Who Framed Roger Rabbit has been ranked among the 10 Greatest American Fantasy Movies of All Time.
The 1988 film, starring Bob Hoskins as private investigator Eddie Valiant, is recognized for combining live-action performances with hand-drawn animation in a way that made cartoon characters appear to share the same physical world as human actors.
The Robert Zemeckis-directed fantasy comedy was also one of the most expensive movies of its era, with a reported production budget of $70 million. At the time of its release, that made it the most expensive film ever produced, according to IMDb‘s production information.
Released by Touchstone Pictures on June 22, 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a major box-office success. The film earned $351.5 million worldwide and became the second-highest-grossing film of 1988, behind Rain Man.
Collider‘s ranking places the movie at No. 5 among its 10 Greatest American Fantasy Movies of All Time. It highlights the unusual mix of cartoon characters, noir storytelling and live-action filmmaking, while also pointing to Hoskins’ performance as a major part of the film’s success.
Set in an alternate version of Hollywood in 1947, Who Framed Roger Rabbit follows Eddie Valiant, a private detective who has grown bitter toward cartoon characters after the death of his brother.
Valiant is hired to investigate rumors involving Roger Rabbit’s wife, Jessica Rabbit and Marvin Acme, the owner of Toontown. The case changes when Acme is found dead and Roger becomes the main suspect.
Roger insists that he was framed. Eddie eventually agrees to help him uncover the truth, leading the detective into a larger conspiracy involving Judge Doom, the Toon Patrol and the future of Toontown.
The film mixes a murder mystery with comedy and fantasy. Humans and animated characters live side by side, while familiar cartoon figures appear alongside the original characters created for the movie.
Collider describes the movie as a “cartoon noir slapstick fantasy” and praises Hoskins for playing Eddie with a hard-boiled style that contrasts with the exaggerated behavior of the Toons.
Roger Ebert also praised the film when it opened in 1988. In his review, Ebert wrote that it was “the first film to convincingly combine real actors and animated cartoon characters in the same space at the same time and make it look real.”
That effect required extensive work. According to Ebert, the live-action scenes were filmed first, with actors such as Hoskins having to imagine where the animated characters would appear. Animators then worked frame by frame to add the Toons.
The result helped make the interaction between Eddie and Roger feel natural rather than like two separate images placed together.
The technical ambition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit came with a huge price tag.
Mental Floss also reported that the film had a $70 million budget when it was released in 1988, equivalent to nearly $150 million at the time of that publication’s calculation.
The production brought together Disney, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and animation director Richard Williams. The combination of live action and traditional animation required a large amount of detailed work.
The movie also brought together characters from different animation studios. Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny appear in the same film, while Donald Duck and Daffy Duck share a piano sequence. The movie includes more than 140 preexisting animated characters, according to Mental Floss.
The film’s reception reflected the scale of that achievement. Rotten Tomatoes currently lists Who Framed Roger Rabbit with a 96% Tomatometer score from 76 reviews and an 85% audience score based on more than 250,000 ratings.
The movie also received major recognition from the Academy Awards. It won Oscars for Film Editing, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects, while Richard Williams received a Special Achievement Academy Award for animation direction.
In 2016, the Library of Congress selected Who Framed Roger Rabbit for preservation in the National Film Registry, citing its cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.
Related: 1983 Chevy Chase Movie Ranked Among Best Movies of the 1980s
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