"It's the story of a man, a woman, and a rabbit in a triangle of trouble." ![]() In Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the 1981 novel (my copy calls it a "cult classic" though I wouldn't go that far) by Gary Wolf, we meet EDDIE VALIANT, your typical 1940's-era garden variety P.I., a down-and-out ex-cop with a drinking problem and a sad story. Yeah, we've never seen that before... But the author gave Eddie and his world a little spin: in this Los Angeles, cartoon and comic strip characters ("toons") live side-by-side with humans. In this surreal romp, toons walk the streets, word balloons spouting from their mouths, drinking booze from bottles marked XXX, getting stuffed into trombones, run over by steamrollers and all those other fun things toons do. And so it goes. Eddie is hired by comic strip second bannana Roger Rabbit to find out why his employers, the DeGreasy Brothers, sleazy owners of a cartoon syndicate, have reneged on a promise to give Roger his own strip. It's all more than a little disorienting, and as I pointed out, frustratingly inconsistent at times. It's still a hell of an idea, but definitely not for everyone. As Baker and Neitzel said in One Hundred and One Knights, back in 1985:
They forgot profitable, because the eventual film, Who Framed Rogar Rabbit, released in 1988, starring Bob Hoskins as Eddie, and the voice of Charles Fleischer as Roger, was a huge critical and commercial smasheroo. Rarely has a film so completely overshadowed its source material. While Wolf's vision on paper was at times clunky, inconsistent and hard to envision, the film smashes right through those limitations by showing, not telling. Though Wolf's vision was certainly original, it took big bucks (Speilberg! Disney!) and the then state-of-the-art magic of Hollywood to make it all come true. Spielberg managed to streamline Wolf's vision, getting rid of those annoying word balloons (too gimmicky by half) replacing them, in an inspired bit of big name clout, with the ultimate collection of classic cartoon characters from a slew of studios (including Disney, Warner Bros., MGM, Fleischer and Universal). They're all here: Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, Droopy Dog, and all the rest. Imagine! Mickey and Bugs Bunny together in the same scene! Daffy Duck and Donald Duck quacking away indecipherably, playing a piano duet that soon becomes an arms race. Droopy manning an elevator! A tired, over-the-hill Betty Boop serving up drinks. For anyone who grew up watching cartoons, it's pure heaven to see all these old favourites again. And the originals are just as good. Roger is one stuttering, sputtering, hyperactive, accident-prone bunny. His co-star in cartoons is the pint-sized, diaper-wearing, foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping Baby Herman, and then there's the anotamically over-correct Jessica Rabbit. She should be ridiculous, but she's possibly the sexiest woman ever to (almost) spill out of a dress. You know that cliche about legs up to here? Hers go further. And boy, do they all these characters look good. As Leonard Maltin points out, this is an "incredible blend of live-action and animation" that allows us to "believe that Roger and his cartoon colleagues actually exist." For years there were rumours that the publication of a sequel, Who Ordered Delancy Duck?, was imminent, but it took until 1991 and the film's success for Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? to finally appear. The long-delayed follow-up definitely takes note of the movie's success and clever use of name-dropping. In the sequel, Eddie is hired by Roger to find out whether Clark Gable's beaten him out for the lead in Gone With the Wind (Baby Herman's also in contention for the role). And, in a clever bit of double-dipping, Eddie's also takes on Gable himself as a client, to find out who's been planting tabloid stories that say he's gay. And did I mention Jessica? THE EVIDENCE
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Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Bless you, Mr. Powell, for reminding me that sometimes an exploding cigar is just an exploding cigar. | Home | Detectives A-L M-Z | Film | Radio | Television | Web Comics | Comics | FAQs | Remember, your comments, suggestions, corrections and contributions are always welcome. |