The Complicated History of Who Framed Roger Rabbit

This is one of the rare instances where the movie adaptation was way better than the book it was based on. Even the author agreed

I live in Los Angeles and a few years back they did a 30th anniversary showing of Roger Rabbit at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. They had said a couple of guys from the production would be there and talk about the movie. What was surprising is when they asked "how many of you here worked on the movie?" and this was small theater. 30% of the room raised their hand, they surrounded us. And i was in awe that i was a part of this moment honoring this artistic achievement that these people all contributed to. These people created one of my childhood movies and it was unreal being in one of the few places they'd all be together again. It was beautiful.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of the rare childhood movies that gets better watching it as an adult. It’s a masterpiece.

Yesterworld is the definition of quality over quantity.

The moment Tim Curry as Doom was mentioned I immediately thought "Oh that would have been proper iconic nightmare fuel", so to then hear that he didn't get the role due to being too scary was priceless! I would love to see that audition!

I am so glad the story we ended up with has Rodger and Jessica as a really loving couple. Despite the whole "patty cake" misunderstanding, the two really seem to love each other and it's one of my favorite parts of the film. It wouldn't have been the same if we'd had one of the versions where one or both of the characters are horrible

Christopher Lloyd refusing to blink is just stunning dedication as well as a genius touch.

I loved hearing Charles Fleischer describe how he played the role, it's what we later came to associate with Andy Serkis. It's not just voicework, it's a full performance that uses the medium of animation. Great to see somebody describing that way before mocap acting.

When the world needed him most, he returned.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, what a masterpiece! Man...I'm so glad that they changed Jessica's characterization from the book in particular lol. Like, yeah, she's hella memorable for being the ultimate smokeshow design wise & also starring in an iconic sequence animated by one of the GOATs, Richard Williams (R.I.P), but her actually being a loving devoted wife ( highly aware of the prejudice thrown her way ) is what seals her as a legitimately awesome character.

Yesterworld is like the Oversimplified of pop culture videos: he doesn’t upload very often, but when he does, you KNOW it’s a great video.

I'm such a Roger Rabbit stan. So many people today don't even realize the impact of this film and its place in film and animation history. An entire theme park area of Disney was going to be dedicated to this stand alone film. In the 90s, Disney put Roger front and center as part of the "fab 5" with Mickey and the gang. I think movies of the 80s and 90s still hold up today because everything was "real" as practical effects versus today and everything being CGI. Even the best CGI today is obviously fake to the human eye. I hope new generations will discover and fall in love with Roger.

The most amazing thing about the whole production is it took Richard Williams took less than 40 years to animate, for once

To add a bit for it, another factor why Zemeckis didn't moved forward with the first pitch for Roger Rabbit is probably due to the fact that Ron Miller and Disney rejected his Back to the Future pitch for being to "raunchy" for them (they objected Lorraine having the hots for Marty), while other studios thought the script was too "innocent". No wonder Bob decided to do it with Spielberg and Universal after Romancing the Stone.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit can be argued to be one of the greatest films of all time. No other movie can claim to have not only merged multiple genres and mediums seamlessly, but also single-handedly revitalized an entire industry for DECADES. Animation as a medium would be dead in the water had this movie not exist.

I loved Roger Rabbit as a kid and was amazed to find it was a book. I actually tracked down Gary Wolf through social media and had correspondence with him for a bit where I bought one of the original "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" books that he signed for me. Such a great IP that they should have done more with, like the Rocketeer.

I met Richard Williams when I attended his Animation Masterclass back in 1997 in Denmark. He did tell his fascinating story about his lifelong passion the Thief and the Cobbler, and also (not mentioned in this documentary) that he used to be a Television Service Tech (which is kinda funny, because I was that too before I became an animator). However, rest in peace Mr. Williams, a stubborn genious that I remember for pointing out that Preston Blair (the DeFacto animation book) had a missing frame in the skip section and bouncing ball principle, kinda funny little tidbit there that most people who read this comment, never ever will - even get, but it's funny to those who where there, you know who you are.

I know a number of animators who worked on this film. They all graduated from Sheridan College in Oakvile, ON Canada. They were travelling to Europe after graduation (ended up in Germany when the wall fell). They were recruited by someone associated with the film and ended up in London. Excellent history of this great film.

Bob Hoskins doesn't get nearly enough credit. You believe him every minute. It's normal now for actors to use green screens and imagination for other objects, but it wasn't then. Amazing performance!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is such a great film that even the author surprisingly loved it that he actually made a sequel that tied to the film by retconning the events from the original book.

Plus, the film revolutionised the animation/live action hybrid genre, regardless that Robert Zemeckis (same director behind Back To The Future) hated the idea of it.