Roger Rabbit Pinata

In Mexico pinatas are a very old and beloved tradition, and they are present in every children’s birthday party. When “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was premiered in Mexico under the name “Quién Engañó a Roger Rabbit”, it was an instant hit and was played in cinemas for at least half year (from July to December 1988). Many products from the movie were sold at that time, mainly stickers, keychains, clothing and novelty items (there were some toys and plush dolls, but they were imported illegally to our country by small contrabandists known as “fayuqueros”). Of course, there were a lot of unofficial products, and one of them were pinatas for children parties; here is a picture that one of my friends sent me some time ago, in which he’s about to smack a Roger Rabbit pinata:

Here’s a closeup, in which you can appreciate it better:

In some way, it’s sad that there were children smacking and destroying those poor Roger Rabbit pinatas in their parties. But when you are a children, you don’t really care about beating your favorite character: you care about the candy inside the pinata XD

Roger looked nice, hope he made a lot of children happy that day =3

Everything began with a rabbit

It's incredible how is this blog mainly related to Roger Rabbit, and I haven't written a proper article about him, his movie or his friends.

Well, maybe I should start from the beginning.

How this started?

Let's go into the past, exactly 20 years ago. I was 8 at the time, and was a very playful and imaginative kid, with some bad temper and a handful of friends, but not close friends. In fact, my imagination was my best friend. I wasn't the kind of kid that creates imaginary friends (eventually I had them -sorta- in my teen years), but instead I lived in my own world where everything was under my control. Thanks to my erratic behaviour and my short temper, I lost some of my friends and was bullied all the time. Somedays, I felt really alone. Like if nobody understood me, or cared to.

I found my escape valve in two things: my imagination, and cartoons.

So, when I knew that Disney (better said, Touchstone) was preparing the premiere of a odd, unusual movie involving cartoons living in a real world with real people, I got really interested. There was a program that was broadcasted every sunday evening, with little animated shorts, some movie features and trailers from the upcoming movies. And one of those trailers was the one from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". I don't know exactly why, but Roger Rabbit got my full attention since I saw him. His wacky antics and how he interacted with Eddie Valiant and the real world were like a revelation to me. I wanted so madly to watch the movie, and I saw that trailer every single time it was played on TV, until I started to learn the dialogs between characters.

Finally, I went to movie theater (by the way: it still exists, but now is a performing arts theater). I ENJOYED EVERY PART OF THE MOVIE. I was really pleased to see how my favorite classic cartoons were living among us humans, in our world. I got really surprised when I saw Daffy and Donald playing the piano in the same space, and how Bugs and Mickey Mouse were having a discussion about giving Eddie a "spare" in his free fall. But what I loved the most was certainly Roger Rabbit. Oh boy, that bunny is like a rollercoaster of emotions and disaster coming to your face! I laughed lots with him. I felt worried for him when he was hanging on the rope with his wife Jessica, and they were about to get "dipped". I felt the same emotions he was feeling in certain moments, and I really had a great time watching his wacky antics.

Months later, I saw the movie on VHS and enjoyed it even more, maybe because I could rewind it for playing my favorite parts, and I could watch it as many times as possible. I was still in love with Roger, and he became one of my favorite characters (of course, among Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and some others from a couple of japanese animated features and saturday morning cartoons).

However, I grew up and moved up to other things. I was becoming a teenager, and I needed to find something more suitable for my entertainment, since I began to consider Roger's movie as childish (ironically, I enjoyed Space Jam --a movie that hasn't aged too well, IMHO). I went into japanese anime, and ignored almost all american cartoons (excepting maybe Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Freakazoid, Biker Mice from Mars and Pinky and the Brain, among others in the same line). Forgot about Roger and how much he meant to me, because I was very busy doing fanarts of my favorite anime shows like Sailormoon, Dragonball Z, Card Captor Sakura, and else.

Some years ago, I got tired of japanese animation. Every single show that started to watch, reminded me to an older show. This turned to be a frequent issue, so I declined to watch more anime. Instead, I went back into cartoons... But felt like if still needed something else. Something that wasn't there.

The date: early days of January 2007. The hour: 7:00 P.M. I was doing some zapping, until I got into Disney Channel just in time. They were to play their evening daily feature, and I decided to wait for knowing if that movie will get my interest, or was one of those features I watched lately. Then, when I saw Touchstone Pictures logo on TV, I knew something was going on. But when I saw the intro title, I got in shock: it was "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"!! I wanted so madly to watch that movie again!!

For a couple of hours (with commercials, of course), I felt like that little kid that enjoyed watching a wacky rabbit doing anything for a smile. I went back into my childhood.

And after the movie finished, I knew I HAD TO HAD MY OWN ROGER RABBIT DOLL.


A week later, I got him. Then I got another, and another, and the DVD, and another rabbit, and the official comic (in readable shape), and another rabbit, and some figurines, and another rabbit...

Like as when I was a kid, I fell in love with Roger Rabbit. But this time, I took this a little more seriously XD

Almost two years had passed since that day. And I still love Roger, and I will keep loving him. Because he was part of my troubled childhood, and because he returned to my adult life for bringing me a huge smile. And, of course, because he rocks!!

I love you, Roger Rabbit. I really, really love you <3