Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1988: Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Christopher Lloyd did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Christopher Lloyd portrays Judge Doom who you might tell by his name and appearance that he is quite clearly the villain of the film. Lloyd knows this as well and certainly plays up his character's villainy for all that it is worth. Lloyd does a brilliant job here by really overplaying and underplaying the role at the same time as Doom. He is very reserved for most of the film in his delivery, and has some terrific menace in his quiet stares and intense deliveries. At the same time though he has a lot of fun with the way almost excessively precise way he moves that accentuates Doom as being rather gargoyle like in manner.

Lloyd is really terrific in the way he will go through one scene with his controlled delivery that creates the right threat within Doom, and than suddenly for a moment he will show a crazy manic quality that will come out for a moment along with his absurd teeth. He uses it all to great effect to be extremely entertaining in every one of his scenes in which he appears as well as being appropriately threatening villain. Like Hoskins in the lead role Lloyd does find the right tone with his performance as Doom by having fun in the role through his enjoyable reactions and line deliveries but as well creating the threat Doom should entail. He does this particularly well in the scene where he kills the cartoon shoe. Lloyd shows almost no emotion in the scene except just the slightest bit of pleasure that works perfectly.

Christopher Lloyd is great in each of his scenes but his best is when he reveals that all the murders, buyouts, and frame ups where all part of Judge Doom's plan, Judge Doom's plan for a free way. Lloyd is absolutely hilarious in this scene as he tells the Judge's evil plan to destroy toon town to create a free road to drivers. Lloyd is so impassioned in his performance here that is is extremely amusing because he tells the totally insane plan with such passion and seriousness. Lloyd could not be better in this scene as he makes the plot unraveling so entertaining by making Doom absolutely crazy, but saying ever word of the plan as a man who certainly believes his plan to be entirely sane.

This performance though runs into some trouble when it comes to reviewing it in its final act when it is revealed that Judge Doom is in fact a toon. In the scene Doom reveals two cartoon eyes as well as a high pitched squeaky voice. Obviously the voice is very much altered from Lloyd's actual voice in an artificial fashion, and the Lloyd's own eyes are animated over his. With both his voice and eyes being very much something after the fact your really cannot contribute it all to Lloyd performance, and more of to the special effects. To his credit he wears the eyes as well as the voice perfectly with matching insane expressions in his face that are entirely his own. No matter what though this is nothing against the performance. As it stands this is a fun villainous turn by the underrated Christopher Lloyd who manages to show the joy of performance while still being properly creepy in his role.