who framed roger rabbit jessica rabbit scene

Who framed roger rabbit jessica rabbit scene movie#

One of the most compelling elements of Roger Rabbit is that no joke is wasted each adds another layer to our understanding of the emotional life of the animated folk and their complex relationship with humans. And in this world, when a toon's wife is cheating on you by 'playing pattycake' with another man, that description is not a euphemism.

Who framed roger rabbit jessica rabbit scene movie#

In this world, when Dumbo appears flying around the movie lot, a studio head explains, 'I got him on loan from Disney.' In this world, when you order a scotch on the rocks in a toon bar, you'd better add 'and I mean with ice!' lest your waiter take you literally. The director calls lunch.Īnd thus are we introduced to this alternate reality, where cartoon rules apply, at least for cartoons. 'I can give you stars!' Roger protests, hitting himself on the head with a spontaneously appearing frying pan, which produces, unfruitfully, bells then butterflies. 'For crying out loud, Roger, how many times do we have to do this damn scene!' he bellows, stalking off the set. Baby Herman, for instance, chomps on a cigar, has a thing for younger (or is that older?) human women, and talks like a middle-aged Brooklyn cab driver. We soon learn that the toons are not as they appear. That's from the director, off-screen, and it's followed by a pullback reveal of what we've actually been watching: the action on a Hollywood movie set, circa 1947. When, in the middle of the mayhem, a refrigerator falls on Roger and a circle of fish instead of the obligatory stars surround his head, we hear.

This one's a vehicle for a character named Roger Rabbit the plot: Roger trying to save his infant charge, Baby Herman, from all manner of household dangers, and, like all good animated masochists, taking the brunt of the fun. The film starts with a feint, immersing the viewer in a traditional-looking though unfamiliar cartoon, styled somewhere between Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies and MGM's Tom and Jerry. That's a pretty audacious motif in a work ostensibly for children, and when you add the superimposition onto the crowded thematic canvas of a top-notch spoof on film noir, you've got a movie working overtime in the ideas department. These 'toons,' as they're called, make up a kind of movie-industry underclass that is exploited for profit-making laughs. The story's ingenious conceit is that human-created cartoons, including some of the most recognizable characters in the animated species, coexist with Homo sapiens - off-screen and three-dimensionally, that is. It doesn't get more subversive than that. Beneath the well-crafted jokes and cartoon high spirits, the film gnaws at the nostalgia felt for an Old Hollywood that so blithely manifested deep American racial disparities, and it does so while featuring cameos by the likes of Yosemite Sam and Tweety. But it's the unflinchingly allegorical elements of Roger Zemeckis' 1988 film that claim the most interest.

As a mixed live action/animated tour de force and a technical marvel, Who Framed Roger Rabbit holds an entrenched spot in the pantheon of movie originality.