Now i assume that by this point in your lives you've all heard of the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit it's a classic movie that blends live action action with animation however what you might not know is that after the film's release there were three short films made featuring the characters and i'm going to take a look at them now.
In the plot for the first short Tummy Trouble Roger is looking after Baby Herman who then swallows a rattle and Roger has to take him to the hospital to get it removed and hi-jinks ensue.I have to say i really liked the basic set up for this short it did a great job of reintroducing the main characters as well telling a fun little story.
In the second short called Roller Coaster Rabbit Roger , Baby Herman and Herman's mom are all at a fair ground and again the highest of jinks ensue. I can't say why but i didn't really find the story for this one to be that interesting it felt really dull for some reason plus the mother leaves the short for a dumb freaking reason.
Finally the plot for the final short called Trail Mix Up Roger , Baby Herman and his mom are going for a day out in a park but hi-jinks ensue when Herman wonders of and Roger has to try and save him. Story wise this short film fairs better then Roller Coaster Rabbit but it's still not as good as Tummy Trouble for some reason and i can't really nail why that is maybe it has something to do with the fact that the mother once again leaves Herman a dumb reason.
Returning to voice there characters from the movie are Charles Fleischer, Kathleen Turner, Lou Hirsch, and April Winchell. I have to say that the actors were pretty spot on in these shorts Charles is funny as Roger which i guess is because he also played the character when he wasn't filming his scenes for the movie , Kathleen turner IS Jessica Rabbit no one else can now play that character in my eyes and both April and Lou are great as Baby Herman. I will say however that when doing research for this review i found out that Corey Burton , Frank Welker , Charlie Adler and Jim Cummings all have roles in these shorts.
What i want to mention before i forget is all of these shorts have live action segments usually at the end of the short which were directed in the first two films by Frank Marshall and there's no listed director for the third film they add nothing to the shorts but i thought it was great that they didn't forget Rogers roots if you will.
I have to say that the animation was actually pretty good and i say that because i honestly had no idea what to expect when it came to the animation all the of the characters move like real cartoon characters (if that makes any sense). The only real issue i have with the animation is that it's two good these characters are meant to be based on 40's and 60's cartoon characters so the animation shouldn't be as good as it was.
Not all of the jokes in these shorts for me worked and i'm not really sure why that is a baby on a roller coaster should be funny but for some reason i didn't laugh one of the few times i laughed was when in Tummy Trouble Roger falls through alot of ceilings and at the end of that short i'm sure he and Jessica mentioned going to play Patti Cake together which is funny if you have a dirty mind.
I have to say i like the fact that they just Jessica show up in random moments in these shorts as it really does sell the fact that she and Roger and husband and wife and he's just asking the director to give her any role they have plus more Jessica Rabbit is only a good thing.
Overall i'd say if you were a fan of Who framed Roger Rabbit then you'll like all of these shorts but for me the first short is the best one scoring a 6.5 out of 10 with the second getting a 4.5 out of 10 and third getting a 5 out of 10