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Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Buena Vista Pictures

Who Framed Roger Rabbit reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 83 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.2 out of 10
based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG

Starring Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, Alan Tilvern, Richard LeParmentier, and Kathleen Turner

Gumshoe detective Eddie Valiant (Hoskins) is on the job in both Hollywood and Toontown, and the line between reality and fantasy gets blurred as Eddie tries to solve a major "who dunnit." He's thrown for quite a set of curves when he meets Jessica Rabbit, the sultry "toon" who whispers "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." When Eddie gets mixed up with the fast-talking "toon" Roger Rabbit (Fleischer) he finds himself crossing paths with such characters as the hilarious Baby Herman, Benny the Cab, the sinister Judge Doom and more, in a wacky adventure of a lifetime. (Buena Vista)


GENRE(S): Noir  
WRITTEN BY: Jeffrey Price
Peter S. Seaman
Gary K. Wolf (novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?)
 
DIRECTED BY: Robert Zemeckis  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 25, 2003 
Video: February 18, 1997 
Theatrical: June 21, 1988 
RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

The film picked up Oscars at the 1989 Academy Awards for Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects, and Film Editing. Richard Williams also received a Special Achievement Award for animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Combines live-action and animation with breathtaking wizardry... Alternately hilarious, frightening, and awesome.
Read Full Review
100
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
What is astonishing about this movie is how all the elements are so deftly mixed - the technology of real sets and people interwoven with the cartoon world, and yet Zemeckis hardly sacrifices a beat in laying out a curlicuing '40s-style thriller. [22 June 1988]
100
Washington Post Rita Kempley
An instant slapstick classic from Disney and Steven Spielberg. Already, it's a hare's breadth away from legend. [22 June 1988]
Read Full Review
100
Washington Post Desson Thomson
If you don’t like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, have your pulse checked... You'll forget yourself right through to the end when Porky Pig, dressed as a cop, says "M-move along, there's n-nothing more to s-see folks." [24 June 1988]
Read Full Review
100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is funny, but it's more than funny, it's exhilarating.
Read Full Review
100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
It's the year's cleverest comedy in more ways than one. The animated sequences are brilliant... Most important, the story also has dark overtones that lend a hint of seriousness to what could have been just silly. [24 June 1988]
100
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
A film whose best moments are so novel, so deliriously funny, and so crazily unexpected that they truly must be seen to be believed. [22 June 1988]
100
USA Today Mike Clark
If it isn't flawless, neither is "Fantasia"... Here's a live-action/animated marvel with no screen antecedent; “Chinatown” may actually come closest. [22 June 1988]
100
Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
Brilliantly funny, bracingly smart and surprisingly moving. [22 June 1988]
100
Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson
Dense, satisfying, feverishly inventive and a technical marvel… But--animation aside--the treasure of the piece is Hoskins' pungent, visceral comic performance. [22 June 1988]
60
TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)
While flawlessly delivered, it's overkill--so loud and excessive, it makes our head swim... It's like a sumptous banquet composed entirely of fast food; fills you up but entirely forgettable.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
An unparalleled technical achievement... Yet the story amounts to little more than inspired silliness about the filmmaking biz where cartoon characters face off against cartoonish humans.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Without warning, the picture falls hard into the very trap it had so studiously avoided, the one marked Expensive Gimmick... The same feature that begins like no film you've ever seen ends like every cartoon you've always avoided.
Read Full Review
50
Time Richard Corliss
Something got lost in the move from storyboard to screen, and in the stretch from seven minutes to 103. [27 June 1988]
20
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The plot, the gags, the action are so stupid and strident, so unfunnily parodic, that the film's only interest is in wondering how they did it-the mix of animation and live action. [1 Aug 1988]

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
I had so much fun with this movie. A classic.

J B gave it a9:
A great film. Ignore Stanley Kauffmann's remarks, this movie is a funny, fresh little wonder that amazed the world with its images and captured the heart with its characters.

Caleb D. gave it a10:
Animation and real life combined together to make an astounding movie!

R Coley gave it a10:
I can't think of any film in history that is more deserving of a sequel, but only if they can make it as brilliant as the original.

Dan C. gave it a 10:
After seeing this film, I couldn't believe that Bob Hoskins was British! Everyone in this film is excellent. Hoskins always seems like he's talking to another actor, as opposed to a cartoon. Christopher Lloyd is great here too. I love the cameos by Bugs and Mickey.

Pat C. gave it a 10:
Unimitated before or since. Q: How do you score a film that you can't compare to anything else? A: With 2 digits.

Gilbert Mulroneycakes And Friends gave it a 10:
To not like this film, you do have to be some sort of twat. I'm glad Stanley Kauffman's review is now inaccessible; it seems to be the most tragic thing you could ever read (er, on the subject of family movies). This movie is FUN. Remember fun? It's got everything you need for a magnificent family movie, and adds some more things as well, just for the sake of it. Oh, and Mike's right: it's a technical tour de wossname which still hasn't really been equalled.

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