Sometimes a movie can be so enjoyable that you are able to look through shortcomings in story-telling and just focus on the spectacle. Robert Zemeckis has made a few films like this (Back to the Future trilogy), but this would undoubtedly be his best effort at one of these spectacle films. In fact, convincing my twin Stephen to watch was probably the hardest part of watching this movie, which was an enjoyable, easy viewing experience.
A film noir/comedy set in a world where cartoons interact with real-word characters, The film follows private detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) as he takes a job for one of the large animation companies, unwittingly taking pictures of Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner, with concept art above) that would help to frame her husband, and popular cartoon star Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer) in murdering 'toon creator Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye). This framing turns out to be part of a larger plot to create a freeway system in L.A by destroying 'Toon Town (where the 'toons live), and the tram system. These lead us to the real antagonist Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), who has had a prior run-in with Eddie Valiant and his dead brother.
The animation is simply superb, and the interaction between the animated characters and the real people is amazingly well done, down to the 'toons shadows. These are not simply characters drawn in post-production, the filming stage was so well designed and planned that the animated characters fit perfectly into the film world. The animated characters appear to move and touch objects just like the actors are, and the timing is perfect with the interactions between the animated and real characters. The brilliant editing and cinematography play a large role in that as well.
The story is told in a straight-forward manner, which is easy to follow for all-ages, particularly small children who were a key audience of the film. This does mean that the story lacks a lot of exploration, with a few exposition-heavy sequences doing the bulk of the story-telling work, while the rest of the movie continues as a spectacle.
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" also plays with many of the tropes of film noir, as well as a few specific noir films (mostly "Chinatown", as the framework of one of the sequels features prominently in the plot of this movie though there are more direct references). The femme fatale Jessica Rabbit is brilliant at weaving around and showing up suspiciously, but isn't actually bad, she's just drawn that way. She is actually trying to help Valiant and Roger the whole film, subverting the trope via some great misdirection in every aspect of her character.
There are negatives about this movie though. As a family-friendly movie it lacks a certain edge that you would expect from a noir, though it does make it up for it with some hilarious sexual innuendo ("Dabblin' in Watercolours Eddie?", "Pattycake"). The main part which feels poorly done, as a result of the family-friendly tone, is the ending. The relentlessly upbeat ending is a little out of context, and has far too many flukes and twists (even for a noir, which are famous for twists). The end feeling is a bit unsatisfying, though it was definitely a fun ride up until the kidsy ending.
I felt it was just fun to watch. There was no expectation on of anything greater than a fun movie with a good story, and it mostly succeeded. A major technical feat at the very least, in my opinion a cinematic achievement in creating a family-friendly film that you can watch without your family and still enjoy.
A 4/5, as I was let down by a couple of things that are noticeable, but don't detract from the overall sense of fun I had while watching.
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