10 Movies Smarter Than Anyone Wants To Admit

8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Total Recall Arnie
Buena Vista Pictures

Unlike a lot of the other movies on this list, this isn't a case of no one wanting to admit that the film is good, as this movie has scores of fans. But if you don't know the behind the scenes stuff, then congrats, this movie is about to get even better for you.

This film not only has one of the tightest written Hollywood scripts in history, but it also has one of the most clever productions. Looking behind the scenes is an animators wet dream, with creative and inventive solutions for the various problems with introducing animated characters to live action settings.

One of the most clever moves they pulled was the famous "bump the lamp" move, where Roger bumps into a lamp that's hanging over his head. Not only does the interaction with the lamp come off as one hundred percent realistic, but the lamp proceeding to swing casts realistic shadows on the 2D character. A move that was not required of the filmmakers, but that they did just to make the illusion all the more convincing.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?