Who Framed Roger Rabbit: An Animated Mystery

Blending animation and live-action has been a clever filmmaking tool used across television, music videos, and, of course, films. Perhaps the best known and most successful example of pulling this off in films, though, is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a movie celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

The film arrived in theaters on June 22, 1988, after a lengthy production period that began when Walt Disney Pictures purchased the rights to the story in 1981; it is based off of the mystery novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? written by Gary K. Wolf. Robert Zemeckis offered to direct pretty early on in the process, but was turned down by Disney as he was coming off of back to back box office bombs. Test footage early on included Roger Rabbit being voiced by Paul Reubens, though the original budget had been projected at $50 million, which the studio felt was too much. Eventually the movie was greenlit with a budget of $30 million – still making it the most expensive animated film to enter production at that time. In 1985, Zemeckis was finally brought on to direct the film, as he experienced great success that year with Back to the Future.

The final cast included Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom, with Charles Fleischer voicing Roger Rabbit and Kathleen Turner voicing Jessica Rabbit.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? takes place in Los Angeles circa 1947, where Toons are living beings who act alongside live-action actors, though they typically live in a separate, entirely animated area, called Toontown. Marvin Acme, head of the Acme Cooperation and the owner of Toontown itself, turns up dead – and Roger Rabbit is the prime suspect. Private detective Eddie Valiant reluctantly takes the case, and soon uncovers a conspiracy regarding the rights to Toontown itself and the intentions of the nefarious Judge Doom. Valiant must also confront his own troubled past regarding his history with the Toons and the truth of his brother’s death.

During production, the budget blew up from the approved $30 million to more than $50 million, though the studio continued to move forward due to the enthusiasm regarding working with Steven Spielberg, who was executive producing. Post-production took more than a year in order to add the animation to the filmed live-action scenes. Extensive work was done in order to make the Toons look three-dimensional, an illusion created via various lighting effects.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is notable for being the only time that Warner Bros. and Disney cartoon characters appeared on-screen together. This led to a pair of memorable scenes – Bugs Bunny parachuting with Mickey Mouse and Daffy Duck having a piano duel with Donald Duck. These scenes occurred the way they did due to Warner Bros. executives requiring that those characters had the same screen time as Disney’s, leading to them only ever appearing on screen together.

Upon release, the film was an immediate critical success, receiving significant acclaim from reviews worldwide; it would go on to be nominated for several Academy Awards. It won Oscars for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects, making it the first hybrid live-action/animated film to win multiple Oscars since Mary Poppins in 1964. Commercially, it brought in nearly $330 million, making it a certified blockbuster.

The film remains one of the best-loved that Disney has ever produced, and is often credited for kickstarting the “Disney Renaissance” that took place in the 1990s. At Disney parks around the world, Toontown is an in-park land that can be visited by guests, and “Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin” is a dark ride in those areas that focuses on Roger, Jessica, and Benny the Cab.

A sequel has been proposed several times, but Zemeckis said that, despite a script existing for more than a decade, the studio seems uninterested in greenlighting a second film.