This is a modified transcription of an episode of Dyer’s Daily podcast. Between 2018 and 2023, the podcast series featured Jamie Dyer speaking for three minutes about a chosen subject, completely off the cuff. For a list of episodes on the official podcast page, see here.
This was part of the Disney100 series of Dyer’s Daily podcasts, where Jamie picked an element of Disney to discuss in their 100th anniversary year. This time, the millennial broadcaster and writer discussed the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This episode was originally released in 2022.
Please note: This transcript has been cleaned up to make it easier to read, but still maintains the same thoughts and ideas.
Recently, I sat down to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit from 1988 on Disney Plus. It’s the live-action/animation hybrid movie released in collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, and many others. It stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, and Charles Fleischer, who plays Roger Rabbit. If you’ve never seen it, please do.
It is one of the best live-action/animated hybrids I have ever seen. I grew up thinking Space Jam was the dog’s buh, but every time I see this movie, I notice something new. There has never been such an amount of animated legends on screen. Mickey’s in this film. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck—all make appearances.
The Daffy and Donald piano scene is a marvel, even now. Seeing those two characters share the screen, seeing Woody Woodpecker at the end of the movie—it’s incredible. There are so many of these characters. Droopy from MGM is in this movie. How the legal team managed to get all of these characters in one film and place it around a character who isn’t a classic, yet set it in that era, makes you believe Roger Rabbit is a star from a bygone time.
You really do. And while it’s interesting the way they depicted Jessica Rabbit, it’s become something unique. That film deserved to be on the Touchstone label; it didn’t really deserve to be tied to any particular brand. Imagine if it had Disney, Warner Brothers, or even MGM above the door.
The fact that it was Touchstone meant that everybody had equal billing, even though Disney was footing most of the bill. It’s an astonishing film, and how they managed to pull it off before computers were really the norm is amazing. The number of voice actors they managed to get to voice their original characters—Mel Blanc alone plays at least half a dozen.
Of course, he would pass away a year or two later, so the fact that he got to be in this outstanding movie that swept up awards is incredible. If you haven’t seen it, go and watch this landmark movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, on Disney Plus.
