Walt Disney Home Entertainment has officially announced and detailed the upcoming 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray release of director Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit, starring Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and Joanna Cassidy, and featuring Charles Fleischer as the voice of Roger Rabbit. The live-action/animation classic sports a new digital restoration and lands on Blu-ray on March 12, 2013.
A toon hating detective (Hoskins) is a cartoon rabbit's only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder. Four-time Academy Award-winner for Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects Editing and Special Achievement in Animation Direction.
Special features include:
Digitally Restored Roger Rabbit Shorts: Tummy Trouble, Roller-Coaster Rabbit and Trail Mix-Up
I am glad to see that they included the 3 cartoons that were made for theatrical release, and previously included in the Vista Edition. "Roller-coaster rabbit" and "Trail mix-up" are amongst the best pieces of animation ever made, a true reverence to the contribution in the medium made by Tex Avery.
It's nice to see Disney taking the words "Anniversary Edition" to heart this time and throwing us a few extras instead of just a bare bones disc. Day 1, might still hold on to my Vista Series DVD though.
Just 'cause it's Disney doesn't mean they'll do it right. They've dumped out some catalog titles that have had little work done on them in terms of restoration, and most their older animated films are basically devoid of film grain which makes zero sense (they still usually look great but I remember watching Snow White and thinking something looked kind of weird about it). But, I have total faith that this Roger Rabbit release will be great. I can't wait to get it!
I had the original VHS release when I was a kid. I probably watched it like 30 times. The first scene with Baby Herman I watched repeatedly! As an adult I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much but, I'm very interested in seeing the restored shorts and maybe some of the other extras.
Love the list of bonus features - glad to see this is getting the special edition treatment it deserves! 3/12/13 is going to be an expensive day for me!
I'll probably wait to find out whether it's the theatrical release or an altered home-video version; it's a movie I want, but I dislike the change made for the DVD.
By the way, according to Snopes.com, we're talking about only four frames (constituting 1/6th of a second) taken out for the so-called "censored" edition. And looking at some of the frames in question, it looks to me like it's all in the minds of the sad little boys who get a big charge out of thinking that an animated cartoon character is nude.
