Revisiting 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit': Smile darn ya!

One of my earliest memories of going to the movies is seeing Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) on the big screen when I was just 6 years old. I loved it -- although I doubt I caught all the humor and whenever I re-watch it now I am reminded of how it impacted me as a first grader.

I even had the book on tape -- remember those?! -- so I have every punchline down pat.

Seeing it again after all these years I am struck by how ballsy Disney was for doing it and for allowing the movie to take so many chances. I mean, Jessica Rabbit alone would probably never make it past censors today and yet, she remains unforgettable.

"A laugh can be a wonderful thing," Roger Rabbit says at one point in the movie, which pretty much sums up the film's theme.

The plot is largely inconsquential but I appreciate that in a blockbuster family film the writers chose to make the villains a conglomerate planning to create freeways.

I also love that they have the gall to give Baby Herman a line like: "I have a 50-year-old lust and a 3-year-old dinky," pretty wild by today's standards.

Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

This movie also made history by being the first (and so far only) time we've seen Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse occupy the same space. We no longer really have iconic cartoon characters anymore (Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story probably come the closest) so it's probably lost on modern viewers how huge that was.

Also, Bob Hoskins deserves so much credit. There he is playing almost entirely against nothing and he's totally credible as a hard-bitten LA cop. I was shocked as a kid to learn that he was actually a Cockney Brit.

Christopher Lloyd's villain Judge Doom terrified me as a child. I definitely covered my eyes when he went full-toon and his hand turned into a chainsaw -- again really rough stuff by Disney standards.

The Roger Rabbit character should annoy me -- I've never been a big fan of hyperactiveness -- but he works for me, I suppose because he's as much a riff on what proceeded him as anything else.

You gotta revisit this 'toon if you get the chance. It holds up, it's hilarious and it'll make you smile.