Critic's Grade: A+

When I think of the uninhibitable Roger Rabbit, I think of Bugs Bunny on Prozac. When I think of Robert Zemeckis' 1988 hit "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," I think "Masterpiece;" I think "Brilliance;" I think "Classic." It's not just the innovative way in which the filmmakers use cutting-edge techniques to combine live-action and animation that gives the film its inspired appeal; it's how much fun they have doing it. There's a moment in the movie when one of the characters remarks, "I'm not bad... I'm just drawn that way." It's still one of the best and most memorable lines in all of cinema, and it's wit such as this that puts "Roger Rabbit" in a class by itself.

Looking back at the movie fifteen years after its original release, after the passage of time has brought about the invention and reinvention of special effects and new facets of animation through computers and the digital realm, it's easy to see why "Roger Rabbit" has remained so endearing. It is one of the few movies that actually feels real, no matter how many cartoon characters graze the images; without the use of the modern technology that we take for granted in today's world of moviemaking, Zemeckis and his team set out to merge reality and fantasy in a way that had never been attempted before. It was a risky gamble, but it pays off even to this day; the characters, both real and animated, come to life with a vivacity that makes us forget we're watching a mere visual trick. Zemeckis, in setting out for success, singlehandedly reminded us of why we go to movies at all.

The script from Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?) finds us in 1947 Hollywood, where cartoons are not hand-drawn, but exist as actual beings within the studio backlots and offices of Toontown, and interact with their human counterparts on a regular basis. One of the major stars, Roger Rabbit himself (voiced by Charles Fleischer), has run into a streak of performance problems after finding out that his toon wife, Jessica (Kathleen Turner), may be playing a little hanky-panky with Toontown's owner, Marvin Acme, whose last name bears a striking resemblance to all those brand-name products you find in Looney Toons shorts.

Another studio executive, fearing that Roger may lose his knack for acting, calls in private investigator Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), who holds a grudge about working with toons after an unfortunate incident in which his brother suffered death by piano. He's been in the business before, and knows his way around easily enough, but once he starts uncovering the clues surrounding the sudden murder of Acme, he learns that something bigger than the framing of Roger Rabbit is in the works.

Now, consider how all of this had to be created: first, the live-action photography had to be completed, and that meant having flesh-and-bone actors reacting to screen elements that would be inserted later, so timing and placement are everything. Then, the animators have to take this material and construct their characters with exact precision; otherwise, Baby Herman's (Lou Hirsch) hand may have gone a little too far up that woman's skirt! When you take into consideration all of these complications and details that have to be just right, you develop a much greater degree of appreciation for the efforts of the filmmakers, who must believe that work and play don't have to be two separate entities.

For those who are familiar with the movie, you know where the rest of the film goes. Those who haven't will delight in the sheer playfulness of the material, with its smart combinations of the noir thriller, the animated comedy, and the special effects bonanza. For me, the most endearing aspect of "Roger Rabbit" lies within the witty insertions of various references to previous animated characters not only from Walt Disney, but also from Warner Bros. Look closely in one of the film's final scenes, and you'll see the dancing trees from one of Disney's groundbreaking early shorts, "Flowers and Trees." And that's no ordinary penguin serving Valiant a drink in the local toon bar; in fact, he comes from "Mary Poppins," another earlier film to fuse animation and live-action together. And who wouldn't love to see the ultimate face-off between "wise-quackers" Donald Duck and Daffy Duck?

The specialty of the house, however, belongs to none other than the infamous Betty Boop (voiced by the original Mae Questel), who when spotted by Valiant laments, "Work's been kinda slow since cartoons went to color, Eddie. But I still got it!" I'll drink to that!

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