Tummy Trouble (1989) User Reviews

The Danger of Rattlers

[travisimo · 7/10 · 6 March 2004]

"Tummy Trouble" is my least favorite of the three Roger Rabbit shorts, possibly because the setting is pretty ordinary. The other two shorts feature more interesting stories in places I like to go (amusement parks and national parks). "Tummy Trouble" is very similar to the opening cartoon in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," in which Roger is running around protecting Baby Herman; only to be the victim of some physical gags that get more and more severe as the cartoon progresses. This isn't to say that I didn't like the comedy displayed in "Tummy Trouble." I especially liked the fall from the sky in which Roger crashes through all the floors in the hospital. I also thought Roger "catching" the elevator was pretty funny.

Also there were some things that stuck out to me while watching "Tummy Trouble." In the beginning of the cartoon when Roger visits Baby Herman in the hospital room, you can see a diagram of the inner body of Mickey Mouse hanging on the wall along with a picture of the doctor that appeared in a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon. I also thought Baby Herman was pretty funny and memorable in his on-screen persona. Then we get to see the Baby Herman we know and love after the cartoon is over. Lastly, I just liked the title card of the cartoon with the wording, "Walt Disney Pictures and Steven Spielberg present…" Wow, you just don't see that too often, and we probably never will again!

My IMDb Rating: 7/10

A short that proves there is still gas in a fairly small tank

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 23 March 2016]

Tummy Trouble follows the misadventures of Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer), who is placed in charge of watching Baby Herman when his mother needs to run errands. Herman instantly throws a temper tantrum that results in Roger panicking, even more-so when Herman winds up accidentally swallowing his favorite rattle. In an effort to restore sanity to Herman's home, he must comfort Herman's stomach pain, control his incessant wailing, and restore order to their home, which rapidly descends into array. Also in the picture is a doctor, who tries to help the situation, but only winds up creating a dangerous playground upon which Roger and Herman wreak havoc. The result is chaotic and reckless as can be.

The Roger Rabbit short films possess similar qualities as Tom & Jerry shorts and the Looney Tunes bits that focus on Sylvester the Cat painstakingly trying to outwit Tweety Bird. The result is a brash and hectic parade of visual gags for seven minutes before a fourth-wall breaking sequence at the tail-end of the short. Tummy Trouble showcases this brand of fast-paced, blink-and-you-miss-it humor done right, with enough emphasis on the limitless boundaries of animation to make this a favorable entry in the genre. The beauty of animation is such ridiculousness like what is shown in this short can be conceived so shamelessly, and through a loving blend of chaos and a smoothly introduced (and flawlessly executed) live-action sequence, there's little not to love here.

Voiced by: Charles Fleischer, Lou Hirsch, and Kathleen Turner. Directed by: Rob Minkoff and Frank Marshall.

Spoofing the Spoofers

[redryan64 · 8/10 · 16 April 2015]

PERHAPS IT WAS done to see if we could bear witness to a sort of Renaissance of the Theatrical Cartoon Short, or maybe it was just made in order to ca$h in on the popularity of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?. In either case, we're happy that the short and subsequent cartoons were produced.

SOME HAVE EXPRESSED disappointment at the ROGER RABBIT/BABY HERMAN Cartoons by stating that they were not like the ROGER RABBIT feature film. To them we must remind them that the cartoons are not on the same level budgetarily or otherwise. The cartoons are just that, cartoons. They exist in order to give a little variety to the program.

BEYOND THE REALM of being a warm-up and laugh getter for the movie audience, we must realize that there is yet another dimension to these latter-day animations. In addition to the usual aspects of a cartoon's having funny characters, snappy hip dialogue, over the top sight gags and a lively soundtrack featuring both appropriately chosen music and befitting sound effects; we have yet another complex element here.

WE MUST KEEP in mind that for whatever reason they were made, their genesis was steeped in satire and parody. Whereas the ROGER RABBIT Feature was (among other things) a satire of the Hollywood and indeed the whole American scene, the resulting shorts were driven by their need and purpose of parodying the work of icons of the animation art such as: Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Ub Iwerks, Tex Avery, Fritz Freleng, Bob Clampett, etc., etc., etc........

AS FOR OUR opinion, both Schultz and myself highly approve and wish that the series would continue.

Roger's OK but he's no Bugs Bunny...

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 23 January 2011]

Baby Herman swallows a rattle while in the care of Roger Rabbit (which is why I never leave a rodent to supervise MY kids) and is rushed to the hospital where all manner of craziness ensues.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Roger Rabbit shorts, finding Roger's voice a little on the irritating side and the relentlessly madcap nature and breakneck speed of the action, something akin to Tex Avery on speed, just a touch too excessive for my taste (I had the same problem with Spielberg's equally insane Animaniacs).

Even though Tummy Trouble doesn't rate as highly with me as it does with other reviewers here on IMDb, I still recommend it if only for the fact that pneumatic Jessica Rabbit appears wearing a tight nurse's outfit (cue wolf-whistles, leg thumping on table, jaw hitting the floor, eyes popping out, and steam erupting from ears!).

(Please excuse the fact that all the reviews I have written for the Roger Rabbit shorts are almost identical—since all three cartoons follow exactly the same formula, I thought I would save myself some time!)

Brilliant I say old chap, Brilliant!!!

[rizzostudios · 10/10 · 23 April 2006]

Man oh man, this is just one of those classic toons that just can't be explained. Along with Bug's Bunny's "Rabbit Fire" and Tex Avery's "Swing Shift Cinderella" this is just a classic!!! All the jokes are hilarious!!! When Roger is dancing and his fluffy little cotton tail is grabbed by the male nurse. And then when they pass through all the doors which have words that all end in Ology until it gets to Burbank. Then, "ANISTETIC" and then a mallet to the head. All of them are just classic well done jokes, it's a must see for any Looney Tune, Tex Avery, Tom & Jerry and Roger Rabbit fan!!! A big TEN from the Rizz man!!!

So did Roger Rabbit exist before "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 31 July 2007]

As "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was the first movie that I ever saw in the theaters - although I was four years old, so I didn't really understand it - "Tummy Trouble" was fairly interesting. I would imagine that some of what happens to Roger here might happen to people going in for operations; I mean, some of the stuff in that hospital did look fairly menacing.

One thing about which I'm still curious is whether or not Roger Rabbit existed before "WFRR". When I read Wikipedia's article about him, it sounded as if he got created specifically for that movie; I had always assumed that he had existed at least since the 1940s. Does anyone know for sure? But I digress. This is a pretty funny cartoon.

The best Roger Rabbit short...period

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 29 October 2007]

After the wonderful film WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, Disney Pictures experimented by making several short cartoons starring Roger Rabbit and they were shown before feature films--much like the original purpose of classic Warner Brothers, MGM and Disney toons. Unfortunately, Disney also chose to pair these amazing shorts with some of the worst films of the era--virtually guaranteeing they would never see the light of day! Today, the only way you can see them is on an out of print videotape entitled "THE BEST OF ROGER RABBIT". It is NOT available on DVD nor does it appear to be coming out in the near future.

In this short, Roger is, as usual, watching the troublesome Baby Herman. Not surprisingly, Baby Herman is a real handful and nearly kills Roger again and again as Roger tries to save the kid's life. Things really move into high gear when the baby swallows his rattle and Roger rushes him to the most insane hospital ever placed on film! You just have to see it to believe it.

Now as to the quality of this cartoon, it is amazingly violent and insane--even more so than the typical Tex Avery cartoon of the 1950s. Because the characters are so funny, the animation quality so superb and the action so intense, this is one of the greatest cartoon shorts you can find---period. Too bad the powers that be at Disney were idiots who didn't realize they had gold on their hands!

UPDATE 2/09--According to IMDb, "This animated short can be found on the Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Vista Series DVD, released in 2003".

The first of three shorts starring Roger Rabbit

[TheOneManBoxOffice · 9/10 · 30 January 2015]

In 1988, producer Steven Spielberg and director Robert Zemeckis made a landmark film that not only served as a love letter to classic cartoons from the 1940s and film noir, but also combined live-action filmmaking and animation. That film was "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", based on the novel "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" by humorist and novelist Gary K. Wolfe. Released under Disney affiliate Touchstone Pictures, it was a huge technical achievement at the time and was a huge success at the box office. The film was, indeed, a big deal, and to this day, the movie holds up well. As a response to the film's success, three Roger Rabbit shorts, also produced by Spielberg were made and released individually to coincide with feature films distributed by Buena Vista. "Tummy Trouble", made one year after the release of "Roger Rabbit", was the first of the three shorts to be released.

The film starts similarly to how "Roger Rabbit" began, where Roger (Charles Fleischer) is given the task to look after Baby Herman (April Winchell/Lou Hirsch). Unfortunately things go awry for Roger, as Baby Herman accidentally swallows his own rattle, so Roger takes him to the hospital to get it out. Hi-jinks ensue, including Roger accidentally swallowing the rattle after getting it out of Herman, and being mistaken as the patient. In the end, they do finish the cartoon, but the film doesn't end immediately. The finale becomes a live-action/animation combo like in the movie, and is shown as just another ordinary day of filming a cartoon (which we all know is not how its actually done, but a lot of us wish it did).

The short was released alongside the 1989 film "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", and like the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", it hearkens back to the cartoons that were made back in the 1940s, such as the Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Popeye, etc. Hell, Tex Avery's Droopy Dog even makes a cameo appearance at some point in the picture. The animation is top notch, fast-paced, and fluent, and there's even some use of early CGI in parts of the film, similar to how it was used in a couple of Disney's prior feature-length pictures like "Oliver & Company" (1988) and "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986, also known as "Basil the Great Mouse Detective" internationally). It was an impressive appetizer of what was to come from the Disney studio, as five months later, Walt Disney Pictures would release the animated movie musical "The Little Mermaid", thus beginning the era known as the Disney Renaissance.

Personally, the best way to watch the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is seeing this, and the other two shorts ("Roller Coaster Rabbit" and "Trail Mix-Up") first, because it builds up to whats to come when you get to the movie. The three shorts were first released with the movie on the Vista Series DVD version, but today, it can also be found on the 25th Anniversary edition Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack as bonus features. The next time you put the movie on, give this and the other two shorts a watch.

Classic!

[whammy666 · 9/10 · 4 June 2006]

This is classic, it is a double feature with the HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS movie. Alright, so Honey I Shrunk The Kids is a good movie, but THIS is even better. I got the movie at a garage sale just for this cartoon. This is 7 minutes of nonstop hilarious action, with Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman. It has all the classic cartoon gags you love, and is definitely Roger Rabbit's best cartoon. Also, the ending to this cartoon is brilliant and also pretty funny. This is a must see for cartoon fans, and even people who don't like cartoons. Get Heny O Shrunk The Kids not for that movie, but for "Tummy Trouble." It is a laugh riot!

Too many cooks

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 September 2015]

"Tummy Trouble" is a Roger Rabbit 8-minute short film from over 25 years ago, the first one actually I believe. Unfortunately, this one does not even come close to Bugs Bunny's finest short films. This one here is much more crass and in your face, but it also does forget to be actually funny while being very loud. This is the first directorial effort from Rob Minkoff ("The Lion King", "Stuart Little") and it's safe to say that he stepped up his game a lot as his career progressed. Not even the inclusion of Droopy or the fact that Walt Disney worked on this short film here as well could make it a good watch. It was obviously a very prestigious project, but the outcome is just disappointing. The mix of live action and animation (the big strength of Roger Rabbit) was only included very briefly at the end and was still by far the best thing about this movie. Everything before it pretty much sucked. Not recommended. Also, how do 6 writers work on a film that does not even run for 8 minutes. Classic example of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman go to hospital

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 28 February 2017]

Having recently got one of my all-time favourite films 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' on DVD, all three Roger Rabbit shorts were included as bonuses. And what great bonuses they were, thoroughly enjoyable in their own way, go perfectly with the film and almost as good.

The first Roger Rabbit short 'Tummy Trouble' does a very good job cooking up material that's funny and imaginative in a setting as ordinary as a hospital, whereas the other two cartoons had more expansive settings that allowed the humour to run wild even more. The basic story is not that special, if you remember the hilarious made-up short that started 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' you have the basic story structure for all three Roger Rabbit cartoons except in different settings.

What stops things from being predictable, repetitive and tired is the increasingly intensely frenetic physical comedy/violence (Roger always getting the worst of it), the wonderfully relentlessly madcap pacing that reminds one of a slightly faster paced Tex Avery cartoon (while occasionally feeling a touch rushed) and writing that's never less than very amusing and at its best hysterical (like with the crashing through the floors, in the operating theatre and the elevator).

Anybody familiar with 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toons', or who grew up with them, and only saw the Roger Rabbit cartoons recently like me, will love the vibrancy of the colours, the detail of the backgrounds and fluidity of the movements in 'Tummy Trouble'. The live-action sequence at the end like in tribute to 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' was an inspired touch. The music is rousing and energetically orchestrated, Roger and Baby Herman work wonders together and the voice acting is fine.

Overall, great first Roger Rabbit cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Absolutely freaking hilarious gut-buster!

[Catherine_Grace_Zeh · 10/10 · 3 November 2006]

TUMMY TROUBLE, in my opinion, is an absolutely freaking hilarious gut-buster! I haven't seen it in a while, but I still enjoyed it. It's hard to say which mishap was my favorite. There are so many funny mishaps in this that it's hard to choose. However, I think it was always funny when a mishap occurred, especially in the hospital. I always got hard laughs out of that. If you ask me, it was really funny when the rattle got swallowed, alb. Don't get me wrong, because I'm not for that kind of thing. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I always got hearty laughs out of it, and the animation and drawing were very nice. In conclusion, I guarantee you'll get lots of hearty laughs out of this pure gut-buster.

Funny as Hell!!

[superboy478 · 9 June 2002]

I first saw this cartoon when I rented the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Disney studios decided to show this brief cartoon before the movie actually started and I must say, it was absolutely funny. I thought Steven Spielberg did such a brilliant job producing this funny segment along with cool action sequences.

An unbelievably insane classic cartoon!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 21 July 2005]

I thought that the characters were really funny and all had great personalities. The animation in My opinion was crisp, clean, and really clear. Not to mention beautiful! Most of the characters in this show are hilarious Looney Tunes characters that we all love. in My opinion these characters are the funnies and talented ever seen. In fact, The things that goes on in this series' cartoons are in My opinion nuts which that is what makes them hilarious! There are so many to like and laugh at and the silly things they do! If you like the original Looney Tunes and animated films then I strongly recommend that you watch this movie today!

Tummy Trouble is why I haven't sold the tape

[strid333 · 30 August 2003]

Ok, I own the Honey I Shrunk the Kids video. At the time of purchase, I would say that I keep video for Honey. But now that I've grown up and I am no longer a kid, I keep it for the Roger Rabbit short film. I also still pop in my Who Framed tape because of the maturity in some of the jokes.