Who Framed Roger Rabbit?/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"Remember me, Eddie? When I killed your brother, I talked JUST! LIKE! THIS!"

    • Watching a toon getting flattened by a steamroller? Funny. Watching a live action human getting slowly flattened by a steamroller while screaming in agony? Not so funny.
    • The first time we see the calm, collected Jessica Rabbit freak out is pretty frightening.

Jessica: Oh my God IT'S DIIIIIIIIIIP!

  • Tear Jerker:
    • The part where Eddie in his darkened office reminiscences about his lost brother/private eye partner when he looks the old pictures and newspapers during the days of them as heroic Toontown detectives. All accompanied by the sentimental Eddie's theme.
    • Also, surprisingly for such a throw-away scene, but who didn't feel sorry for the poor squeaky shoe when they were a child?
  • Uncanny Valley: An intentional case, Judge Doom's real eyes. By all accounts, it worked.
    • Even before the big reveal, Doom's appearance and mannerisms are... off. The makeup job applied to Lloyd made his skin appear to not be quite real somehow, and the stiffness of his movements and the stiltedness of his expressions were all designed to call attention to the fact that there was something just not right about the character.
      • Not only that, but those just-not-rights add up to Doom's being a toon if you're paying attention. In the bar, when he offers a reward for bringing in Roger, he makes the chalk squeak much louder than necessary. This could just be him being a Large Ham, but then he starts slipping on the fake eyeballs, something no self-respecting human villain would do, no matter how hammy. Then, if you're Genre Savvy, you wonder whether the toon that killed Eddie's brother will show up again. The steamroller only confirms your suspicions.
    • Christopher Lloyd was given specific instructions never to blink on camera, as a result any time you see his eyes, they always have this unnatural stare.
  • Villain Decay: This is more of a Base Breaker, but when Doom is revealed to be a Toon, he is either viewed as becoming less threatening as a villain, however others argue that that he becomes more terrifying especially with his hellishly high-pitched voice and eyes.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Keep in mind this was before CG was employed in movies. Anytime you see a prop or part of the scenery being moved by a toon, the toon isn't there, so a machine had to be invented solely for that movement and placed right there on the set, such as the toon running through a window to make a hole shape of themselves, a glass being lifted into the toon's mouth to drink it, or piano playing! All the animation was hand-drawn on paper, 98% on ones, then painted on real cels, and then sent off to ILM to be optically composited!
    • Special Effect Failure: However, given the reliance on effects, a few slip-ups were inevitable. One such instance, when Valiant finds Roger in his bed, the edge stays pressed down like Roger is leaning on it when he isn't, then suddenly pops back up several seconds later.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: Where do we even start? In general, the whole film feels like an attempt to tear down the Animation Age Ghetto, what with the Double Entendres out the wazoo. Also has the most frightening reveal in a film.
  • The Woobie: Poor Roger, The guy gets yanked around by everybody for the whole movie, and although he's a bit wacky after actually going to Toon Town he comes off as rather mild mannered and sweet.
    • Jerkass Woobie: Eddie Valiant. Yeah, he's alcholic, grumpy and rude. But seeing his tragic backstory where his brother has been killed by a toon - a fact who turned him into a depressive lonely man in contrast to the great Toontown detective he used to be - that shouldn't be a surprise.