The famous Looney Tunes cartoon theme, "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down," begins and a logo appears on screen similar to a Warner Bros cartoon title backed by concentric circles. "Maroon Cartoons presents Roger Rabbit in ‘The Bunnysitter."’ Cut to Roger Rabbit having a finger wagged at him and being told he must look after Baby Herman, or else it‘s back to the animal testing laboratory. As the woman exits, Baby Herman escapes from his play pen and the three-minute featurette unfolds like a Tom and Jerry short in reverse as Baby Herman saves Roger Rabbit from all manner of accidentalscrapes. As a refrigerator falls on Roger, he yells, and someone cries ‘Cut.’ The camera pulls back to reveal the cartoon set is really a soundstage – the director called cut because Roger said the wrong line. Baby Herman walks off in a sulk, grabs a cigar and fondles a passing makeup girl...
Thus the scene is set for the ambitious cartoon/live action film WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, a $45 million Toontown Limited production for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment to be released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 24th, 1988. Bob (MONA LISA) Hoskins stars in the film as a noirish ’40s private detective investigating a murder involving the famous cartoon characters of Hollywood. The other live-action members of the cast include Christopher (BACK TO THE FUTURE) Lloyd, Joanna (BLADERUNNER) Cassidy and Stubby Kaye.
The Walt Disney Presentation in association with Silver Screen Partners III is directed by Robert (BACK TO THE FUTURE) Zemeckis, who storyboarded the film’s opening cartoon with animation supervisor Richard Williams. The realism of Williams' animation is enhanced by ILM special effects techniques whenever the cartoon characters appear in scenes with the live actors.
Those who have seen ILM's test footage say the cartoon characters look stunningly "dimensional." ILM consultant Ken Ralston reportedly chose to work on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? instead of George Lucas' Lord of the Rings revisited, WILLOW. Along with Scott Farrar and Clyde Bryan, Ralston is said to have achieved spectacular results.
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