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In
Short Disney makes absolutely no effort to produce a nice edition of a classic film.
The Film:
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is
director Robert Zemeckis’s famed blend of live action and animation. Certainly one of
the biggest leaps in animation, Roger Rabbit and other toons like Jessica are blended into
the scenes almost seemlessly. The film stars Bob Hoskins, perfect as the “washed-up”
detective, forced to take on a case for Roger Rabbit, a toon framed for killing the man who he thought was involved with his
toon wife, the sexy Jessica Rabbit.
The whole interaction between the humans and the toons is played wonderfully and although
the film does have some parts that are a little more adult than the littlest viewers are probably used to,
this certainly was a film that tried to be for everyone, young and old, and for the most part,
this is a wildly funny, really well made picture. The kind of production design involved certainly
is impressive, making this look like a 1940's version of Hollywood.
There has been a lot of talk about this title being censored slightly for DVD. I can't confirm if this is true or not,
since it's been about 10 years since I've seen this film. All I can say is that this is a truly awful thing if Disney edited
this film without permission of director Zemeckis("Back To The Future"). For a film like this that was so successful, I wish that
Disney had focused their effort on making a far better DVD release.
Still, the film is an incredible technical achievement, and I think it not only contains some great effects, but it's a wonderfully
written story as well.
The DVD
VIDEO: There's
certainly some positives and some serious negatives about this 1.85:1 non-anamorphic
transfer. For starters, the image is actually adequately crisp, much more than some recent
Disney catalog titles. Although it's not razor sharp, most of the images are at least
adequately sharp. Colors are pretty faithful to the original intent, looking vibrant and
well-saturated- the colors in Toon Town look especially wonderful. Detail is good during the brighter scenes, fair during the darker
scenes. Flesh tones remain consistently accurate and natural.
Where it goes wrong is the same place that many of Disney's catalog
titles do: some shimmering(that at times I definitely found to be distracting), and some
problems with a scratch or two in the print. There's also looks to be some dirt and dust on the print used.
SOUND: A lively sound mix that sounds fantastic at times,
especially in the cartoony musical themes and when Jessica sings in the club. Sound
effects are presented and placed nicely, with good detail. There's some effective use of
the surrounds, but there really isn't anything much in the way of bass to be found.
Dialogue sounds clear and clean with no noticable problems.
MENUS: Very basic cover art themed menus. The usual
Disney stuff.
EXTRAS: Nothing. Not even a
trailer. Pretty pathetic of Disney to offer nothing in addition to one of their biggest
hits.
Final Thoughts: A fantastic film, but nothing special in terms of DVD.
Final Grades:The Film: 89/B = (445/500 possible points)
Video:
78/C+ = (312/400 possible points)
Audio: 88/B = (352/400 possible
points)
Extras: 0/F = (0/300 possible points)
Menus: 70/C- = (140/200
possible points)
Value: 78/C+ = (234/300 possible points)
TOTAL
POINTS:1483/2100
Average:71%/C
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