With the March 25 2003 DVD rerelease of Who Framed Roger Rabbit we had an excuse to sit down and really watch the movie, instead of just popping it in the machine, turning up the sound, and letting it run while we putter around the house.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a return to Disney's roots with bells on - some of the original Disney shorts featured a live-action Alice and her adventures in an animated world. Roger raised the bar so high, no one will ever get over it, at least in this genre. The animation is all done by hand (no computer animation here!) and the interaction between the characters and Bob Hoskins is flawless. Speaking of which - what was the Academy thinking? While the Golden Globes awarded Hoskins the hugely deserved Best Actor award, the Oscar went to Dustin Hoffman instead. I mean, really, how many actors could have acted with air and made you completely forget you were watching animation?

By now you know the story - 1940s toon-hating private eye is hired by movie producer to get proof that his number-one money maker's animated bombshell wife is playing patty-cake behind the scenes. And in a based-on-true-life twist, the underlying plot of the movie is all about how the Red Cars - which gave Los Angeles the best public transportation system in the country - are being shut down to make way for a freeway.

Usually when you buy a two disc set, you get one disk with the movie in wide-screen mode and another with all the special features. With this set you get one disc that's "Family Friendly," with a full-screen version, all three Roger Rabbit shorts (Tummy Trouble, Rollercoaster Rabbit, and Trail Mix-Up), and an easy on the brain making-of for the younger crowd. The second disk is for the "Enthusiast" and contains the wide-screen version, with optional on-screen facts, director, writer, and producer commentary, and a 35-minute making-of. Probably not the way I would have presented the set, but you can still have a pre-show feature of one or all of the shorts, then during intermission swap out the discs and sit down for the feature presentation with your popcorn. And the other special features, including a deleted scene, round out a very worthwhile re-issue.

"A construction plan of epic proportions. We're calling it a freeway."

"Freeway? What the hell's a freeway?"

"Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, safe, fast! Traffic jams will be a thing of the past."

reviewed by Karen