It turns out the judge isn't nearly as scary as I'd remembered.
I just watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the first time in well over a decade. Here’s the thing - WFRR is, without a doubt, the singlehandedly most memorable movie from my childhood. I saw it at some ridiculously inappropriate young age (four, maybe?) and while I was obsessed with it, it was also the cause of my reoccuring early childhood nightmare. I was petrified (though no word quite does my fear justice) of the judge at the end when his eyeballs pop out and his eyes turn red and his voice gets highpitched. It was the most terrifying thing in my four year old life and for years, I’d make my mom check my closet before bed to make sure ‘the judge’ wasn’t hiding in there. (This childhood fear graduated to nightmares about alligators drowning me around the age of 6 or 7, but the fear of Judge Doom has long since stayed with me).
I’d pretty much forgotten about that movie, until the other night, the roommates and I were discussing old movies and Who Framed Roger Rabbit came into the convo. I immediately added it to my netflix. Watching it almost 20 years later, I’m no less enthralled by this movie, but substantially less afraid of the Judge.