The scientist father of a teenage girl and boy accidentally shrinks his and two other neighborhood teens to the size of insects. Now the teens must fight diminutive dangers as the father searches for them.
Director:
Joe Johnston
Stars:
Rick Moranis,
Matt Frewer,
Marcia Strassman
When Captain Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Robin Williams,
Julia Roberts
When two kids find and play a magical board game, they release a man trapped for decades in it and a host of dangers that can only be stopped by finishing the game.
An 8-year old troublemaker must protect his home from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.
One year after Kevin was left home alone and had to defeat a pair of bumbling burglars, he accidentally finds himself in New York City, and the same criminals are not far behind.
'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect. Groundbreaking interaction between the live and animated characters, and lots of references to classic animation. Written by
Jon Reeves <jreeves@imdb.com>
A "prequel" with the working title "Toon Platoon" never got out of the developmental stage. See more »
Goofs
The lid of the wooden crate tipped over by the cops in the ACME warehouse alternates between being upside down and right side up between shots. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Mrs. Herman:
Mommy's going to the beauty parlor, darling, but I'm leaving you with your favorite friend, Roger. He's going to take very, very good care of you, because if he doesn't... HE'S GOING BACK TO THE SCIENCE LAB.
See more »
Crazy Credits
After the end of the credits, the Amblin logo plays cut short. See more »
Watching this for the umpteenth time, I am struck by how much this movie resembles Brazil (1985). What, you will say, that was a grim and serious story set in a horrible dystopia. Ah, yes, but one of its main satirical weapons was its over-the-top humour.
Well, Roger Rabbit inverts the formula. We seem to have a zany cartoon comedy. but underlying this is a story about racism and genocide. The cartoon characters, who coexist with humans, are shown as a tolerated subordinated race, good for "singing and dancing and running and jumping". They are called "Toons", which resembles another epithet that used to be a nasty name for black people. And the "solution" is exactly that - a solution of benzene and acetone that will exterminate the Toons by dissolving them.
Both movies are set in something that resembles the 1940's, which gives lots of opportunity for spoofing films noir of the sort that Bogart et al. used to make.
How could something so serious be funny? The best comedy is just a hare's breadth (sorry, couldn't resist) removed from tragedy, which is why Hogan's Heroes is so funny while Disney comedies fall flat from gooey sentiment. Kids love Roger Rabbit, and that should be the ultimate test of whether it's comic or not.
It still amazes me how many grown-ups fail to perceive the underlying message of tolerance and understanding. Perhaps they don't want to...
54 of 69 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Watching this for the umpteenth time, I am struck by how much this movie resembles Brazil (1985). What, you will say, that was a grim and serious story set in a horrible dystopia. Ah, yes, but one of its main satirical weapons was its over-the-top humour.
Well, Roger Rabbit inverts the formula. We seem to have a zany cartoon comedy. but underlying this is a story about racism and genocide. The cartoon characters, who coexist with humans, are shown as a tolerated subordinated race, good for "singing and dancing and running and jumping". They are called "Toons", which resembles another epithet that used to be a nasty name for black people. And the "solution" is exactly that - a solution of benzene and acetone that will exterminate the Toons by dissolving them.
Both movies are set in something that resembles the 1940's, which gives lots of opportunity for spoofing films noir of the sort that Bogart et al. used to make.
How could something so serious be funny? The best comedy is just a hare's breadth (sorry, couldn't resist) removed from tragedy, which is why Hogan's Heroes is so funny while Disney comedies fall flat from gooey sentiment. Kids love Roger Rabbit, and that should be the ultimate test of whether it's comic or not.
It still amazes me how many grown-ups fail to perceive the underlying message of tolerance and understanding. Perhaps they don't want to...