In the world of Back To The Future. Always one to push technology forward, he decided to take on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as his follow-up, which takes place in a world where cartoon characters and human beings co-exist. The movie was adapted from the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? but outside of taking some characters and lines of dialogue, the two are very different plotwise.
The plot of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a noir mystery in the vein of Hook) being getting sucked into a murder mystery involving cartoon star Roger Rabbit. The seamless mixture of live-action and cartoon characters was groundbreaking at the time, which was bolstered by great acting and writing. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is considered a classic but despite sequels concepts being developed, a follow-up has yet to happen.
One notable thing about Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is how it changes from watching it as a child to an adult. For children, the colorful blend of cartoon characters and Roger's wacky antics offset some of the darker elements, like the scenes involving Dumb And Dumber To) in his office.
This fits with the noir tone of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which walks a fine line between adult humor and family entertainment. The plot kicks off when Eddie is hired to catch Jessica "cheating" on her husband Roger. This leads to him peeking through a window where Jessica and "gag king" Marvin Acme are inside, where they play what sounds like a very racy game of patty-cake while a shocked Eddie looks on. The next scene reveals photos of a distraught Roger looking through Eddie's photos to reveal the two actually are playing patty-cake. This could be read that Roger is upset that his wife is being "intimate" with someone else, or that patty-cake means something different.
In the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? it's the latter, with the game being the Toon equivalent of a one-night stand. The book itself has "patty-cake" as a term for infidelity and since the Toons aren't designed for anything spicier, patty-cake is about as R-rated as they get. The Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble also ends with Jessica seductively suggesting she and Roger go home for a game of "patty-cake." Disney was famously concerned Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was far too racy, but since Robert Zemeckis had final cut, he was allowed to release his preferred version. Nowadays, the "patty-cake" scene and a few other gags likely wouldn't have made it in.
