If you grew up watching classic cartoons like “Looney Tunes” and “Tom and Jerry” as a kid in the 1980s or 1990s, chances are that Robert Zemeckis’ terrific hybrid of a movie, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” left a mark on you in one way or another. Combining animation and live-action in such a smooth and effortless way was an astonishing achievement in itself, but the real draw for audiences was the intriguing weirdness and the peculiar, hard-to-pin-down atmosphere that “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” encapsulated like nothing else before it, or ever since. Though, if you’d like to test that theory, we have produced a list of the best animated movies on Netflix.
Bob Hoskins’ private detective protagonist, Eddie Valiant (investigating alongside new and already well-known characters like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, or Donald Duck), played a vital part in that. In retrospect, however, we’re hardly surprised to learn that his role and the making of the film nearly drove him insane. According to Express’s 2012 piece on him, after finishing the shoot, the actor was advised by his doctors to take five months off to protect his unravelling mental health. As he explained: “I had trained myself to hallucinate, and in the end, it screwed up my brain. I would be sitting, talking normally, and suddenly a weasel would creep out of the wall at me.”
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a singular experience in every way
Besides the numerous accolades regarding the visual and technical aspects of Robert Zemeckis’ feature, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” also delivered a rather unusual story. The plot developed within a fictitious world that utilized classic hard-boiled elements and married them with the childish humor and silliness of Hollywood’s Golden Age animations. The result was a loopy and hysterical, yet effective, concoction that at times was rather unsettling. But, that’s precisely why it left a lasting impression on millions of viewers in the past four decades.
Considering the painstaking effort and attention to detail that went into this film on every level, it’s perhaps unsurprising that “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” garnered seven Academy Award nominations in 1989, and went on to win three of them (Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Effects Editing). In addition to being a critical darling at the time, Zemeckis’ flick also became an enormous commercial success, making over $329 million worldwide at the box office against its $70 million budget. All in all, it was a singular cinematic achievement for the ages, one which stood the test of time and became a beloved, oft-cited cultural touchstone — even if it ended up sending Bob Hoskins on a long break to recover.
