--- title: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit" critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): what the critics said Critics' score 83 from 12 reviews: 10 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are warm and largely agree on why. Almost every critic starts with the technical achievement: the mixing of live action and hand-drawn animation, which most describe as faultless and several as a marvel, with the cartoon characters seeming to share the frame on their own terms. Bob Hoskins is the performance most often singled out, credited with making the hybrid believable by playing straight against stand-ins and empty air. Kathleen Turner’s Jessica Rabbit and Christopher Lloyd also draw praise. The reservations gather around the story. The New Yorker admires the engineering but finds the film a trivial folly that labours for a joy it rarely reaches, and Variety thinks the plot amounts to inspired silliness about the film business. Later retrospectives are gentler, though one or two find the noir plotting predictable and the slapstick over the top. The spread is otherwise narrow: nobody dislikes it, and even the doubters concede the craft. ## Radio Times — Tom Hutchinson Rating 5/5. The critic hails the film as a whizz-bang breakthrough in mixing live action with cartoon characters that won a special Oscar for its animator. It is celebrated for its inventive plot, guest appearances by classic cartoon characters, memorable highlights like the Jessica Rabbit encounter and opening sequence, and its creative and commercial success. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-4ig919/who-framed-roger-rabbit/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 22 June 1988. Ebert calls the film a joyous, giddy, goofy celebration of the fun you can have with a movie camera and praises its inventive mix of live action and animation as a technical marvel achieved once in a blue moon. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/who-framed-roger-rabbit-1988) ## Empire — Ian Freer Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 February 2006. The critic praises the film's seamless integration of animation and live action as a technical marvel in service of exuberant storytelling. They single out the disciplined narrative that balances gags with noir plotting and the naturalistic interactions between characters. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/framed-roger-rabbit-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Sheila Benson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 1988. Benson praises the film as dense, satisfying, feverishly inventive and a technical marvel whose quick acceptance of its miracle mix of actors and cartoon characters is amazing, singling out Bob Hoskins' performance as the linchpin. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-22-ca-4590-story.html) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 1988. The critic praises the film's groundbreaking blend of live-action and animation as a dizzying, deliriously funny technical achievement that creates new laws of cinematic gravity. She highlights the seamless integration of cartoon characters on their own terms as the standout element making it a must-see fantasy. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/22/movies/review-film-new-laws-of-gravity-twist-humor-too-in-roger-rabbit.html) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 March 2014. The critic praises Zemeckis and Richard Williams for blending live action, Warners-style animation and a tortuous noir plot to delirious effect. The film is deemed virtually faultless technologically, with a breathless script, deft characterisation and rousing action that is supremely entertaining, especially for adults. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/who-framed-roger-rabbit) ## Slant Magazine Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 16 March 2003. The critic praises the film's enduring appeal in the digital age and its groundbreaking integration of live-action and animation, highlighting the satire and Kathleen Turner's performance as Jessica Rabbit. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit/) ## The New Yorker — Terrence Rafferty Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 11 July 1988. Rafferty describes the film as an amazing feat of entertainment engineering and movie magic but ultimately deems it a trivial folly whose elaborate technology labors to evoke spontaneous joy that is rarely achieved. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1988/07/11/back-to-the-drawing-board) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1987. The film is an unparalleled technical achievement in brilliantly integrating animation into live action. However, the story amounts to little more than inspired silliness about the filmmaking business. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1987/film/reviews/who-framed-roger-rabbit-1200427370/) ## /Film — Josh Spiegel Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 2018. The film succeeds thanks to Bob Hoskins' masterful, understated performance as Eddie Valiant, which convincingly sells the live-action/animation hybrid and establishes the template for modern blockbuster acting opposite nothing. The piece highlights how Hoskins' committed work against blue screens and stand-ins makes the ambitious Zemeckis production hold up decades later. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/559103/bob-hoskins-in-who-framed-roger-rabbit/) ## Eye for Film — Stephen Carty Rating 4/5. 11 January 2011. The critic calls it a visually stunning technical marvel with seamless integration of live action and animation, strong performances from Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd. It mixes hard-boiled noir with slapstick but has some silly, over-the-top moments. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/who-framed-roger-rabbit-film-review-by-stephen-carty) ## HeyUGuys Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 November 2009. The review highlights the wonderful, fluid hand-drawn animation and technical brilliance as the standout elements in this 20-year retrospective. It criticizes the predictable and overdone noir-style storyline as the main weakness. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/review-did-you-ever-see-who-framed-roger-rabbit/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/who-framed-roger-rabbit.md