Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Ladies, gentleman and those in between, welcome back to Deep Dive Disney. I promised you something special last time, and hot damn this film certainly qualifies. Today, we look at our first film that exists outside of the Disney animated film canon as well as our first live action film of the retrospective. I give to you, the 1988 Robert Zemeckis classic, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This film is one of my all-time favorites. The characters, all likable and iconic. The setting, incredibly creative. The tone, a brilliant homage to the noir crime dramas of old. The effects, brilliant, the seamless blending of animation and live action still holding up even thirty plus years later. Bottom line, this is a phenomenal movie. The film is adapted from a 1981 crime novel called Who Censored Roger Rabbit. The book, if you can believe it, is even more insane and messed up than the film could ever hope to be. We won’t be getting into that here since, save for the names of a few characters, the story is unrecognizable from its source material and even the author has admitted that the film is the superior version. However, if you’re curious, I’d highly recommend checking out Youtuber Dominic Noble who did a full breakdown of the book and all the utterly insane twists and turns it takes. I actually really enjoy Dominic Noble’s work. He specializes in comparing film adaptations to the books they’re based on. Check him out here if you’re interested. So anyway, what is Who Framed Roger Rabbit all about. Well, set in Hollywood circa 1947, the film gives us a world in which humans and cartoon characters live and work side by side. Eddie Valiant, a washed up boozehound private investigator, is hired by a sleazy cartoon maker named R.K. Maroon to find evidence that Jessica, the wife of one of Maroon’s cartoon stars, the titular Roger Rabbit, is cheating on her husband with Marvin Acme, practical joke mogul and legal owner of Toon Town, the place where most if not all beloved cartoon characters seem to live. Maroon claims that this is so Roger will leave his wife and focus more on his job. Eddie doesn’t really like toons all that much, but he takes the case anyway. Naturally, Roger doesn’t react well when shown evidence that his wife has been unfaithful and kind of loses it. When Marvin Acme is found murdered the very next morning, Roger immediately becomes the prime suspect. Later, Roger shows up in Eddie’s apartment insisting that he’s innocent and some further investigation reveals that this whole thing may be part of a much larger conspiracy revolving around Marvin Acme’s will which seems to have mysteriously gone missing. Now it’s up to Roger and Eddie to unmask the real killer and find the missing will before time runs out and Toon Town is wiped off the face of the Earth. I love this movie so much and I just can’t wait to talk about it so why don’t we dive right in and find out, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Main Character:

Despite his name being part of the title, Roger Rabbit is not actually our main character. That distinction belongs to Eddie Valiant. Played brilliantly by the late great Bob Hoskins (whom your humble host shares a birthday with), I truly believe that Eddie is one of the great characters of American cinema. He’s a tribute to the great crime noir detectives of the past such as Sam Spade or Jake Gittes while still feeling like his own fully fleshed out character. Through some brilliant character exposition, we learn just about everything we need to know about Eddie within the first twenty minutes of the film. When we first see him, Eddie is a surly, washed up private detective with a serious drinking problem and an even more serious hang up about working around toons, even being prone to violent outbursts if anyone even suggests he work for a toon. One might almost think Eddie is kind of a jerk at first if not for the fact that we later learn that his dislike of toons stems from a toon murdering his brother. We know he’s hard up for cash since he reluctantly takes R.K. Maroon’s case and takes him to the cleaners in the process, showing that he really doesn’t seem to care for most humans much either, save for his one-time girlfriend Delores and even that relationship appears to be pretty strained. However, Eddie wasn’t always a miserable jackass. There appears have been a time where both Eddie and his brother Teddy loved toons and even worked exclusively for them. We’re shown that at one point, Eddie was actually a fun guy with a great sense of humor, but all that changed when his brother was killed. Now, Eddie is a miserable broken shell of his former self who owes money all over town and spends his evenings drinking himself to sleep. Eddie’s story is one of redemption. With the help of Roger, Eddie rediscovers his sense of humor, learns once again how to laugh and be silly like he was in the old days and ultimately is able to confront and defeat his brother’s killer. He’s a great character and one of the many reasons that this is such an incredible film.

Villian:

I’ve discussed it ad nauseum by this point, but if you’ll recall my Top 20 Disney Villains Countdown, Judge Doom, the only live action villain to make the list, ranked quite a bit higher than many felt he should have. He didn’t crack the top five, but he still managed to rank higher than several classic Disney Villains including Ursula, Cruella and even Scar. I heard enough complaints from people whose opinions I respect that I was even starting to second guess myself. However, after re-watching this film, yeah, my first instincts were absolutely correct because this guy is one twisted mother fucker. Doom is played by the always awesome Christopher Lloyd who brings to the role of Doom the same gravitas he brings to all of his roles including Jim ‘Iggy’ Ignatowski from TV’s Taxi, the villainous Kruge from Star Trek III and everyone’s favorite, Doc Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy (another Zemeckis movie). And to answer the question posed by the film, it was this guy. This guy framed Roger Rabbit. Doom is a clearly corrupt judge who has introduced a newer, more brutal form of law enforcement to toon town. Any toon who violates the law, or even simply gets on Doom’s bad side, meets a horrible fate as Doom has discovered a chemical formula he calls “The Dip” that is capable of killing toons, something previously believed to have been impossible. With a long, dark coat, a tall, imposing frame and eerily calm demeanor, Doom is one scary customer right off the bat. Doom also employs a squad of Toon Weasels as his henchmen who are themselves pretty threatening at times. I bet you didn’t know that the weasels all have names and are meant to be a twisted parody of the seven dwarfs. If you’re curious, their names are Smartass, Greasy, Wheezy, Psycho, Stupid, Slimy and Flasher. As the film goes on, we learn that Doom was indeed behind the murder of Marvin Acme, all as part of a plot to become the legal owner of Toon Town so he could destroy it to make room for a freeway. Things get downright frightening when it’s revealed that Doom was himself a toon all along. Not just any toon but the very toon that killed Eddie’s brother. There are actually some novelizations and comic book adaptations that imply that Doom used the money from the bank robbery Eddie’s brother gave his life trying to stop in order to buy his position as a judge. I can tell you right now, the scene where Doom reveals his true nature and he stares back at Eddie with those burning red eyes will have even the toughest viewers shitting bricks. Once Doom’s identity is revealed, that calm and calculated demeanor is likewise revealed to be as much of a façade as the rubber mask he wears. In actually, Doom is a deranged and sadistic psychopath who loves seeing his victims squirm in pain. So creepy is dooms true nature that we’re going to wait until the Dark Disney Factor section to discuss it in further detail. For now, suffice to say, Doom more than deserves a spot amongst the great villains of cinema, Disney or otherwise.

Side Characters:

Oh hey, do I finally get to talk about the film’s title character? Cool! Roger Rabbit is a likable enough character though can get a little annoying. Thought honestly, I think that’s by design since he’s supposed to drive Eddie crazy. Something interesting I noticed about Roger this time around is that while many dismiss him as a naïve moron and he often acts accordingly, more often than not, Roger is right about things. He’s right when he says that Jessica would never betray him. He’s right when he says that laughter can often be a powerful weapon. He’s right that Angello and the other bar patrons won’t turn him in. He’s even right about Marvin Acme leaving Toon Town to the toons. It’s actually very interesting when you think about it. What a great way to play against type. He may act like a silly goofball, but he’s actually a lot more inciteful than he seems.

Speaking of playing against type, let’s talk about the character that helped a lot of people through puberty in the late 80’s, Jessica Rabbit. While the anatomically impossible Jessica became something of a sex symbol in the real world, in an ironic twist, Jessica’s fellow Toons all act like she’s the lucky one to be with Roger, like she’s the one who’s out of his league and not the other way around. I actually really like that as it shows that Toons have different standards for attraction than humans. I also really like how when Eddie directly asks her what she sees in Roger, Jessica simply responds “He Makes Me Laugh.” While set up as your typical femme fatale, it’s actually revealed that Jessica truly is the loving and devoted wife that Roger believes her to be. I guess Jessica was right when she says "I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way."

I’ll give a brief mention of Baby Herman and Benny the Cab. They’re both perfectly serviceable characters even if a couple of their jokes fall flat for me. Other than that, nothing much to say.

I'll also give the customary shoutout to someone who's become something of a regular here on Deep Dive Disney, our buddy Pat Buttram who plays one of Eddie's cartoon bullets.

Finally, I’d like to give a brief mention of Betty Boop. While not a major character by any measure, it is pretty cool that they got the late Mae Questel, who voiced the character back in the 30’s, to reprise her role. Did you know that she’s also Aunt Bethany from Christmas Vacation? Well, now you do. I also appreciate that Betty gives us our first hint that Eddie didn’t always hate toons. When the two meet up at the Ink & Paint club, Eddie seems genuinely happy to see her and their friendship is further hinted at when we see a Betty Boop doll on Eddie’s brother’s old desk.

Songs:

While by no means a musical, there actually are one or two song sequences in the movie worth talking about, the most obvious being Jessica’s introductory number “Why Don’t You Do Right.” I’m not even sure what I should even say here, the song is so seductive that even a stuffy cynic like Eddie can’t help but get a little hot under the collar.

While not a song per se, Eddie’s number where he forces the Weasels to laugh themselves to death is a lot of fun. It shows that Eddie has finally learned how to laugh again, and that Roger was right that laughter can be a powerful weapon. Funny story about this part. When I first watched this movie, I was the library where my mother worked at the time. I was watching the film at a desk with headphones in. When it got the “That Don’t Rhyme with Walls” bit, I instinctively yelled out “BALLS” at the top of my lungs, prompting my mother’s boss to emerge from his office with an angry expression on his face. Fortunately, he didn’t see me, but I was still a little embarrassed at the time. Makes for a funny memory though.

Memorable Scenes:

We may as well discuss the absolute surreality of Disney characters and Looney Tunes appearing side by side in this film. I remember as a small child, long before I even saw this film, someone once showed me a comic book featuring both Batman and Spider-Man. My young mind was completely blown. I had seen something that never even registered as a possibility in my mind right there before my very eyes. Seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny sharing the silver screen had a very similar effect. It’s just nice to know that these two rival companies put their difference aside for the sake of a really cool moment.

On a more serious note, there’s really great pan and scan scene early on where we’re given this tour of Eddie’s office. Through this scene we learn so much about him with zero dialogue. We even see that the Valiant apparently cleared Goofy of Spy Charges. Wait, WHAT!? Was Goofy accused of being a Nazi? I need to know. This scene is so great, I honestly don’t know if I could do it justice. If you want to learn more, watch Rob Walker’s video on how Roger Rabbit perfectly handles its character exposition. He does a great play by play of this scene and it’s just fantastic.

Story:

Like I said, this film follows in the footsteps of the great film noir crime dramas of old and does a great job of paying homage while still maintaining an identity of its own. In addition, there appear to be this central theme regarding the power of laughter. Eddie is presented as a broken man who’s lost his sense of humor. However, it’s laughter that saves Roger from being sold out to Judge Doom, it’s laughter that’s responsible for Roger’s happy relationship with Jessica and ultimately, it’s laughter that defeats the weasels. No matter how difficult life can get, it’s always important that one never loses the ability to laugh and feel joy because without it, one is truly lost. That may not be the strongest of themes, but it’s still a nice sentiment.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Seeing as how this film is only a Disney movie in the loosest sense and is also clearly geared more towards adults or at least older children, the Dark Disney Factor doesn’t quite apply in the same way as it would something like The Great Mouse Detective or The Black Cauldron. That having been said, there are still plenty of scenes that are incredibly dark and disturbing. Naturally, it should come as no surprise that all of them revolve around our villain, Judge Doom. We may as well start at the beginning with Doom’s introductory scene. While Doom is plenty intimidating from the get-go, the real disturbing part comes when Doom cracks open a bucket of Dip and brutally murders this cute little innocent cartoon shoe. You hear the shoe scream in pain as the dip reduces it to little more than red smear on Doom’s black glove. However, that’s nothing to what we get when Doom’s true nature is revealed. It starts when Doom is runover by the steamroller. Keep in mind, at this point, the audience doesn’t know that Doom is actually a toon yet. As far as anyone who hasn’t seen the film is concerned, we’ve just seen a human being scream in pain and horror as he’s slowly crushed by a steamroller. That alone is pretty fucked up. Things get even worse when Doom’s flat body gets up, thus outing himself as a Toon. The real scare comes when Doom stares back at Eddie with those burning red eyes and delivers the iconic line “Remember Me Eddie, When I Killed Your Brother, I Talked, Just, Like, THIS” in that high squeaky voice. The look of pure horror on Eddies face really says it all. Speaking of, the effect for Doom’s eyes, while terrifying, is still pretty impressive. I’d be curious to learn how they pulled it off as it’s one of the best effects in an already beautiful looking film. Honestly, one of the most terrifying things about Doom is the fact that we never actually see what he looks like. Somehow, that makes him even more creepy in that John Carpenter's The Thing sort of way. Even Doom’s ultimate demise is deeply disturbing. Doom gets soaked in Dip and the film takes its time showing him writhing in anguish as he slowly and painfully dissolves into nothingness. Nice!

Final Thoughts:

I think it goes without saying that this is a damn near perfect film. It’s technically impressive, expertly written, incredibly creative, filled with memorable and likable characters and contains just the right amount of nightmare fuel. It’s one of the few films that I truly believe that everyone should watch at least once. It’s been fantastic deviating from norm on this edition of Deep Dive Disney, but next time, it’s back to business as usual when we return to the animated Disney canon with Oliver & Company.