Feats N' Faults: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Animation at its Finest
Welcome back to Feats N’ Faults, where we use our Tiered Point System to rank and record our favorite characters based on their achievements and deeds. For a more in depth look on how points are awarded, please check the About page. Below is our Tier System for quick reference. Also, Spoiler Warning!
Welcome back to another Feats N’ Faults! Today, we are looking at another one of my favorite movies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit! While this movie has countless famous toons, we will only be analyzing Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Judge Doom, The Weasels, and Eddie Valiant. If you’re playing along, go ahead and list them from least to greatest based on how you think they impacted their stories. We also have a review at the end of the rankings, so don’t forget to scroll to the bottom.
Let’s Get Started!
5th Place, Roger Rabbit: -1 FN’F Score (1988) 1 Movie
Oh no, what happened to my boy? Not in the negatives! Poor Roger Rabbit just kept making mistake after mistake. That’s what I was worried about. Calculating Feats N’ Faults makes you watch films in a completely different way. You do not just enjoy it; you pick apart every single action. Unfortunately, Roger was only interested in being funny. Even if it meant he would be killed for it. He gives himself away to Judge Doom and doesn’t escape when he can. The best thing he did was keep Acme’s will safe. So that’s something. To put into perspective just how bad his score is, he scored worse than Dani from Hocus Pocus and Dori from The Hobbit. The worst part is that Roger will be on our Bottom 25 list next year! What a shame.
4th Place, The Weasels: 1 FN’F Score (1988) 1 Movie
Next, we have the Weasels. The Weasels are our first group character in FN’F. I wanted to track them, but there are too many, and they never do much, so I decided I would just cram them together as one toon. Even counting them together, they only got a score of 1 FN’F. I still have no idea how they didn’t catch Roger in Valiant’s office. They were right beside him when he came up and gasped for air. How do you not see or hear that?
3rd Place, Jessica Rabbit: 2 FN’F Score (1988) 1 Movie
Jessica Rabbit was many boys’ awakenings. She can’t help it. She’s not bad; she’s just drawn that way. She was also drawn without any faults! Going into this, I was expecting her to be down with Roger, but she surprised me. All the things I thought were going to be faults turned out to be feats! Jessica shot a man and saved Valiant. I can’t believe in this detective movie; she’s the only one to actually shoot someone. Jessica is definitely the most competent in the relationship. I’m sure she’s the breadwinner too. Roger is a lucky rabbit.
2nd Place, Judge Doom: 11 FN’F Score (1988) 1 Movie
Judge Doom is the scariest toon around! I was traumatized as a kid. Two scenes are seared into my mind. The first is when he picks up that adorable little shoe. It’s happy and squeaking around, and he yoinks him up and dissolves him! It is not a quick scene either. We stare into his poor eyes as he slowly dissolves. We watched a murder, which is not okay! The other is when it is revealed he’s a toon, and his eyes pop out. His flattened body reinflating and that awful voice. I was hiding under the covers every time.
When it comes to Feats Doom was on top of it. He only had one movie, so making it into the double digits is impressive. He killed multiple people, rigged elections, and developed the only way to kill toons. The only mistake he made was attacking Valiant when he had glue. He punched directly into it for no reason. Getting his hand stuck to the steam roller. If he hadn’t flattened himself, he might have been able to beat them. Oh well, he’s still the perfect villain for this story and the haunter of my nightmares.
1st Place, Eddie Valiant: 21 FN’F Score (1988) 1 Movie
In first place, by almost double, is Eddie Valiant. I love discovering his history throughout the film. A decorative detective full of joy turned into the drunken slob we are introduced to. The newspapers on his desk are subtle world-building that makes the universe feel alive. By the end, we have our happy, loony detective back, winning by making toons laugh. It's the perfect ending for a perfect film.
His Feat score might not be as high as other detectives we’ve covered, but just read some of these. He saved Donal Duck’s nephews from kidnappers, Got Yosemite Sam out of prison, and cleared Goofy of spy charges! Who else would be able to pull that off? To put his point total in perspective, he scored better than Princess Leia from Star Wars and She-Hulk from the MCU. Valiant, you are a legend.
Review:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: 10/10
Who Framed Roger Rabbit blew my mind as a kid. Real people interacting with cartoons was revolutionary at this scale. The craftsmanship that went into it was unheard of. It was also my first experience with a crossover. Seeing toons like Betty Boop, Mickey, and Bugs in the same scene short-circuited my tiny brain. Anything was possible! Nowadays, crossovers are commonplace. Games like Fortnight use it as a gimmick to sell cosmetics. However, it was not as common in the 80s. To see Disney and WB properties interacting was exciting and new.
I find it interesting that this is a Disney film. It feels more like a love letter to Chuck Jones than it does Disney. The animation styles and gags feel much more like Loony Tunes. Speaking of animation, the animators deserve all the praise for this film. Cell animation of this quality for a feature-length film will never be done again. They went far over budget and time, but it was worth it. The toons feel real. They hold real objects, and the lighting affects them. It helps to ground you in that reality; no other movie has captured that magic. The behind-the-scenes is as interesting as the film itself. It is a perfect film; every time I watch it, I want to shake the animators’ hands.
Recommendation: Watch this and the behind-the-scenes, pronto!
Thanks again for tuning into another FN’F. We have been covering some of my favorite movies, so I’d love to know what your favorites are! Let me know in the comments. Maybe we will cover those films next time on Feats N’ Faults. To stay up to date, don’t forget to subscribe and share with a friend! I hope you all have a marvelous week!
Until Next Time!
I never actually saw the entire movie until I was an adult. Probably just as well, I'm pretty sure it would have traumatized me.