I was only about seven years old when this landmark film which was, of course, the first film to ever feature cartoon characters (or Toons, as they're called in the film) interacting with real human beings. It could have either been a disaster or it could have been amazing. Thankfully, it turned out to be amazing, but if the film had been a literal adaptation of Gary K. Wolf's original novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, it would have been ridiculous. Mr. Wolf's novel is a straight detective murder mystery which just happens to feature cartoon characters, and as good a book as it is, it would have been impossible to film in a convincing manner, and I don't want to give it away so if you want to know what I mean by this, go ahead to ebay and seek the book out.

The film takes place in 1947. In an alternate Hollywood where humans and Toons coexist as one and the Toons are actors in cartoon films. Toon-hating grouch detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins, who plays the role much better than I believe the original choice, Harrison Ford, would have) is hired by cartoon maker, RK Maroon, to take photographs of Jessica, the wife of one of his stars, Roger Rabbit, fooling around with Marvin Acme, the owner of Toontown where all the toons live. Valiant is reluctant because he swore after a toon murdered his brother he'd never take another toon case, but he gets deeper into the case once Acme is murdered and poor Roger, who exists only to make people laugh, is framed for it. Meanwhile, Roger is pursued by the sinister Judge Doom (an appropriately creepy Christopher Lloyd, who had worked with filmmakers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale in the Back to the Future trilogy) and his group of lawmen, the Weasels.
I had stated earlier that the novel was a straight murder mystery, but here nobody thinks Roger Rabbit committed the murder because he has neither the capacity (he never loses his sense of humor for one thing) or the wit to kill anyone and with the children who undoubtedly flooded the theaters on opening day in 1988 in mind, that was for the best.

In regards to Eddie Valiant hating toons, we see evidence in his office that before this happened, he was actually a very fun guy to be around and he and his brother always helped toons in trouble (in fact, there's a picture in his office which reveals their father was a clown with Wringling Brothers). And I think he helps Roger because deep down he still cares about toons. You can see this in a scene when he encounters Betty Boop at the club where Jessica Rabbit sings.

While this movie is clearly geared mainly towards children, adults can enjoy it just as much because they can look at Eddie Valiant and Judge Doom and all the other humans looking at not only Roger Rabbit but Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, etc., etc., and you never doubt that they are actually there together. This movie was first optioned in 1982 or so and I can totally understand why it took so long, as they had to figure out how to do it and find people who were totally committed to making it work. Speaking of which, the Vista Series two-disc DVD has several documentaries discussing in detail how much care went into this film, and nobody was careless doing it.

The two-disc DVD is awesome, incidentally with fullscreen and widescreen and about five or six documentaries on the production, revealing that the actors were given rubber models of the toons to work off of when they dealt with mechanical devices on the set and the voice-over actors rehearsing with them in costumes. Seek out the DVD if you can find it. You won't regret it.

Incidentally, one documentary revealed that when Charles Fleischer, who did the voice for Roger and his pal Benny the Cab, would rehearse with Bob Hoskins on the set, he would wear a ridiculous looking rabbit costume and one day when he was eating lunch, some onlookers passed by, saw his outfit and remarked how awful that Rabbit movie would be. I can only imagine how stupid these people felt when the film came out two years later!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8