Le Lapin Looping

Having recently got one of my all-time favourite films 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' on DVD, all three Roger Rabbit shorts were included as bonuses. And what great bonuses they were, thoroughly enjoyable in their own way, go perfectly with the film and almost as good.

Following on from the very good 'Tummy Trouble', the second cartoon 'Roller Coaster Rabbit' is even better. It is closer in spirit to the wild manic energy of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' and has a more imaginative setting, this time set in an amusement park. The basic story is not that special, if you remember the hilarious made-up short that started 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' you have the basic story structure for all three Roger Rabbit cartoons except in different settings.

What stops things from being predictable, repetitive and tired is the increasingly intensely frenetic physical comedy/violence (Roger always getting the worst of it), the wonderfully relentlessly madcap pacing that reminds one of a slightly faster paced Tex Avery cartoon (while occasionally feeling a touch rushed) and writing that's never less than very amusing and at its best hysterical (the roller coaster scene in particular in phenomenal in its execution).

Anybody familiar with 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toons', or who grew up with them, and only saw the Roger Rabbit cartoons recently like me, will love the vibrancy of the colours, the detail of the backgrounds and fluidity of the movements in 'Tummy Trouble'. The live-action sequence at the end like in tribute to 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' was an inspired touch. The music is rousing and energetically orchestrated, Roger and Baby Herman work wonders together and the voice acting is fine.

All in all, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I saw this back in 1990 before "Dick Tracy" started. I must tell you, "Roller Coaster Rabbit" is the best of the shorts. If your lucky, you can find the video Disney released over five years ago on eBay containing all three shorts starring are famous hare and Baby Herman.

I like this one the most because of the risks Rob Minkoff and crew took with the sight gags and risque humor. I mean how can you not laugh at dear Roger when he makes an orthodontist joke. My only problem with this short is the rating. PG? C'mon MPAA, if you start censoring cartoons what's next - more mindless action films getting safe ratings when they deserve the R? Anyway, check it out. And Disney, if your reading this: greenlight more Roger Rabbit shorts, or better yet, a sequel to his film. The fans deserve it.

I'm 14 and I STILL love Looney Tunes, I have all of the collections and I watch them constantly. I'm also a BIG fan of Tex Avery, his mind was all over the place. Now when I got old enough to find out Roger Rabbit had his own cartoon shorts, I jumped for joy!!! Now, I had seen the "Tummy Trouble" cartoon when I was young since I liked "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" But it never occurred to me that it was a Roger Rabbit cartoon. I finally found out when I re-rented "Honey" and it said "Tummy Trouble" on the cover. After that, I went out of my way to find the others. It wasn't till just a few days ago that I finally saw all of them!!! I've watched them about a million time and "Rollercoaster Rabbit" is my absolute favorite one!!! Here are the reasons I love this cartoon, Spoiler Alert: 1: It's like Tex Avery to the extreme, especially when Roger is at the top of the roller-coaster and his eyes pop out of his sockets and wiggle around in the air.

2: The jokes are original, like when roger files smack dab into some barbed wire, he says, "That was bracing" and smiles to show us his barbed wire braces.

3: It's all over the place, with Roger getting shot at, getting stuck in the grinders, it's just plain hilarious!!! I loved it, it's probably my favorite cartoon now, I can't believe Disney and Steven had to finally pull the plug!!! That just chaps my hide (sorry, my Dad uses that phrase.) One of my favorite lines comes from Droopy, "Curses. Foiled again" HA, I laughed.

Well, I've taken up enough of your time now, just be sure to go out and watch this cartoon. Buy the new DVD which has just come out, even if it's only to see all 3 shorts!!! It'll be worth your money, I would do it, if my parents allowed me to buy "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Adios, Amigos

After the wonderful film WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, Disney Pictures experimented by making several short cartoons starring Roger Rabbit and they were shown before feature films--much like the original purpose of classic Warner Brothers, MGM and Disney toons. Unfortunately, Disney also chose to pair these amazing shorts with some of the worst films of the era--virtually guaranteeing they would never see the light of day! Today, the only way you can see them is on an out of print videotape entitled "THE BEST OF ROGER RABBIT". It is NOT available on DVD nor does it appear it will be.

In this short, Roger is at an amusement park and as usual, he's watching the troublesome Baby Herman. Things really move into high gear when Roger wanders onto the roller-coaster to rescue the wayward youth (who is a lot like Sweet Pea from Popeye cartoons). You just have to see it to believe it.

Now as to the quality of this cartoon, it is amazingly violent and insane--even more so than the typical Tex Avery cartoon of the 1950s. Because the characters are so funny, the animation quality so superb and the action so intense, this is one of the greatest cartoon shorts you can find---period. Too bad the powers that be at Disney were idiots who didn't realize they had gold on their hands!

UPDATE 2/09--According to IMDb "This animated short can be found on the Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Vista Series DVD, released in 2003".

Rollercoasters are an ideal inclusion in animated films because they possess the ability to be devices for high-flying, gravity-defying, unapologetically ridiculous situations for the story's characters. Consider Bébé's Kids and its emphasis on misadventures at a local theme park involving a slew of toddlers. Roller Coaster Rabbit looks to have that same kind of emphasis, but its end result is a messy and fairly uninteresting blend of visual gags and routine silliness that shouldn't be so casually accepted by fans of the once-visceral and original Roger Rabbit character.

The film revolves around Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer), Baby Herman, and Mrs. Herman (April Winchell), all of whom are spending their day at a fair. When Baby Herman winds up losing his red balloon, Roger goes to fetch him a new one, but not before Baby Herman attempts to get another one; here is what sets the film's plot into motion. Baby Herman escapes the company of his mother, which sends Roger into a panic and various desperate attempts to recover both Herman and the balloon. At one point, the two end up provoking a bull in a bull-riding arena, in addition to climbing aboard a roller coaster for a frightening ride, all while Roger tries to rescue Baby Herman and Baby Herman continues to escape danger just as easily as he found it, leaving Roger to bear all the battle wounds.

There is one truly great scene in Roller Coaster Rabbit and it comes when Roger leaps onto a roller coaster in order to fetch Baby Herman. During this time, for about five seconds, we see a point-of-view shot of the roller coaster's path, which sends us into a dizzying, almost hallucinatory, trance as it shows the cars of the roller coaster essentially eating up the track at the speed of light. It's a phenomenally executed scene in a short that unfortunately finds the need to settle for rather perfunctory sight gags that make this a monotonous and foreseeable Tom & Jerry skit done without any of the flair and less remarkable excitement.

Voiced by: Charles Fleischer and April Winchell. Directed by: Rob Minkoff and Frank Marshall.