Roger Rabbit Boxed Set

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

The Movie

I’m sure most of you have seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit at one

time or another, so I am not going to rehash the details of the

plot of this wild mix of film noir and Tex Avery cartoon–style

animation. This groundbreaking and multi–Academy Award–winning

film pushed the state of filmmaking art in 1988, and it did so

with a wonderfully amusing and impressive mix of live–action

actors and hand–drawn cell animation.

Promotional image © Disney.

Set in Hollywood in the mid–1940s, the story follows washed–up

detective Eddie Valiant as he tries to find the murderer of gag

factory and Toontown owner Marvin Acme. From the surface, it looks

like cartoon superstar, Roger Rabbit, did it, but as Valiant follows

the trail of clues, the trail gets increasingly more complex.

Ultimately, the survival of Toontown is discovered to be at stake,

and it is up to Roger and Eddie to save the Toons. While generally

family–friendly, keep in mind that the movie is rated PG

and more appropriate for older children.

A couple of years ago, Disney released Roger Rabbit as a

movie–only DVD, but it was plagued by a number of shortcomings,

including a very poor video transfer and a couple of well–publicized

censored scenes that were digitally removed or obscured: Baby

Herman’s goose and Jessica Rabbit’s flying flash.

Fortunately, for its 15th anniversary, Disney decided to reissue

the movie as a VISTA DVD series title (Vision, Imagination,

Style, Theme, Artistry), which touts a close

“partnership with filmmakers, that presents the definitive

version of the filmmakers’ cinematic vision, with premium picture

and sound enhancements, and in-depth supplemental bonus programming

derived from collaboration with the filmmakers.”

Indeed, with this go–around, the movie looks much better than

the previous DVD release, and the previously mentioned censored

scenes have been included, albeit in slightly modified states.

Baby Herman now, as he did in the theatrical release, reaches

up under the skirt of the woman whose legs he walks between —

but to soften the impact, he is missing one of his fingers. If

you have seen the laserdisc, you know what I’m talking about.

Additionally, Jessica’s dress has been digitally touched up to

cover her up in the flashing scene. The frames with Betty Boop

flashing are still missing, though. Granted, these are things

that could only be caught by going frame by frame through the

movie, but they represent a trademark of animators that should

be included in any “definitive version” of a film: virtually

subliminal inside jokes. Fortunately, all of the other more innocuous

inside jokes are still intact.

The Goodies

Given the utterly disappointing lack of goodies on the first DVD release

and the intricate production complexities of this film, a collector’s

edition DVD simply had to be produced at some point. At least

that was what I hoped after refusing to buy the first disc. After

seeing the proposed goody list for the VISTA release a couple

of months ago, I was greatly encouraged that Disney had finally

realized that Roger Rabbit deserved much more attention

on home video than it originally did.

The VISTA set comes on two DVDs, with the first one containing the full-frame

version of the film (“Family Friendly”) and a few rather

small tidbits. The second one features the anamorphic widescreen

version of the film (“For the Enthusiast”) and a bunch

more goodies. I’m not sure why Disney marketing insisted on labeling

the discs as such, because there are things on both discs that

everyone will enjoy watching. I know I did.

Promotional image © Disney.

As for the goodies themselves, Disc 1 is relatively light on bonus items.

The short Who Made Roger Rabbit documentary and Trouble

in Toontown set–top game are interesting but not really

items that I found myself going back to. By far the best items

on the disc are the three Roger Rabbit shorts: “Tummy Trouble,”

“Roller Coaster Rabbit,” and “Trail Mix-Up.”

They very briefly appeared on a laserdisc several years ago, but

they were quickly pulled from stores for containing a couple of

animator jokes that could be construed as being non-family friendly.

They are not easily detected, unless examined frame-by-frame,

like you can with laserdiscs or DVD.

All three animated shorts contain a number of little quicker–than–the–eye

animation jokes, like the heads of Genie, Tinkerbell, Mickey,

and Evinrude the dragonfly (from The Rescuers) appearing

on bees, the “Made in Glendale” stamp on the bottom

of the rocketing bottle, the “We Visited Splash Mountain”

bumper sticker, and the “Burbank” door. They are all

still there, but the questionable area in a few frames appears

to have been digitally softened, so you can still make out what

it is but it is less obvious than on the old laserdisc. Besides

those little jokes, the animated shorts are quite humorous and

very well done. It is too bad that we will probably never see

another Roger short or follow–up to the movie.

Disc 2 contains a slew of goodies that should please fans and families.

The full–length audio commentary with director Robert Zemeckis

and fellow filmmakers Frank Marshall, Jeffrey Price, Peter Seaman,

Steve Starkey, and Ken Ralston is well done. It is filled with

a bunch of funny stories and interesting trivia that truly helps

the viewer understand the huge production challenges that were

overcome to bring Roger Rabbit to the big screen. Even

with the large number of participants, the commentary never gets

confusing or overly busy, and it always keeps moving along, keeping

you engrossed.

To really get your fill of behind–the–scenes information,

you can listen to the commentary and turn the “Toontown Confidential”

pop-up trivia feature. The scene–specific trivia pops up

at the bottom of the screen and provides little tidbits about

a particular actor, an animated scene, or things to look for,

like the “murder train” towards the end of the movie.

It ends up almost being information overload, but I had a blast

soaking up the information.

One of the nice features with this disc is that you can dynamically

switch the audio and subtitle tracks to turn the commentary and

pop-up trivia on or off. This way, you can be watching the movie

and decide at any time to jump to either or both of the features

without leaving the movie, as several other Disney DVDs force

you to do.

Should you want to see some of the cool behind–the–scenes

items mentioned in the commentary, there is a nicely produced

36–minute documentary called “Behind the Ears: The True

Story of Roger Rabbit.” This all–new documentary covers

every aspect of the production, and it includes a bunch of reference

footage, pencil animation, interviews, and comparisons. While

not as in–depth or as long as some film documentaries, this

one satisfied my interests, and I’ve already watched it a couple

of times.

Also on this disc are a number of other short but equally cool goodies

including “The Pig Head Sequence,” a fullly animated

but deleted scene with director commentary, a “Toon Stand

Ins” featurette showing rehearsals with stand–in toons,

and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Benny the Cab

scene. To cap off this nice set of bonus material, there is a

nicely designed and executed still gallery called, “The Valiant

Files.” Rather than just running through a series of text

menus, you explore Eddie’s office and dig up clues and explore

his files to find artwork, concept sketches, and character designs.

It is a fun little idea that perfectly fits into the theme of

the movie.

Finally, I do not really think this can be considered a goody, but it

was certainly something that made me happy: there are no previews on this

disc. Even the Platinum edition of Beauty and the Beast had a couple

of previews, and I was dreading that annoying voice and music that is

pervades the opening minutes of just about every other Disney DVD. When

the disc pretty much jumped right to the very cool user interface detailed

below, I just about fell out of my chair. I actually rechecked the disc

to make sure I had not inadvertently skipped them. Nope, there are no

ads, and that alone sweetened the whole deal for me.

Promotional image

© Disney.

The Video, Audio and Interface

Compared to the old DVD, the THX–certified audio and video

transfers on this VISTA DVD are amazingly better. The anamorphic

widescreen transfer on Disc 2 is detailed and sharp without the

graininess that beleaguered the original DVD, and the colors are

nicely saturated and balanced throughout the movie. The deep black

levels provide the numerous dark scenes with wonderful depth and

definition.

I did not notice any significant digital or film artifacts or defects,

and I found the movie very enjoyable to watch and listen to. The

Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack simply sounds great, and

I’m sure the DTS track is equally acceptable. A quick check of

the audio and video on Disc 1 confirmed that it too looks and

sounds clean and clear. It certainly appears that Disney made

a good effort at fulfilling their marketing claim that the VISTA

DVDs contain “premium picture and sound enhancements.”

Promotional image © Disney.

The interface is also a treat. Benny the Cab (voiced by Charles Fleischer,

also the voice of Roger Rabbit) acts as your host on both discs,

and all–new animation and vocal performances have been produced

just for the menus. All of the menu screens have some sort of

animation or video, and just about all of the transitions involve

either short cuts of additional video or animation. It is the

perfect icing on cake, and it gets you into the mood and feel

of the movie right from the get–go.

The Final Evaluation

Disney has another VISTA DVD series hit on their hands with this release,

and if you enjoy this movie at all, it is well worth picking up next time

you see it. The film transfer looks and sounds fantastic, and the bonus

material should please just about everyone. It is a great, award-winning

movie that finally received the home video treatment it deserved, but

as I previously mentioned, the movie itself may not be appropriate for

the youngest of your family members, but you can always enjoy it after

the preschoolers go to bed. That is what I have been doing (and enjoying

every minute of it).