(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from the Roger Rabbit shorts)
Doug (vo): So for a while, Disney thought Roger Rabbit was going to be a big thing. And, yeah, certainly, the movie was, and we're still talking about it today, but the character hasn't really shown up in that many things. Like, okay, there is still a ride dedicated to him, that is something. And every once in a while, he might show up in the background of something or other, but, you know, he's not a big name like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or any of them. But in the '90s, they did make a big push, and so they released a bunch of shorts before movies. Yeah, you remember those? (The poster for Lava is shown) Like, Pixar tried to bring them back. I don't know, are they still? I don't know. (The poster for Inside Out 2 is shown) Pixar's still trying to bring Pixar back, I feel like. However, these shorts are normally overlooked, and I don't think they should be. A lot of people worked really hard on these and there's a lot of jokes in the foreground and background. There's good slapstick, verbal jokes and animation. And it really does a good job trying to create kind of that old-school Tex Avery type of style while also being its own unique thing. I guess it makes sense to go over each one individually, seeing how there's only three of them.
Review of Tummy Trouble[]
Doug (vo): The first one is "Tummy Trouble," shown before Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I think it's cool that if you ever want to purchase a poster of that movie, the short is always advertised on it. They quickly set up the scenario, similar to how the first film opens. It's a short where Roger has to look after Baby Herman. Baby Herman gets himself in trouble and Roger always has to save him, somehow getting himself injured. In this one, he swallows a baby rattle, he has to be taken to the hospital with some funny cameos in the background. But the rattle accidentally goes from Baby Herman into Roger, meaning he's the one that has to be operated on by some pretty demented doctors who don't believe in aesthetics. The short establishes a few running jokes. Like I said, you have the setup of Roger always trying to protect Baby Herman, kind of like Buttons and Mindy before Buttons and Mindy. Jessica always makes an appearance, which I kind of liked. I always wondered what cartoon she started in. And, actually, back then, I could kind of see this as, again, those old Tex Avery cartoons, there'll usually be a pretty lady doing a dance and usually, she would be in a red dress, so it kind of makes sense she would show up in all these. Droopy always makes a cameo, which at first makes sense here because he was the elevator operator in the movie, and then he just got the biggest laugh, so they kept putting him in all the shorts. I guess Maroon got Dumbo, half the cast of Fantasia and Droopy on his team, and usually, they have to end with a live-action sequence showing them wrapping up the shoot, which, even in the first film, I always love the idea that all of this is just done in one shot, like, how would they do that? It's like the cartoon equivalent of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's a lot of fun and it's got good laughs.
Review of Roller Coaster Rabbit[]
Doug (vo): Next one up is "Roller Coaster Rabbit," which was played before Dick Tracy. Out of all of them, this one's probably the best. This time around, they go to an amusement park, which is already a great environment. And, once again, Roger has to protect Baby Herman who's going after a balloon and of course, making his way into places he doesn't belong. Like the previous one, there's a lot of good jokes in the background and foreground. Now there's some good wordplay, and of course, good slapstick. But it switches into full gear as soon as they get on the roller coaster. If you're someone who loves to ride roller coasters like I do, you just love this part. This is taking what roller coasters can do and just taking it to the most energized, craziest extreme. This coaster both seems really tightly compact and yet seems to go all over the place at the same time. The joke that kills me is when they go in a tunnel, all you see is their eyes flying around. Then the eyes bump into each other, they form legs and they start running around the room. That is just so bananas to me, it makes me howl with laughter every single time. It's hard to explain in great detail why this whole section works, you just kind of got to see it. You got to experience the energy and the speed and the creativity of it. If you're a fan of slapstick, you just have to check it out. Oh, also, my mother didn't like the way this ended for some reason.
(Baby Herman pops a balloon, making a woman next to him scream before it transitions to black)
Baby Herman (vo): (laughs) What's the matter, Toots? Afraid of a little...bang?
Peter Venkman: Oh, I get it, I get it! Very cute!
Review of Trail Mix-Up[]
Doug (vo): The final short is "Trail Mix-Up," shown before A Far Off Place. Because there's nothing like watching a zany cartoon with a rabbit and a baby just before you see your family murdered before your eyes. Now, this is the only one not directed by Rob Minkoff, and, oh man, that's a hard act to follow. How do you top the guy who directed The Lion King? Okay, it's pretty good. "Trail Mix-Up" again puts him in a different environment, this time putting him in the woods where they go on a camping trip. Baby Herman is attracted to a beaver, and so am I, for that matter. Okay, that ranger outfit wears her good. Anyway, Roger chases after him, a bear gets mixed up in there too and they all end up on a sawmill where of course, they have to avoid getting chopped up into pieces. You can definitely tell the style is a little different in this one, and out of the three, this is probably my least favorite, but it is still really, really funny. I think, after watching "Roller Coaster Rabbit," I'm just riding this incredible high of, like, energy and excitement and just ready for the next zany, super-fast slapstick, and this one still has a really good speed. I get the feeling if I didn't watch "Roller Coaster Rabbit" before it, I'd think it's a lot better, but because these three are usually shown in that order, it is hard not to compare them. It does maybe have my favorite live-action ending where they fly off towards Mount Rushmore and Mount Rushmore actually screams as they're flying towards them. Now, that's funny enough, but they actually went to the trouble to sculpt a Mount Rushmore screaming just so they could blow it up. I got to give credit, it must have really sucked sculpting this thing just to have it be blown into a million pieces later. Also, Roger kind of destroys the world at the end. Yeah, it's a little odd, but again, that's kind of what I want from these shorts.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): And that's really what these shorts are, odd, silly, incredibly entertaining, and of course, funny. It was kind of cool seeing animated shorts like this run back then. I'm not saying Disney was the only one, there were one or two other studios that would attempt to do that. And honestly, I'm not going to lie, I love the artistic shorts that would usually play before a Pixar film, they're very well done. And I think honestly, we need more of them. But I do also kind of miss just the silly, zany, pointless slapstick. Like, it doesn't have to teach a lesson; it doesn't have to be about something really deep or make you cry or anything; it can just be fun. These shorts are very well directed, very well animated, very well written, and they want to do nothing but give you an enjoyable time. Roger may not be as big a name as Goofy or Chip and Dale, but one thing the character knows how to do in one way or another is make us laugh.
(A scene where Roger is running off the set is shown)