fleischer who voiced Roger Rabbit playing Terry who told Marty he wishes he could back in time to place a bet as well as a plush of Roger Rabbit in the antique store.
The voices of the bullets for Eddie's Toon Gun were also the old guys around the poker table at the saloon Marty and Doc Brown visited in Back to the Future III.
I love this movie, but damn did Judge Doom scare me as a child.
Christopher Lloyd really nailed it in that part. It's crazy that in just a few years he played Doc Brown in "Back to the Future", Judge Doom in this movie and Fester in "The Addams Family" (which you have to see if you haven't already). Three quite iconic characters and he was brilliant in all of those movies.
And a few years after that, did the voice of Hacker on PBS' "Cyberchase". He was also the kidnapper/thief/drifter in 1993's "Dennis the Menace" where his physical comedy chops were on full display.
The head Weasel is Voiced by Squigy,,,half of Lenny&Squigy from Laverne&Shirley beloved tv series he's also the Principal in one of the Scary Movie's🌎📽️🎶🎶🎶
A childhood favorite. Good video.
I love this reaction for a couple reasons!! The editor fact checking the history and the movie is imo amazing. And watching Ange's reactions to the various cameos is wonderful, like watching for the first time as a kid.
Doom gave very large clues when he revealed the Dip. The mixture isn’t dangerous to humans (as long as you wash it off ) but they’re chemicals used to clean ink and paint out of brushes. Doom didn’t need to use the rubber gloves to dip the shoe. At the end, when the barrel of dip spilled, Doom panics as it floods towards him. Then when he slips on the fake eyes, he doesn’t fall like a human, he hangs for a few seconds paddling his feet then falls like a toon. When he gets up, he’s hiding his eye because he lost the fake eye he was using to hide his toon eyes.
Among other things, this movie is a brilliant spoof of the "film noir" style of detective story after WWII, with a hard-drinking detective and a fem fatale who might or might not be the villain. And Jessica has her hair hanging over part of face, a peculiar style associated with "pinup girl" Veronica Lake of that era.
In the Roadrunner cartoons, the coyote is always getting his evil tools, guns, etc. from the Acme Company. (Which in the days of telephone yellow page commercial directories, meant the name would be near the head of the list.)
Also, Bugs Bunny often insulted other characters by calling them "maroons," a corruption of "morons," hence the name of one of the studios here.
My very first crush back in kindergarten days was on Mighty Mouse. Then I moved on to Disney's Peter Pan (not the Mary Martin version as per the play version). So yes, crushes on cartoons are possible.
I remember seeing this in the cinema when it came out.
The effects were absolutely Amazing, and they still stand up today.
There is a documentary about how they made props for each effect, did the filming then the animators hand painted each cell so that the toon covered up the props. Remember there was No CGI back ehen this was made.
For Benny the Taxi they actually made a small remote controlled car for Bob to sit on, then filmed him driving around....
Then painted Roger next to him in the car.
You could never afford to do this in films today.
The Prohibition Era was between the years of 1920-1933. By 47, which is 2 years after WW2 by the way, Prohibition was well over. The Ink and Paint Club is a nightclub from that era.
I saw this when I was very young and there are just those moments are that are very impressionable. Then during the quarantine days and being sick I watched this a little more learned and ended up reading a lot about it and I am so impressed with the entire process. And the clear devotion the crew had in crafting it. If I had to pick though it's Hoskins. What an underrated actor. He was also very spatially aware and consider this was before green screen was commonplace. Or mocap. My understanding was this was his contribution where would contest that they needed to establish the measurements of everything thus they did. He had for example pointed out the magnet that would surround his body and how he needed to know how wide so he would in turn where his hands and fingers would be placed. Or Roger's measurements and specifically his neck and where that would be adjacent to him and his own hands whenever he would strangle him. Knowing of course none of this was actually there so Hoskins was acting all that spatial building out too in addition to the character acting. That's just great to me and it is a shame we do not hear as much about him these days.
Yeah, I have always maintained that Hoskins should have got a Best Actor nomination for this. When you watch the documentaries on how this film was made you realize how crazy good his performance was.
11:30 The "Portable Hole" from DnD was inspired by a Looney Tunes short called "The Hole Idea". The difference is that the DnD Portable Hole is a storage item like the Bag of Holding, whereas the cartoon Portable Hole is an actual hole that lets you reach the other side of whatever object you stick it on.
Actually, the original description from earlier editions makes it unsure whether it was intended to be a extraplanar storage, or a 6’ wide hole that cut through 10’ of an obstruction.
Most editions have it the extraplanar storage, but 4th edition did have it a hole through substances, like the cartoons.
I loved watching this movie at the theater. I was in my late 20s. I can't tell you how amazing it was to see all these toons together in a movie. Something we never saw before & will never see again.
30:08 "Conveniently placed banana though"
In an earlier scene in that warehouse, you can see some Acme boxes with "banana skins" stamped on the side.
9:30 No, this story of "greed, sex, and murder" wasn't intended as a kids movie. It was released by Touchstone Pictures, for Disney's more mature content.
12:20 Christopher Lloyd played Judge Doom here, and Doc Brown in "Back to the Future".
26:50 Jessica knew how unreliable Roger was. That's why she knocked him out.
33:10 Jessica loves him more than any woman's ever loved a rabbit. I got the bestiality reference, but I learned of an alternate meaning of "rabbit" only a couple months ago.
35:50 The film had one 1940s reference that one might not have gotten in 1986, and one is even less likely to get today: "Say `Hello', Harvey." It was a play and then a movie about a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey.
Your final question: I watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" when it was first released, probably in 1986.
@@SuperiorlySubversive Yes, right.
I have been watching this movie since I was a kid.
This is such a gem. It's super funny, but it also genuinely nails the tone of a good noir flick, including a surprising mystery at the core of it. You should definitely check out some behind-the-scenes visual effects breakdowns, because the amount of work that went into making the toons feel physically present on set is seriously impressive -- a real labor of love.
Betty Boops voice was done by Mae Questal an original Voice For Betty Boop,,,,i believe this was her last performance before her passing RIP,,,She also was in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as Aunt Bethany🌎📽️🎶🎶🎶
The joke about Dumbo working for "peanuts" is likely a reference to the union problems Disney had while making the movie.
The huge thing about this movie was that Disney and WB only agreed to have their cartoons in the same movie if they had the exact same amount of screen time.
That's why we get scenes with Mickey and Bugs together, or Donald and Daffy Duck
We need to send Ange on some kind of history course I think
Tim Curry was originally considered for the role of Judge Doom, but his audition was "too scary!"
When TIM CURRY is deemed too scary, you know it's gotta be bad!
"Paint from the rabbit's glove" because 2D animation was hand-painted prior to the CAPS system used beginning with Rescuers Down Under. The paint to a toon is like a fingerprint to us.
Cloverleaf was named because of the shape of highway exits. In the '50s and '60s they were commonly called cloverleafs because of how they look from an overhead map. That went over my head as a kid but for adults at the time the movie came out it was a clue, especially with them buying all the trolly cars.
I love that you give these older films a chance and have an appreciation for visual effects. If you get the chance, you should look up some bts footage for Roger Rabbit. The amount of work that went into it is just unreal, and they didn't shy away from shooting it like a full live action film with complex camera movements. The club scene in particular is a wonder to watch.
Movie crossovers had happened before with films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. But this movie was big because it was also a studio crossover between Disney and Warner Brothers. The only reason this was possible is because Disney was struggling in the 80s (the Little Mermaid changed it all for them).
Also, one fun little bit in this movie that most people miss on their first watch, is when we get that first pan around Eddie's office there are photos and articles that reveal Eddie and his brother were in the circus before they were private investigators. That's why Eddie was so good at making the Weasels laugh.
While the technical achievements of this film are well known, the under appreciated aspect of it is how insanely tight the writing is… from the witty dialogue to the subtle foreshadowing of almost every future reveal, it is evident the amount of genius went into the script as well. And the capper for me has always been that scene you reference, which I think could be the greatest example of “show, don’t tell” cinematography in history.
That “simple” 30-second sweep around the brothers’ desks tells SO much… the dust symbolizing Eddie’s refusal to let go of his memories, the newspaper articles showing why Roger would seek Eddie out in his time of need (the Valiant brothers weren’t just dealing in petty matters: they were able to foil a kidnapping plot against Uncle Scrooge’s nephews and clear Roger’s personal hero Goofy of federal espionage charges…?), the picture of the Valiant family as circus clowns explaining Eddie’s slapstick skills later in the film rounding back around as dark becomes light to the empty bottle and Eddie fast asleep having drank until a very late hour.
Every aspect of this movie is pretty close to perfect.
What a great way to celebrate my birthday. One of my favorite reactors watching one of my favorite movies. Thanks for the great reaction as always Ange.
Happy Birthday Cody
My favorite reactors are nuclear.
Big fan of this reaction channel, though.
In the year leading up to the release of these film, it was the talk of several sci-fi conventions!
Everyone couldnt wait for the premiere to see how they incorporated life-like animation in to a real action film!
Props to the editor comments on this. Lots of great little add in blurbs.
6:44 - The Pengui waiters are also a Disney reference. In Disney's Mary Poppins, there is a part where Mary and Dick Van Dykes character goes to a cafe where they are served by penguins.
1989 I was 5 years old and the judge turning his arm into a golden cutting saw creeped me out big time.
This movie is singlehandedly responsible for my whole sense of humor
Is that a good thing? Just checking. :-)
Me too
Fun Fact!
While the identity of the toon that Judge Doom was wasn't revealed, an early draft for Who Framed Roger Rabbit had him be revealed as Man, aka the hunter who shot Bambi's mom.
That's not a performance outfit. Her performance dress has sparkles. And consider that most toons only have one outfit. How many times have you seen Donald not in a sailor outfit, Mickey in red pants with suspenders, Huey, Dewey, and Louis in color coordinated t-shirts?
That carries on today (saving time, effort, and therefore money on animation). I guess it’s just more noticeable with Jessica, though, because she has a more specifically purposed outfit, in comparison to many other characters’ mainstay outfits.
Apparently for Roger they created a real prop Roger for Eddie to interact with like the handcuffs scene.
11:15 … Yosemite Sam delivering the line, “My biscuits are burning!”
We get that line repeated from Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2 when he tries to put out the lit dynamite fuse by sitting on it.
I loved the shock on your face when Baby Herman said his line
Angelina: “You have a what and a three year old huh?!”
It’s not just a kid’s movie - the subtext relies a lot on the real history of Los Angeles.
You really want to know when I first saw this movie? I was 15 and saw it in the theater on opening day. Rode my bike from home to the mall (about 20 minutes away). Ticket price was $4.25. 😅
This film was brilliant and so ahead of its time.
Saw it in theatres and you don't even know the generational trauma caused by that poor shoe getting Dipped. Kids at school were literally shell-shocked the week after it came out. But yeah, a lot of the humor went way over our heads, though of course my parents had no such problems.
Interesting bit of location: The tunnel that leads into Toontown at 24:11 would be reused later by director Robert Zemeckis for Back to the Future Part II (1989) as the tunnel where Marty tries to get back the almanac while Biff is driving to and from the high school for the school dance.
I definitely recommend watching some behind the scenes on how this was made.
Disney and Warner Bros agreed to feature their iconic characters as long as they all had equal amount of screentime whenever they appeared together, thus the Daffy & Donald piano-duo/duel, and Mickey & Bugs' skydive
Another fun fact: This is the first movie that had animation and real actors interacting with each other. At the time, there was no other movie ever made like this one.
You might need some qualifiers there because this film was far from the first interaction between cartoon and live actors - Disney in particular made a regular habit of it (Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon, etc). Gene Kelly danced alongside Jerry Mouse in Anchors Away all the way back in 1945.
Certainly it had never been done before at this scale, or to such an intricate and technically high standard.
Perhaps you should rewatch the 1965 film "Mary Poppins".
Disney did some Alice in Wonderland shorts and Circus bits(and others),mixing live action/animation back in the '20s..maybe a bit earlier.
You said, some people are into rabbits.
I cried laughing. 🤣🤣🤣
“I love you more than any woman ever loved a Rabbit"🤣🤣🤣
Ang missed the adult joke
I still remember quoting the "nose plugs would be nice!" line to my mom at a swimming pool birthday party when I was like 6, and her actually going and getting me some because she didn't get the reference. Bless that woman and bless this movie, lol.
Love this movie, such a classic.
Roger Rabbit -- The only moment in history when Walt Disney and Chuck Jones stopped, smiled at each other, and shook hands.
the making of Who framed Roger Rabbit ua-cam.com/play/PLBl8b1yEH9Ped9AWMFx6Vli4puzXqo3po.html
I like how detailed the animation was. Also, that it was hand; drawn and added post-production.
...."im not bad, im just drawn that way"...-BigTime catchphrase bNd!!!!
We would watch this to see who could name the most cartoon characters and bonus points if they could name the original voice actors. Betty Boop was one of the first cartoons and was voiced by Mae Questel who was also Aunt Bethany in "Christmas Vacation". She came out of retirement in her late 80's to do Betty Boop again. Jessica Rabbit was voiced by Kathleen Turner, but her singing voice was the actress, Amy Irving. To be able to use the different cartoons between Disney and Warner Bros., they had to have the same screen time, that's why you see Mickey and Bugs, and Daffy and Donald together. There are several other references to be made, it's hard to mention them all here.
PG of the 80s was a different breed. PG-13 was a very recent development ("Gremlins", which Spielberg produced, had ruffled the feathers of many parents but tone-wise it was an outlier) so you get these well-crafted films that mix childlike energy with more maturity and not yet having to worry about offending everyone. We will get films like that again; the world just has to do some shifting and learn some valuable lessons from the 2010s/2020s.
This movie is one of my all time favorites. I watched it as a kid when it came out and missed all the adult jokes and double entendres. But loved the slapstick humor and visual jokes. Then didn't see it for years until my freshman year in college. And then I was surprised at all the other jokes i didn't get. The fact this movie pulled that off shows the great writing. Plus the blending of animation and live action still holds up wonderful today!
As for how they managed to make the toons interact with the sets and props:
Wires and strings pulling on furnitures and objects, and the characters and their shadows were added during editing.
So when the weasels, for example, are pointing guns, the gun props are litereally held up in the air using strings
...although for scenes such as when that weasel is speaking to Eddie whilst the latter is by the sink, the gun was attached to a mechanical arm (the weasel was drawn over the arm, concealing it and leaving only the gun visible), which allowed for more precise, steadier movements than would have been feasible using the marionette puppet-style movement used for the guns when the weasels first enter Eddie's office and are simply walking around.
A similar mechanical arm was used for Baby Herman's cigar (or "stogie", as he called it) whilst he was in that pram, as well as for the scene in which Roger is given that drink in R.K. Maroon's office in the scene in which he is in shock from having just seen the patty-cake pictures.
There's only one computer effect in the movie, and it's more computer-controlled than computer-generated. It's the pianos.
Part of the reason Christopher Lloyd was cast as Judge Doom was so Universal couldn't make _Back to the Future: Part II_ with a different director than Zemeckis.
While based on the novella "Who Censored Roger Rabbit," this movie takes more from the script of the unmade _Chinatown_ sequel _Cloverleaf_ , about the LA public transportation system being bought out by shell companies run by Big Oil and Detroit automakers to put in freeways and make everyone buy cars.
1. First time I saw this was in the middle of the ocean. My ship (USS Tripoli LPH-10) was doing a "Tiger Cruise". That's where crew members could bring "male only" family/friends to join us from Hawaii to San Diego. There were displays set up on the hanger bay. For entertainment there was an area to watch movies. This was one of them.
2. There had to be equal time for Disney and HB characters.
3. LOVE the adult inuendo
4. Kathleen Turner is the voice for Jessica Rabbit.
5. One of the cartoon bullets is the voice of Pat Buttram. He played Mr. Haney on "Green Acres".
6. This was Mae Questel's/Betty Boop's third to last gig. Her last was" Christmas Vacation". (RIP)😇
7. To make it look more realistic they painted shadows into some scenes.
8. The tunnel going into Toon Town is the same one they use in the "Back to the Future II".
9. Favorite character is the Baby
In the bar scene with the judge, he backs away when the barrel tips, if he created it he knows it doesn't effect humans yet he backed up. This is a dead give away that he is a toon. I also love that Angelina said "waste of a bullet" when Valliant wastes the only compidant bullet.
Unless I'm mistaken, "The Wizard of Oz" would have been the first movie to use a multiverse concept, as Deadpool recently pointed out.
Back in the day, the PG-13 rating didn't exist, so PG actually meant something.
Also, is it just me, or does this woman remind anyone else of Sisu's human form from "Raya and the Last Dragon"?
I watched this on VHS more times than I can count as a kid! My Mom liked it too and wasn’t too annoyed I played it so often.
Edit: Oh and this was the first years of the 90’s sometime.
1988. It was the first movie my wife and I went to together.
@ that’s awesome! What a great first memory. One you can relive by watching a timeless movie like Rodger Rabbit. I was only 4 when this came out so I missed it in theaters :( But we rented it from Blockbuster then my Mom bought it for me. Still good memories of my Mom, God rest her Soul :)
One of the very few reviews to recognize the challenges of this film, using practical effects and gags for the toons to appear to interact with real world objects. I remember seeing a making of documentary that shows some scenes and I think the piano dual has a video online of how it looked prior to Daffy and Donald being animated over it so its basically two pianos that look to be self destructing.
I used to watch this movie when I had it on VHS in the 90s but it was dubbed in German while living in Egypt. I have an uncle in Switzerland and he got it as a gift when he came to Egypt for the holidays
No those broom toons are from Fantasia.
So glad you enjoyed his awesome film! It never fails to astonish and amaze and amuse, even in this day and age.
Actually, Jessica wasn't joking or being melodramatic when she complained about how hard it is for her to look the way she does. For one thing, she didn't choose to look that way -- whoever drew her is responsible for that. Also, her appearance very much works against her in the 'culture' of her fellow toons.
For them, the most valued trait is humour -- the ability to make people laugh. Being sexy just isn't important or appealing to them, and it's very hard for Jessica to be funny. That's why she's been relegated to singing lounge acts at the toon version of Harlem's Cotton Club. It's also why toons think she's mighty lucky to have married Roger. He's an expert at being funny, which makes him (in their eyes) an A-list star.
Perhaps it would've been clearer if Jessica had said it's hard being a -toon- and looking the way she does.
Yes, grasping that point takes a bit of thought.