"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" Is the finest film ever made to combine live-action and animation. Nothing before or after has touched it. The two things that have come close to capturing its likeness are "Space Jam" and "Looney Tunes Back In Action." In LTBIA, some allusions are made to the two films and that's fine. This is perhaps the weakest of the trio, but there's still some good.
When LTBIA came out in 2003, I remember it being one of the hottest kiddie films and it would be shown all the time on Teletoon for years to come. I unfortunately swept it under the rug. It is probably a good thing because I now know more about film and can appreciate the artistry that went into this.
The rivalry between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny reaches a breaking point where director, Kate (Jenna Elfman) fires Daffy. Bugs doesn't work well without him, so producers make her get Daffy back. Meanwhile, aspiring stuntman DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser) who tries to live up to his Bond-esque father (Timothy Dalton) gets tired from his day job as a Warner Brothers security guard. The best thing DJ has done is being Brendan Fraser's stunt double in "The Mummy" movies. This subplot is clever with many tongue-and-cheek references.
As Daffy consoles in DJ, they find out DJ's dad is a real spy who got kidnapped and must find the "blue monkey." Kate and Bugs eventually meet up with them in the Las Vegas area where the evil Chairman (Steve Martin) awaits. The "blue monkey" is a key to his diabolical plan to turn everyone in the world into working monkeys to make products, then turn them back into humans to buy them. Sounds like a bad plot eh? Well this is for kids.
One thing that made "Roger Rabbit" work was it's actors looked like they actually were looking at cartoons. We hardly get that here. Fraser and Elfman seem to be looking at air. "Roger Rabbit" also had such great detail that went into each frame to make it look like the cartoons existed in the same world. In this, they do a good job but not great. (There's a scene where Scooby Doo and Shaggy talk to Matthew Lillard that wasn't well done.) This features great energy, but seems to be style over substance. It is enjoyable, but it could have been better.
Also, Steve Martin's insane character is one I cannot tell is a bad performance or a good one. It is hard to tell when someone is truly over the top.
So do I love this? No. It does not approach "Roger Rabbit" calibre. The visual mixture is pretty impressive for the most part, and the goofy energy is something we can enjoy.
3/4
When LTBIA came out in 2003, I remember it being one of the hottest kiddie films and it would be shown all the time on Teletoon for years to come. I unfortunately swept it under the rug. It is probably a good thing because I now know more about film and can appreciate the artistry that went into this.
The rivalry between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny reaches a breaking point where director, Kate (Jenna Elfman) fires Daffy. Bugs doesn't work well without him, so producers make her get Daffy back. Meanwhile, aspiring stuntman DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser) who tries to live up to his Bond-esque father (Timothy Dalton) gets tired from his day job as a Warner Brothers security guard. The best thing DJ has done is being Brendan Fraser's stunt double in "The Mummy" movies. This subplot is clever with many tongue-and-cheek references.
As Daffy consoles in DJ, they find out DJ's dad is a real spy who got kidnapped and must find the "blue monkey." Kate and Bugs eventually meet up with them in the Las Vegas area where the evil Chairman (Steve Martin) awaits. The "blue monkey" is a key to his diabolical plan to turn everyone in the world into working monkeys to make products, then turn them back into humans to buy them. Sounds like a bad plot eh? Well this is for kids.
One thing that made "Roger Rabbit" work was it's actors looked like they actually were looking at cartoons. We hardly get that here. Fraser and Elfman seem to be looking at air. "Roger Rabbit" also had such great detail that went into each frame to make it look like the cartoons existed in the same world. In this, they do a good job but not great. (There's a scene where Scooby Doo and Shaggy talk to Matthew Lillard that wasn't well done.) This features great energy, but seems to be style over substance. It is enjoyable, but it could have been better.
Also, Steve Martin's insane character is one I cannot tell is a bad performance or a good one. It is hard to tell when someone is truly over the top.
So do I love this? No. It does not approach "Roger Rabbit" calibre. The visual mixture is pretty impressive for the most part, and the goofy energy is something we can enjoy.
3/4