The Game Changer

There was a slow push throughout the 1970's and into the 80’s by animators in the industry who wanted to push the boundaries of animation through both the visual quality and maturity of their works. The seeds were planted through the films of Ralph Bakshi and Don Bluth as the medium was experiencing a newfound appreciation from audiences because of this artistic objective. But it wouldn’t be until “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988) when this creative drive would ultimately achieve its greatest accomplishment. The animated live action film was the game changer the art form needed as it officially heralded the birth of the industry wide Animation Renaissance. Roger Rabbit’s journey to the big screen was anything but smooth sailing. The film’s production originated during the early 1980’s at a time when Disney was still struggling to reconnect with the contemporary audience they had desperately sought after. The studio had the rights to make a "Roger Rabbit" film for years, but they lacked the creativity prowess to create a film of that type of ambition and scope on their own. Disney asked their rivals for permission to use their cartoons, but they were laughed off the face of the planet because of their poor credibility. Pencil tests were done and actors were hired for preliminary shoots but to no avail for the final vision of the film. The project was bound in development hell before it was finally forgotten in the studio vaults.

It would not be until Michael Eisner’s arrival as the CEO of Disney did the company rediscover the project as a potential blockbuster. Eisner was very eager for the studio to have a successful franchise because it was the only way to revive the company's fortunes and credibility with modern audiences. The best way to show the industry that Disney was capable of such a project was to engage with a creative like director Steven Spielberg. At the time the man was called the Walt Disney of his generation and with good reason.

It was also well known that Spielberg was a huge animation buff and was an avid collector of animation memorabilia from the Golden Age of Animation. In addition, he had helped produce alongside Bluth two of the biggest animated films of the art form to that point with “An American Tail” (1986) and “The Land before Time” (1988). God you have to give credit to Spielberg who as Executive Producer of “Roger Rabbit” was able to get the rights to many iconic cartoon characters for a very low fee based on his strong brand recognition in Hollywood. It only signaled his already growing involvement in the animation industry which would continue to grow in the years that followed.

Wunderkind Robert Zemeckis came on board to direct the project after Disney had enough confidence in his films following his groundbreaking hit, “Back to the Future” (1985). The last critical piece in the puzzle was the famed independent British animator Richard Williams. He won throughout his career critical acclaim and international awards for his vividly fluid and distinctive animation aesthetic.

Williams was well regarded by fellow animators and film critics as one of the best animators working in the industry at the time. Spielberg and Zemeckis wanted him on board as the animation director because they believed he had the artistic drive and knowledge of the Golden Age to recreate it faithfully in the context of the film’s time period. It was clear from this selection that all of the players wanted to create a film that would pay homage to the classic cartoons of a bygone era while bringing them back to the spotlight for a new generation of audiences to embrace. This was a daunting but admirable task that was needed to bring new life to these toons.

Most animated films tend to focus all their attention on one particular character. In this case, however, the film relied on an assemble of talented characters both in human and cartoon form. Roger is so damn hilarious. His design and mannerisms are clearly influenced by the classic cartoons of Disney, Warner Brothers, and Tex Avery but he does not feel derivative of their aesthetics. His iconic voice and personality are so out there you just can’t get enough of him in the picture.

You could easily see a toon like Roger Rabbit exist comfortably during the Golden Age. The same goes for his girlfriend Jessica Rabbit, who follows in the footsteps of Betty Boop and Red Hot Riding Hood as the sexiest pin up girls of the animated world. Baby Herman is a literal bastard child which makes his personality all the more outrageous. And who would not want to drive around in a vehicle like Benny the Cab?

I believe it was a brilliant move on the filmmakers’ part to cast character actors in the live action roles instead of celebrities because the former have a better understanding of performing in imaginary situations or roles. I can’t imagine anyone in the role of Eddie Valiant other than Bob Hoskins because he nailed the character. The same goes for Christopher Lloyd who eats up his scenes as the main villain of the film, Judge Doom. During filming the actors had to convey they were actually interacting with cartoons even though they were performing with dummies and voice overs on the set. Had it not been for the actors’ ability to sell the film’s believability to us, then it would not have worked at all.

“Roger Rabbit” plays around with themes that are reminiscent of the political intrigue and backroom dealing seen in “Chinatown” (1974). While the ultimate demise of the famed red trolley trains in California seems inconsequential at first glance it had major implications for the entire state. The creation of the freeway contributed to the trolley system’s decline because of competing interests from the car and gas companies. The corporations lost money due to the customers preferring the trolley over the car out of expense. As soon as a gas company owned the trolley they could close it down and force the customers to drive.

The freeway would only benefit the car and gas industry because of the amount of people using it and the enticement of businesses to the area. The idea of giant billboards, tacky motels, and shady dealerships springing out from the freeway was seen in a positive light by businessmen for its development of the post-World War II America. The average joe thought the concept sounded so crazy that only a loon would come up with it, yet in hindsight there was nothing he could do to stop it. It ultimately foreshadowed the future of American suburbia as it completely transformed the landscape of California in possibly a bad way.

The political angle however plays second fiddle to the themes directly relating to animation. What makes this story really work is how it provides a compelling context for the animation and live action characters to coexist in the same space. It’s not like the cartoons are cut in paste in front of the live action world for no reason as more recent hybrid films have done. In the universe of this film the toons are just as human as we are. They all work in the old studio system of Hollywood in the 1940’s.

Despite the toons’ coexistence they are actually a disenfranchised minority whose very well being is dependent upon unsympathetic officials. Their very existence is threatened with the fatal chemical concoction called “the Dip”, which fatally kills toons in a matter of seconds. Toontown may be the cartoon characters’ home, but underneath the surface the city is treated by the people as a ghetto for who they view as second class citizens. It is a commentary that is rooted in world history in periods such as the Civil Rights Era and Nazi Germany but also in how the American studio system looked down upon animation as a commodity to their business instead of as an art form.

Arguably the greatest thing for us watching the film was seeing all of our favorite characters. It played to our childhood fantasies that all these wonderful toons lived and worked together in the same cartoon. Even though such a scenario was never achieved prior to “Roger Rabbit” we always imagined that possibility being played out in our heads. The decision to include as many cartoon characters as possible for the film was a broad stroke of genius.

Warner Brothers’ shrewd conditions for their toons’ inclusion on a Disney film led to the first ever interaction between the two storied standard-bearers of the art form. This historical context gets played out in the hilarious scene with Donald Duck and Daffy Duck fighting it out on the piano in the Ink and Paint Club. Perhaps more memorable is the brief however momentous encounter between Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny parachuting together in Toontown. Those are the type of moments that you dream of as a kid or an adult watching those classic shorts.

“Roger Rabbit” is actually not a true Disney animated film as most people believe it to be. Disney outsourced the work to William’s animation studio and sent some of their best animators to work under his watch alongside his staff. So what you really get from the movie are American cartoons as reinterpreted by mostly British animators. Nativists may cry foul, but I say why not. Disney animation was still in such distress that only Williams' animators could handle the grueling workload and they went beyond what was expected of them to complete the film.

The general rule of thumb for American animation in the 70's and 80's was that the drawings run at 12 frames per second. This was done to speed up production and cut costs. In the case of Williams’ aesthetic he advocated for 24 drawings per second to give the action fluidity comparable to that of a human being. The addition of more drawings per second allowed the animators to add an incredible amount of subtlety and nuances to the personality of the characters which were the hallmarks of British animation.

If the animation process turned out to be grueling then the task in combining the animation with the live action was a huge nightmare. Zemeckis wanted to break new ground in a way that an animated/live action film had never done before. In prior hybrid films like "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" the camera never moved in the special effects sequences. It was always nailed to the floor so the animators did not have to animate the characters with the camera moving around constantly. The action would have required even more time and money spent on the animation.

"Roger Rabbit", however, was to be the antithesis of that safe approach as the camera was always moving as it normally would be with a live action film. This is why the animation is so incredible and detailed in every way. There are countless scenes like Benny the Cab’s crazy chase through town or “The Merry-Go-Round” bar room dance that underscore this objective. Even though the special effects were done with the technology available they continue to be as spell bounding and more awesome than todays’ effects driven blockbusters.

When “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was finally released in 1988 it was the most expensive animated film ever made up to that point. The odds of breaking it even at the box office were not in the filmmakers’ favor because of the standard gross expected of animated films at the time. If the film had failed at the box office then the consequences would have been a fatal blow to the animation industry. As history turned out, however, the film was both a critical and financial success. “Roger Rabbit” became the biggest film of the summer and it won several Oscar that year, including one for Richard Williams’ animation direction.

After a decade of whispers the animation industry was at long last awakened from its sleepy doldrums to its long awaited revival. To say the film’s impact on popular culture was enormous would be an understatement. “Roger Rabbit” renewed interest on the classic cartoons amongst adults while opening the door for those cartoons to be seen by a new generation of audiences. Studios such as Disney and Warner Brothers took advantage of this opportunity and started investing heavily in their animation departments, creating works that showcased their iconic characters as well as introducing a new wave of characters inspired by those before them. Cartoons that were made for children and adults in mind would flourish during the Animation Renaissance. Ultimately we would not have the awesome animation we would have today had it not been for Roger.

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