Video Picks Archive

February 14, 2001
This Week's Video Picks
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Reviews by Matt Heffernan <matt@filmhead.com>

This week my picks are The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000 - ) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988 - ).

This week, as Kenneth Lonergan is celebrating his recent Academy Award nomination for You Can Count on Me, I figured I'd make his other film from last year the first video pick, especially since it has just come out on video. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle is based on the popular 1960s cartoon, except that only the title characters remain animated. Live-action actors Rene Russo and Jason Alexander play Natasha and Boris as they help Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro) try to take over the world. Of course, only our favorite moose and squirrel can stop them. I found it to be a charming throwback to the original series, using the same sense of humor, yet it fared horribly at the box office. Now that Lonergan's screenwriting talent has been validated, perhaps this film will finally get some attention.
Full review from July 1, 2000

This is only the sixth video pick of the year, yet it's the third to feature a Robert Zemeckis film. There's no conspiracy afoot, like giving Cast Away some big promotion (as if it needed it). I just figured that the best second pick would be the seminal work in using computers to bring two-dimensional cartoon characters into a live-action film. Who Framed Roger Rabbit follows private investigator Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) as he tries to figure out who framed his animated client for the murder of Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), the proprietor of Toon Town -- a section of Hollywood where all the animated characters (called "Toons") live. The film is an exhilarating adventure, featuring all the great characters from Disney, Warner Bros, and the other top animation studios of the 1940s. Most memorable, though, is Roger's voluptuous wife, Jessica, who is exquisitely voiced by Kathleen Turner. The film won four Academy Awards, including a special one for pioneering the process that films like Rocky and Bullwinkle would later use.

Here's some merchandise for sale at

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)	-- VHS
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)	-- DVD
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie Joke Book, by David Lewman	-- Paperback
The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward & Bill Scott, by Keith Scott	-- Hardcover
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)	-- VHS
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)	-- DVD

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