(This is where I make a quick note that of course I've seen this movie many times before. It's been probably two decades since I last saw it though, so it fits into my arbitrary statute of limitations for these Delayed Reactions)
In truth, this film could only exist because Disney and Speilberg really wanted it to get made. Disney lent its characters to the movie. Speilberg used his influence to get all the other animated rights. Equal screen time deals were made for competing characters like Mickey and Bugs and Donald and Daffy. Disney had to produce it under their Touchstone banner to not tarnish their family-friendly brand and had to agree to co-produce with Speilberg's Amblin Entertainment. The difficulty of this partnership is most likely why this enormously popular movie never had any sequels. And I haven't even mentioned how Robert Zemeckis directed it...I swear, every name attached to this is iconic.
Watching the film as an adult, I'm impressed by the filmmaking at work. The mixing of live-action and animation is seamless. The noir storytelling is mixed comfortably with the silliness. Animation, at least this style of it is always so clean. It's great to see how messy they make it look. Oddly, the only thing I didn't care for was the titular character. Roger is a little annoying. I get the feeling that future movies would've focused more on him which would've been too much, so maybe it's for the best that this is an unrealized opportunity.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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