Saturday, April 9, 2011
Rollercoaster Rabbit
The next short Roger Rabbit cartoon, Rollercoaster Rabbit, was released on June 15, 1990 in front of the movie version of Dick Tracy. Steven Spielberg originally wanted this short to appear in front of the Amblin Entertainment movie Arachnophobia, but at the insistence of then-CEO of Disney Michael Eisner, it was not. Disney later re-released Rollercoaster Rabbit in front of Toy Story in 1995 to take the place of the canceled Roger Rabbit short, Hare In My Soup. This may have been where all the problems began for the Roger Rabbit franchise, as Dick Tracy did not do well in theaters and may have angered Steven Spielberg that Michael Eisner insisted upon keeping the cartoon exclusively with a Disney feature movie.
This cartoon opens with Roger, Baby Herman and Mrs. Herman at a fair. Mrs. Herman leaves Roger again with Baby Herman and he soon wanders off in search of a red balloon.
Anxiously searching for Baby Herman in his empty carriage, Roger finds a Playtoon magazine and opens to the centerfold to find Jessica Rabbit - who gives him a wink.
Roger chases after Baby Herman and suffers all kinds of abuse. Once Roger gets to Baby Herman, they happen to be inadvertently stuck on a roller coaster. This cartoon roller coaster reaches impossible proportions, twisting and turning so much that watching it in the movie theater almost made it feel like you were on a motion simulated ride.
We see Jessica Rabbit helplessly tied to the coaster tracks - softly saying "Save me." As Roger and his car approach, he yells to her to repeat what she said. Jessica completely changes character and screams angrily, "SAVE ME!"
Roger reaches out his arms to scoop her up, but tips over the car. It begins to tumble and happens to bounce right over her.
As Jessica watches them continue on, she turns to Droopy Dog who dressed as a villain, exclaiming in his monotone voice, "Curses! Foiled again."
Roger and Baby Herman coast right off the track and right into the real world for the live action segment. Roger causes the film in the camera to come out and be destroyed. The director demands Roger film the scene again, to which he states to the bald director, "Not this hare,Q-ball." Roger runs off and we see a woman give Baby Herman his red balloon. Now out of his "baby" character and smoking a cigar - which he uses to pop the balloon and says, "Afraid of a little bang?" This no doubt earned the cartoon it's PG rating, unlike the other two which were rated G.
This cartoon was also included on the 2003 Special Edition DVD, but with no art gallery or information. According to IMDB.com, there was a cut scene with all of the classic Disney characters appearing in this film. There was also an idea for a gag between Droopy Dog and Jessica that was never used. You can see the concept art for it below which came from Disney Artist, Tracy M Lee.