• ROGER RABBIT sequel will use motion capture technology

    Adam Reed

    by: Adam Reed
    November 6th, 2009

    roger rabbit 2

    I have been behind Robert Zemeckis for quite some time now. After all, he is the man that brought us the fantastic BACK TO THE FUTURE franchise. Then Zemeckis met his true love, motion capture technology. He then shared that love with the world in THE POLAR EXPRESS in 2004. Families everywhere were captivated by the spectacle.

    Next, he used it to tell the ancient story of BEOWULF. I don’t know what to say about that project, as I never saw it, like the majority of America. Now, this holiday season, it looks like his technologically-advanced methods are going to breathe new life into the old holiday story, A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Though I doubt it will be able to compete with the MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL or SCROOGED, I do think the film looks like quite the Christmas treat.

    Well, now it looks like Zemeckis is going to use motion capture technology to update the sequel to one of his most beloved films of the past, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. We all knew that it was highly likely that Zemeckis would use motion capture on this project, but I’m not sure any of us thought he would use it in the way he currently has planned.

    Robert Zemeckis has announced that this ROGER RABBIT ain’t gonna be the one you remember. Not in regards to Roger Rabbit himself, but in regards to the human characters in the story, like detective Eddie Valiant. Zemeckis has revealed that he will not be using motion capture for the cartoon characters, saying “I wouldn’t use it for the cartoon characters, because I think they should stay two-dimensional because that’s what — I wouldn’t dimensonalize Roger. And I couldn’t dimensonalize Jessica even if I wanted to because she doesn’t have a nose. We wouldn’t want to give her a nose.”

    roger rabbit 1

    I absolutely understand why you wouldn’t use the technology on those two-dimensional cartoon characters, but that still doesn’t justify the use of motion capture for the human characters (oh, and Jessica did have a nose from the side, look closely at the above picture). I am quite disturbed to learn that the human/cartoon interaction will be missing in the sequel. That is where half the comedy and uniqueness came from in the first ROGER RABBIT.

    I was so eager to see Roger Rabbit and pals back in action, but now I feel like the project is extremely bittersweet. What do you all think? Am I simply overreacting, or is this truly a bad creative decision on Robert Zemeckis’ behalf? Let me know your thoughts.

    Source Screen Rant

    Damn You Hollywood!, News |

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    • Matt T.
      The entire charm of Roger Rabbit was that live-action humans and 2-D cartoons interacted. Let's face it, motion capture is cool and all, and it may be Zemeckis' most favoritest thing in the world, but Beowulf doesn't look like a live-action person. He looks like a video game character. Render humans that way, and you lose the whole point of the movie. A silly move, I'd say.
    • Matt T.
      The entire charm of Roger Rabbit was that live-action humans and 2-D cartoons interacted. Let's face it, motion capture is cool and all, and it may be Zemeckis' most favoritest thing in the world, but Beowulf doesn't look like a live-action person. He looks like a video game character. Render humans that way, and you lose the whole point of the movie. A silly move, I'd say.
    • Yeah, of course Jessica has a nose from the side. But she doesn't from the front! That's the upside to 2D. Pesky thing about 3D is that if you model it from the side, it's still there in the front! You're not catching him in a contradiction.
    • That sounds like it's just using the technology just to use it now. I mean the original is memorable BEACUSE of it's creative use of 2d/3d interactions.

      I'm still unnerved that they are making a sequel to begin with, but now 2d mixing with cgi people, it'll be a little too artificial from the sound of it. Hopefully the toons won't be flash animated, but I'm not holding my breath.

      Still hopeful though because Zemeckis usually knows what he's doing. except with Beowolf, which i did see. It was so meh, i forget he used mo-cap with it sometimes even.
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