(c) Disney

And who could forget the libidinous ‘child star’ Baby Herman (voiced by Lou Hirsch off camera as a stogie-chomping letch with an eye for the ‘lay-dees’) and the impossibly hour-glassed figure of Jessica Rabbit, sultrily voiced by an uncredited Kathleen Turner. How subversive is it that Disney finally allows one of its cartoon creations to be sexual, only to make her a doting wife so devoted to her silly little husband Roger that she would act the femme fatale to protect him?

Upon its initial release in 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a huge hit, eventually topping the box office for the year and winning four Academy Awards. But more importantly, the success of Roger Rabbit revitalized audience interest in animation, an interest that would explode in the following years with such blockbusters as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

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Packaged in a handsome volume designed to look like a detective’s dossier, the Vista Edition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit presents a great video and sound version of the film, as well as a vault-load of extras. But, split up into two discs, the DVD features have been divided into the so-called ‘Family Friendly’ first disc and the ‘For the Enthusiast’ second disc. That Walt Disney Home Video feels that they have to spell out so distinctly their two target audiences is a bit presumptuous and a little condescending at first, but ultimately is proven correct, as most fans of the film will want to skip the mostly mediocre first disc almost entirely, and go directly to the good stuff on the second. (Both discs are ‘hosted’ by Benny the Cab, another Fleischer-voiced original from the film.)