Welcome to the weird side of cinema where the beloved cartoon characters suddenly appear in the physical world alongside real actors. Usually, this combo is used in kids’ movies, but there are some exceptions.
Here are the eight best movies combining live-action and animation.
1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Contrary to popular belief, Roger Rabbit was not the first film to combine animation with live actors, but it was certainly the most important in terms of technology and production. Visual effects specialists had to figure out how to place the drawn characters in a 3D space and make them look like part of the environment. After all, in 1988, when CGI was just a dream, “Roger Rabbit” was a real technological breakthrough that looks impressive to this day.
2. Alice (1988)
Czech master animator Jan Švankmajer has been experimenting with visual and narrative forms in cinema his whole life. In “Alice,” Švankmajer combines puppet animation with real footage, thus subtly capturing the wonders of Lewis Carroll’s world. After 30-something years, it still has that old-timey charm to it.
3. Space Jam (1996)
After Roger Rabbit, many directors tried to replicate the success of Robert Zemeckis’s film, and Warner Bros. made Space Jam. It’s an absolutely wacky movie about cartoony characters from Looney Toons teaming up with Michael Jordan to defeat evil aliens who have sucked the talents out of NBA all-stars. It may not be the best Warner Bros. movie ever made, but it instantly became a hit among kids. We loved it growing up and laughed at the absurdity of toonifying real people, so that’s a win in my book.
