Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Foreign title: Qui Veut La Peau De Roger Rabbit? (French)
- Studio
- Touchstone Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Silver Screen Partners III
- Distributor
- Buena Vista Pictures
Synopsis
Roger Rabbit is an animated cartoon star-a 'Toon'- at Maroon Cartoon Studios. Roger is suspected of the murder of Marvin Acme, owner of the Los Angeles subdivision of Toontown, and head of the renowned Cartoon Prop Company. Acme had been sighted playing patty cake with Roger's shapely wife, Jessica. Eddie Valiant, a down-on-his-luck gumshoe, is asked by Roger to find the real killer. Reluctantly, Valiant agrees, and soon discovers local magistrate Judge Doom at the center of the tangled Toon web. With Judge Doom's cartoon weasel henchmen in pursuit, Valiant follows leads all over Los Angeles- and into the heart- of Toontown.
Characters
Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Benny the Cab, Baby Herman, Bongo, Hippo, Smart Ass, Greasy, Psycho, Stupid, Wheezy, Droopy Dog, Lena Hyena, Bambi, Bashful, Betty Boop, Big Bad Wolf, Brer Bear, Brooms, Bugs Bunny, Cheshire Cat, Chicken Little, Clarabelle Cow, Daffy Duck, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Dumbo, Jiminy Cricket, Marvin Martian, Mickey, Minnie Mouse, Tinker Bell, Tweety, Woody Woodpecker, Yosemite Sam
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
- Animation Director
- Richard Williams
Producing
- Producer
- Frank Marshall, Robert Watts
- Executive Producers
- Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
- Associate Producers
- Steve Starkey, Don Hahn
Writing
- Writer
- Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
- Original Book
- Gary K. Wolf
Voices
- Voice
- Charles Fleischer (Benny, Roger, Greasy, Psycho), Lou Hirsch (Baby Herman), Kathleen Turner (Jessica speaking, uncredited), Amy Irving (Jessica singing, uncredited), Mae Questel (Betty Boop), Mel Blanc (Daffy, Tweety, Bugs, Sylvester, Porky), Tony Anselmo (Donald), Joe Alaskey (Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn), June Foray (Lena Hyena, Wheezy), Russi Taylor (Minnie, Birds), Richard Williams (Droopy), Wayne Allwine (Mickey), Frank Sinatra (Sword), Morgan Deare (Editor, Bongo the Gorilla), Mary T. Radford (Hippo), David Lander (Smart Ass), Fred Newman (Stupid), Les Perkins (Toad), Pat Buttram (Bullet #1), Jim Cummings (Bullet #2, Andy Devine, Additional Weasels), Jim Gallant (Bullet #3), Tony Pope (Goofy, Wolf), Peter Westy (Pinocchio), Cherry Davis (Woody Woodpecker), Jack Angel (Additional Voices, uncredited), Philip O'Brien (Earl, uncredited)
- Live Action
- Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant), Christopher Lloyd (Judge Doom), Joanna Cassidy (Dolores), Alan Tilvern (R.K. Maroon), Richard LeParmentier (Lt. Santino), Joel Silver (Raoul J. Raoul), Paul Springer (Augie), Richard Ridings (Angelo), Edwin Craig (Arthritic Cowboy), Lindsay Holiday (Soldier), Mike Edmonds (Stretch), Danny Capri (Kid #1), Christopher Hollosy (Kid #2), John-Paul Sipla (Kid #3), Laura Frances (Blonde Starlet), Joel Cutrara (Forensic #1), Billy J. Mitchell (Forensic #2), Eric B. Sindon (Mailman), Ed Herlihy (Newscaster), James O'Connell (Conductor), Eugene Guirterrez (Teddy Valiant), April Winchell (Mrs. Herman)
Music
- Music
- Alan Silvestri
- Non-Original Music
- Franz Liszt ("Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2")
Animation
- Supervising Animator
- Andreas Deja, Phil Nibbelink, Russell Hall, Simon Wells
- Animation Supervisor
- Wes Takahashi
- Animator
- Rob Stevenhagen, Alain Costa, Alan Simpson, Alexander Williams, Alvaro Giavoto, Alyson Hamilton, Brent Odell, Bridgitte Hartley, Caron Creed, Chuck Gammage, Colin White, Dave Spafford, David Byers-Brown, Gary Mudd, Greg Manwaring, Jacques Muller, James Baxter, Joe Haidar, Marc Gordon-Bates, Mike Swindall, Nik Ranieri, Peter Gambier, Peter Western, Ra�l Garc�a, Roger Chiasson, Tom Sito
- Assistant Supervisor, Animation
- Maggie Brown
- Assistant Animators
- David Bowers, Neil Boyle
- Additional Animation
- Barry Temple, Mark Kausler, Bruce W. Smith, Dave Pacheco, Frans Vischer, Matthew O'Callaghan
- Animation Effects Supervisor
- Christopher Knott
- Effects Animators
- Dorse Lanpher, Andrew Brownlow, Christopher Jenkins, Dave Bossert, Jon Brooks, Les Pace, Kevin Davies
Editing
- Editor
- Arthur Schmidt
- Associate Editor
- Peter Lonsdale
- Assistant Editor
- Bill Wilner
- Assistant Editor, UK
- Carin-Anne Strohmaier
- Associate Editor, UK
- Colin Wilson
Crew
- Cinematography
- Dean Cundey
- Camera Operator
- Raymond Stella
- Camera Operator, UK
- David Worley
- First Assistant Camera
- Martin Kenzie
- Focus Puller
- Bobby Stillwell
- Clapper/Loaders
- Bob Bridges, Graham Hall, Wilf France
- Video Assist Technician
- Ian Kelly
- Camera Technician, Vistavision
- Clyde E. Bryan
- Photographic Consultant
- Derek Browne
- Still Photographer, UK
- Bob Penn
- Gaffer, UK
- Dennis Brock
- Grip
- John Flemming
- Best Boy
- Tommy Finch
- Best Boy Grip
- Tom Bookout
- Production Design
- Roger Cain, Elliot Scott
- Layout Artist
- Roy Naisbitt
- Storysketch
- Hans Bacher, Harald Siepermann, Joe Ranft
- Costume Design
- Joanna Johnston
- Wardrobe Supervisor, UK
- Ron Beck
- Makeup Artist
- Steve E. Anderson
- Makeup Artist, UK
- Peter Robb-King
- Hair Stylists, UK
- Colin Jamison
- Unit Production Manager
- Jack Frost Sanders
- Production Manager, UK
- Patricia Carr
- Production Manager, Animation
- Patsy de Lord
- Production Coordinator, USA
- Bonnie Radford
- Production Coordinator, UK
- Carol Regan
- Production Coordinator, Animation
- Ian Cook, Stephen Hickner
- Location Manager
- Philip Kohler
- First Assistant Director, USA
- David McGiffert
- First Assistant Director, UK
- Michael Murray
- Second Assistant Director, USA
- Cara Giallanza
- Second Assistant Director, UK
- Chris Brock
- Second Unit Director, USA
- Max Kleven
- Second Unit Director, UK
- Frank Marshall, Ian Sharp
- Art Director, UK
- Stephen Scott
- Construction Manager, UK
- Alan Booth
- Constructor
- Peter Mann (uncredited)
- Painter
- Rhonda L. Hicks (uncredited)
- Set Decorator, UK
- Peter Howitt
- Production Illustrator
- Martin A. Kline, David Russell
- Property Master, UK
- Peter Wilkinson
- Music Editor
- Kenneth Karman
- Assistant Music Editor
- Jacqueline Tager
- Music Engineer
- Greg Fulginiti
- Score Mixer
- Dennis S. Sands
- Supervising Sound Editors
- Louis L. Edemann, Charles L. Campbell
- Boom Operators
- Shep Dawe, Chris Gurney, John Samworth
- Production Sound Mixer
- Tony Dawe
- Sound Re-recording Mixers
- John Boyd, Don Digirolamo, Robert Knudson
- ADR Supervisors
- Paul Timothy Carden, Larry Singer
- Stunts
- Del Baker, Andy Bradford, Charles Croughwell, Stuart Fell, Fred Haggerty, Reg Harding, Frank Henson, Terry Jackson, Vincent Keane, Daniel K. Moore, Danny O'Haco, Brian Smrz, Gregg Smrz, Rocky Taylor, Terry Walsh, Jason White, Bob Yerkes
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Rocky Capella
- Stunt Arranger
- Peter Diamond
- Post-Production Supervisor, USA
- Martin Cohen
- Additional Photographer
- Paul Beeson
- Animation Consultants
- Chuck Jones, Leroy Anderson, Stan Green, Walt Stanchfield
- Animation Administrator
- Max Howard
- Animation Auditor
- Ron McKelvey
- Animation Check Supervisor
- Paul Steele
- Final Check Supervisor, Animation
- Julia Orr
- Inbetweener
- Richard Bazley
- Ink And Paint Supervisor
- Barbara McCormack
- Animation Editor
- Nick Fletcher
- Animation Editor, Los Angeles
- Scot Scalise
- Armature Machinist
- Blair Clark
- Assistant Production Accountant
- Michele Tandy
- Assistant To Mr. Hahn
- Cynthia Woodbyrne
- Assistant To Mr. Howard
- Gilly Fenn
- Assistant To Mr. Kennedy
- Barbara Harley
- Assistant To Mr. Watts
- Barbara Margerrison
- Assistant To Mr. Marshall
- Mary T. Radford
- Casting, UK
- Priscilla John
- Casting Assistant
- Cecily Adams
- Extras Casting
- Sally Pearle
- Animation Checking
- Pat Sito
- Chief Executive And Supervising Animator, Additional Animation
- Dale Baer
- Coordinating Animator, Additional Animation
- Jane M. Baer
- Chief Puppeteer, UK
- David Alan Barclay
- Puppeteer
- Toby Philpott
- Post Punch Supervisor
- Sandy Gordon
- Post Punch Operator
- Steve Pegram
- Production Accountant, UK
- George Marshall
- Production Assistant
- Camille Cellucci
- Production Associate
- Steven Talmy
- Runner
- Jason McDonald
- Script Supervisor, UK
- Pamela Mann-Francis
- Special Effects Secretary
- Judy Britten
Production notes
The first animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award for best film editing, best effects (sound effects editing), best effects (visual effects), best art direction-set direction or best cinematography.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit, by Gary K. Wolf. The book makes a statement, as the film does less pointedly, about dominant races and minorities. The book had been optioned by Disney in the early 1980s and had even been announced for production in the 1983 Disney annual report. The project was eventually shelved, but a draft screenplay caught the eye of director Robert Zemeckis (the "Back to the Future" trilogy). When Disney management approached Steven Spielberg about his interest in Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis came along, and (once satisfied that the budget would be high enough to deliver a truly ground-breaking film) the two agreed to the task.
One of the great joys of Roger Rabbit is the interaction of characters from several different studios (and thus, several different ownerships). A team of attorneys spent years putting together the several specific contracts and releases required to assemble the all-star "guest cast" that appears in Toontown. It is said that when it came to the scene in which Mickey (Disney Studios) and Bugs Bunny (Warner Bros.) appeared, frames were counted. Both studios biggest cartoon stars had to have an equal amount of screen time: an EXACTLY equal amount of time.
The characters of Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman returned in the animated shorts Tummy Trouble (1989), Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990) and Trail Mix-Up (1993). Although plans for a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit frequently percolate through the Hollywood grapevine, none has ever passed the development phase.
The combination of animation and live-action in Who Framed Roger Rabbit took the pioneering work of Song of the South (1946) and Mary Poppins (1964) and moved it into a new dimension of realism. No longer did actors function in a two-dimensional plane with cartoons; in Roger Rabbit, both human and Toon are fully-dimensional characters, coexisting in the same space.
The animation was supervised by renowned animator Richard Williams, who was at first reluctant to take on the project, until Zemeckis convinced him that he would dictate exactly what he wanted from the film, and Williams would simply supply it. Williams defined his role to Zemeckis: "I'm your pencil."
There could be no shortcuts in production. Eighty-two thousand frames of animation were created, each frame on a photostatic blow-up of a single frame of live-action. The animation crew numbered 326 artists, 254 directly supervised by Williams in London, another 72 in California. Also in California, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the George Lucas-owned special effects house, was hired to add the final layer of dimensional reality-shadows, skin tones, even the flashing sequins on Jessica Rabbit's skin-tight costume.
One of the greatest challenges to the animators (beyond the crushing volume of drawings and airtight deadlines), was that, for the sake of the realism of the animation/live-action interaction, Zemeckis frequently used a moving camera, customary in live-action, but then rarely-used in animation because of the difficulty of drawing the characters in precise perspective.
Both Zemeckis and Spielberg wanted Bill Murray for the role of Eddie Valiant, but Murray is notoriously hard to get a hold of, so it never happened. Murray has said that when he later found out that he was the number one choice for the role, he screamed out loud because he would have loved playing Eddie. Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant) says one reason he appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit was that his young son could see him in one of his movies.
"I took him to the premiere, and when he came out, he wouldn't talk to me. Wouldn't have anything to do with me," Hoskins recalled years later. "He reckoned that any father that had friends like Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and people like that, and didn't bring [them] home to meet his son, well..."
Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Judge Doom, but he was so disturbingly sinister that Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner all nixed him for fear that he would give children nightmares. To make Judge Doom extra creepy, Robert Zemeckis had Christopher Lloyd refrain from blinking during his scenes.
Despite the cavalcade of characters from across the cartoon universe, a few that the producers wanted are missing: Popeye and Olive Oyl, Tom and Jerry, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Deputy Dawg. They couldn't secure the rights for these in time for the movie.
The movie's original budget was $29.9 million dollars – the most an animated movie had ever cost at the time. But the price tag could have been even more astronomical – Roger was slated to cost $50 million at first, but Disney refused to shell out that much and wouldn't approve production until costs were slashed. Rumor has it that by the time production was finished, the budget had soared to around $70 million.
This was the last film Mel Blanc provided his famous voices for, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat – with one exception. He did provide Daffy's voice one more time in 1987's "The Duxorcist" before passing away in 1989.
"You Ought to Be in Pictures" is said to have been the inspiration for this cartoon.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit, by Gary K. Wolf. The book makes a statement, as the film does less pointedly, about dominant races and minorities. The book had been optioned by Disney in the early 1980s and had even been announced for production in the 1983 Disney annual report. The project was eventually shelved, but a draft screenplay caught the eye of director Robert Zemeckis (the "Back to the Future" trilogy). When Disney management approached Steven Spielberg about his interest in Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis came along, and (once satisfied that the budget would be high enough to deliver a truly ground-breaking film) the two agreed to the task.
One of the great joys of Roger Rabbit is the interaction of characters from several different studios (and thus, several different ownerships). A team of attorneys spent years putting together the several specific contracts and releases required to assemble the all-star "guest cast" that appears in Toontown. It is said that when it came to the scene in which Mickey (Disney Studios) and Bugs Bunny (Warner Bros.) appeared, frames were counted. Both studios biggest cartoon stars had to have an equal amount of screen time: an EXACTLY equal amount of time.
The characters of Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman returned in the animated shorts Tummy Trouble (1989), Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990) and Trail Mix-Up (1993). Although plans for a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit frequently percolate through the Hollywood grapevine, none has ever passed the development phase.
The combination of animation and live-action in Who Framed Roger Rabbit took the pioneering work of Song of the South (1946) and Mary Poppins (1964) and moved it into a new dimension of realism. No longer did actors function in a two-dimensional plane with cartoons; in Roger Rabbit, both human and Toon are fully-dimensional characters, coexisting in the same space.
The animation was supervised by renowned animator Richard Williams, who was at first reluctant to take on the project, until Zemeckis convinced him that he would dictate exactly what he wanted from the film, and Williams would simply supply it. Williams defined his role to Zemeckis: "I'm your pencil."
There could be no shortcuts in production. Eighty-two thousand frames of animation were created, each frame on a photostatic blow-up of a single frame of live-action. The animation crew numbered 326 artists, 254 directly supervised by Williams in London, another 72 in California. Also in California, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the George Lucas-owned special effects house, was hired to add the final layer of dimensional reality-shadows, skin tones, even the flashing sequins on Jessica Rabbit's skin-tight costume.
One of the greatest challenges to the animators (beyond the crushing volume of drawings and airtight deadlines), was that, for the sake of the realism of the animation/live-action interaction, Zemeckis frequently used a moving camera, customary in live-action, but then rarely-used in animation because of the difficulty of drawing the characters in precise perspective.
Both Zemeckis and Spielberg wanted Bill Murray for the role of Eddie Valiant, but Murray is notoriously hard to get a hold of, so it never happened. Murray has said that when he later found out that he was the number one choice for the role, he screamed out loud because he would have loved playing Eddie. Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant) says one reason he appeared in Who Framed Roger Rabbit was that his young son could see him in one of his movies.
"I took him to the premiere, and when he came out, he wouldn't talk to me. Wouldn't have anything to do with me," Hoskins recalled years later. "He reckoned that any father that had friends like Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and people like that, and didn't bring [them] home to meet his son, well..."
Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Judge Doom, but he was so disturbingly sinister that Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner all nixed him for fear that he would give children nightmares. To make Judge Doom extra creepy, Robert Zemeckis had Christopher Lloyd refrain from blinking during his scenes.
Despite the cavalcade of characters from across the cartoon universe, a few that the producers wanted are missing: Popeye and Olive Oyl, Tom and Jerry, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Deputy Dawg. They couldn't secure the rights for these in time for the movie.
The movie's original budget was $29.9 million dollars – the most an animated movie had ever cost at the time. But the price tag could have been even more astronomical – Roger was slated to cost $50 million at first, but Disney refused to shell out that much and wouldn't approve production until costs were slashed. Rumor has it that by the time production was finished, the budget had soared to around $70 million.
This was the last film Mel Blanc provided his famous voices for, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat – with one exception. He did provide Daffy's voice one more time in 1987's "The Duxorcist" before passing away in 1989.
"You Ought to Be in Pictures" is said to have been the inspiration for this cartoon.
Awards
Academy Award Winner, Best Film Editing, Arthur Schmidt, 1989.
Academy Award Winner, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing, Charles L. Campbell and Louis L. Edemann, 1989.
Academy Award Winner, Best Effects, Visual Effects Editing, Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Ed Jones and George Gibbs, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Sound, Robert Knudson, John Boyd, Don Digirolamo and Tony Dawe, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Elliot Scott and Peter Howitt, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Cinematography, Dean Cundey, 1989.
Academy Award, Special Achievement Award, Richard Williams, For animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters, 1989.
Golden Globe Nominee, Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), 1989.
Golden Globe Nominee, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy), Bob Hoskins, 1989.
Saturn Award, Best Director, Robert Zemeckis, 1990.
Saturn Award, Best Fantasy Film, 1990.
Saturn Award, Best Special Effects, George Gibbs, Ken Ralston and Richard Williams, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Actor, Bob Hoskins, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Music, Alan Silvestri, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actor, Christopher Lloyd, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actress, Joanna Cassidy, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Writing, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1990.
BAFTA Film Award, Best Special Effects, George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston and Ed Jones, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Cinematography, Dean Cundey, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Editing, Arthur Schmidt, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Production Design, Elliot Scott, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Screenplay - Adapted, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1989.
BMI Film Music Award, Alan Silvestri, 1989.
CFCA Award, Best Director, Robert Zemeckis, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, 1989.
David, Best Producer - Foreign Film (Migliore Produttore Straniero), Robert Watts and Frank Marshall, David di Donatello Awards, 1989.
Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Actor, Bob Hoskins, 1989.
Golden Screen, Germany, 1989.
Hugo, Best Dramatic Presentation, 1989.
Kids' Choice Award, Favorite Movie, 1989.
Special Award, Robert Zemeckis, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, 1988.
Golden Reel Award, Best Sound Editing - ADR, 1989.
Audience Award, Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera), Robert Zemeckis, Sant Jordi Awards, 1989.
Nominee, Best Cinematography Award, Dean Cundey, British Society of Cinematographers, 1988.
Nominee, Eddie, Best Edited Feature Film, Arthur Schmidt, American Cinema Editors, USA, 1989.
Nominee, César, Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger), Robert Zemeckis, 1989.
Nominee, DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Robert Zemeckis, 1989.
Nominee, Grammy, Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television, Alan Silvestri, 1989.
Nominee, WGA Award (Screen) Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1989.
Nominee, DVDX Award, Best Menu Design, John Ross, DVD Exclusive Awards, 2003
Academy Award Winner, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing, Charles L. Campbell and Louis L. Edemann, 1989.
Academy Award Winner, Best Effects, Visual Effects Editing, Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Ed Jones and George Gibbs, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Sound, Robert Knudson, John Boyd, Don Digirolamo and Tony Dawe, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Elliot Scott and Peter Howitt, 1989.
Academy Award Nominee, Best Cinematography, Dean Cundey, 1989.
Academy Award, Special Achievement Award, Richard Williams, For animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters, 1989.
Golden Globe Nominee, Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), 1989.
Golden Globe Nominee, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Musical or Comedy), Bob Hoskins, 1989.
Saturn Award, Best Director, Robert Zemeckis, 1990.
Saturn Award, Best Fantasy Film, 1990.
Saturn Award, Best Special Effects, George Gibbs, Ken Ralston and Richard Williams, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Actor, Bob Hoskins, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Music, Alan Silvestri, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actor, Christopher Lloyd, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Supporting Actress, Joanna Cassidy, 1990.
Nominee, Saturn Award, Best Writing, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1990.
BAFTA Film Award, Best Special Effects, George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston and Ed Jones, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Cinematography, Dean Cundey, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Editing, Arthur Schmidt, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Production Design, Elliot Scott, 1989.
Nominee, BAFTA Film Award, Best Screenplay - Adapted, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1989.
BMI Film Music Award, Alan Silvestri, 1989.
CFCA Award, Best Director, Robert Zemeckis, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, 1989.
David, Best Producer - Foreign Film (Migliore Produttore Straniero), Robert Watts and Frank Marshall, David di Donatello Awards, 1989.
Evening Standard British Film Award, Best Actor, Bob Hoskins, 1989.
Golden Screen, Germany, 1989.
Hugo, Best Dramatic Presentation, 1989.
Kids' Choice Award, Favorite Movie, 1989.
Special Award, Robert Zemeckis, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, 1988.
Golden Reel Award, Best Sound Editing - ADR, 1989.
Audience Award, Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera), Robert Zemeckis, Sant Jordi Awards, 1989.
Nominee, Best Cinematography Award, Dean Cundey, British Society of Cinematographers, 1988.
Nominee, Eddie, Best Edited Feature Film, Arthur Schmidt, American Cinema Editors, USA, 1989.
Nominee, César, Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger), Robert Zemeckis, 1989.
Nominee, DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Robert Zemeckis, 1989.
Nominee, Grammy, Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television, Alan Silvestri, 1989.
Nominee, WGA Award (Screen) Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, 1989.
Nominee, DVDX Award, Best Menu Design, John Ross, DVD Exclusive Awards, 2003
Pictures
Reviews
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
My number 1 favorite animated film of all-time. Check out my 20 best animated films list at http://www.imdb.com
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
For all cartoon fans out there, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is essential viewing. It nicely mixes the golden-age cartoons with film noir detective stories very nicely without getting too silly or too adult. A nice, family film that definitely lives up to it's expectations.
Another thing to point out is that it's also one of few live-action/animation films with a plot to it. "Space Jam" and "Cool World" simply didn't think things through, but rest assured that there is logic behind this film as well as laughter, suspense and two hours of fun that will have you on the edge of your seat! "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is a classic for the whole family to enjoy!
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Wow. Roger Rabbit is unlike anything ever made, and probably will be the only thing like in for a very long time. Being one of the last films made before computers started in on animation (and rightfully so, as commented by Richard Williams, the involvement of computers would have not been right for the style they were going for, especially as it was a movie honoring the greatness of classic cartoon animation) you have to appreciate every single frame of drawings in the movie. Everything from the complexities of dropping live action Bob Hoskins from the top of a million-story high Toontown skyscraper to the oh-so-subtle toon interactions with live action objects (moving papers and paraphanalia on a desk, putting fingerprints on a dusty chair, etc.) make this movie a wonder of technological achievement due to the result of very much appreciated hard work.
But even putting the technological aspects aside, the film is simply wonderful. Being a golden age 'toon fan myself, this is just about as wild and wacky as a movie can get, especially with the involvement of various cartoon studios characters. I doubt I will ever again see animated scenes as fun and wonderful as the duiling piano players Daffy and Donald Duck, or the heart stopping grand entrance into Toontown with all our favorite 'toon stars singing "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile", emphasising what I think is the moral of the whole movie: When life gets you down, just laugh. What makes these 'toon scenes even more enlightening is the setting the movie takes place in. Its a sort of "film noir" world, full of sex, scandal, murder, drinking, and not-so-pretty language, making it that more wacky and fun when Yosemite Sam falls out of the sky from a recent encounter with some kid of explosive or when Roger sings his nutty rendition of "The Merry Go Round Broke Down".
I think this is possibly my favorite movie of all time. (animated or not)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
When I saw this movie in the theatres, my appreciation for animation went through the roof. I'm sure this eventually led to me being an animation student today. Well, that and every Chuck Jones cartoon ever made.