Combining whodunnit, film noir, and slapstick humor, Who Framed Roger Rabbit seamlessly blends animated and live-action characters and settings to create a hybrid masterpiece. It follows washed-up, toon-hating private detective Eddie Valiant as he is roped into investigating cartoon character Roger Rabbit, who is wanted for murder in 1940s Los Angeles. As he delves deeper into the case, he uncovers a web of corruption and deception that he must unravel to clear Roger's name. Like with The Maltese Falcon , I've seen this movie a dozen times, but I'm always surprised by the ending. The performances by Christopher Lloyd and (especially) Bob Hoskins are spot on throughout, providing grounding to balance out the giddiness and always-on quality of the toon characters. That being said, it's amazing how authentic and real every character, ink or flesh, feels. This would have been a very easy movie to get wrong, to be either over- or under-invested in, to be overly lazy or ove...
Take 575: Watching the National Film Registry
One woman's attempt to watch the entire National Film Registry, one movie at a time.