Bobo bidon

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.

The first Roger Rabbit short 'Tummy Trouble' does a very good job cooking up material that's funny and imaginative in a setting as ordinary as a hospital, whereas the other two cartoons had more expansive settings that allowed the humour to run wild even more. 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 (like with the crashing through the floors, in the operating theatre and the elevator).

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.

Overall, great first Roger Rabbit cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Ok, I own the Honey I Shrunk the Kids video. At the time of purchase, I would say that I keep video for Honey. But now that I've grown up and I am no longer a kid, I keep it for the Roger Rabbit short film. I also still pop in my Who Framed tape because of the maturity in some of the jokes.

I first saw this cartoon when I rented the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Disney studios decided to show this brief cartoon before the movie actually started and I must say, it was absolutely funny. I thought Steven Spielberg did such a brilliant job producing this funny segment along with cool action sequences.

PERHAPS IT WAS done to see if we could bear witness to a sort of Renaissance of the Theatrical Cartoon Short, or maybe it was just made in order to ca$h in on the popularity of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?. In either case, we're happy that the short and subsequent cartoons were produced.

SOME HAVE EXPRESSED disappointment at the ROGER RABBIT/BABY HERMAN Cartoons by stating that they were not like the ROGER RABBIT feature film. To them we must remind them that the cartoons are not on the same level budgetarily or otherwise. The cartoons are just that, cartoons. They exist in order to give a little variety to the program.

BEYOND THE REALM of being a warm-up and laugh getter for the movie audience, we must realize that there is yet another dimension to these latter-day animations. In addition to the usual aspects of a cartoon's having funny characters, snappy hip dialogue, over the top sight gags and a lively soundtrack featuring both appropriately chosen music and befitting sound effects; we have yet another complex element here.

WE MUST KEEP in mind that for whatever reason they were made, their genesis was steeped in satire and parody. Whereas the ROGER RABBIT Feature was (among other things) a satire of the Hollywood and indeed the whole American scene, the resulting shorts were driven by their need and purpose of parodying the work of icons of the animation art such as: Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Ub Iwerks, Tex Avery, Fritz Freleng, Bob Clampett, etc., etc., etc........

AS FOR OUR opinion, both Schultz and myself highly approve and wish that the series would continue.

Tummy Trouble follows the misadventures of Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer), who is placed in charge of watching Baby Herman when his mother needs to run errands. Herman instantly throws a temper tantrum that results in Roger panicking, even more-so when Herman winds up accidentally swallowing his favorite rattle. In an effort to restore sanity to Herman's home, he must comfort Herman's stomach pain, control his incessant wailing, and restore order to their home, which rapidly descends into array. Also in the picture is a doctor, who tries to help the situation, but only winds up creating a dangerous playground upon which Roger and Herman wreak havoc. The result is chaotic and reckless as can be.

The Roger Rabbit short films possess similar qualities as Tom & Jerry shorts and the Looney Tunes bits that focus on Sylvester the Cat painstakingly trying to outwit Tweety Bird. The result is a brash and hectic parade of visual gags for seven minutes before a fourth-wall breaking sequence at the tail-end of the short. Tummy Trouble showcases this brand of fast-paced, blink-and-you-miss-it humor done right, with enough emphasis on the limitless boundaries of animation to make this a favorable entry in the genre. The beauty of animation is such ridiculousness like what is shown in this short can be conceived so shamelessly, and through a loving blend of chaos and a smoothly introduced (and flawlessly executed) live-action sequence, there's little not to love here.

Voiced by: Charles Fleischer, Lou Hirsch, and Kathleen Turner. Directed by: Rob Minkoff and Frank Marshall.