Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy film, based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf. It was released in the United States on June 22, 1988, under the Touchstone Pictures banner.
The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, and Joanna Cassidy in live-action roles, with Charles Fleischer and Kathleen Turner voicing Roger and Jessica Rabbit, respectively. It also features cameos from different cartoon characters, known in the film as "toons".
In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot[]
Set in 1947 Hollywood, cartoon characters are known as Toons and most, if not all, toons are paid as actors there. They live in the animated megacity of Toontown, which is owned by businessman Marvin Acme. Perhaps one of the most famous stars there is Roger Rabbit, who costars with Baby Herman in comedy shorts. Lately, however, Roger’s performances have been poor, so his employer, R.K. Maroon, hires private detective Eddie Valiant to investigate the cause of Roger's distractions. Rumor has it that Roger’s bombshell wife, Jessica Rabbit, was having an affair. Following the death of his brother Teddy by the hands of a Toon, Eddie became an alcoholic and lost his sense of humor—thus, he acts very bigoted towards Toons (most of them at least—he gets along well with Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird at various points in the film, and his heart slowly warms up to Roger as well). Reluctantly, Eddie accepts the job and heads to the Ink and Paint Club, where he was told he would find Jessica. There he watches Jessica’s performance on stage and is later visited by Marvin Acme after the show in her dressing room. He is caught eavesdropping by the club bouncer, Bongo the Gorilla, and is kicked out. Outside the club, Eddie finds the window to Jessica’s dressing room and snaps photographs of Jessica playing patty cake with Marvin Acme. Back at the studio, Eddie shows the photographs to Maroon and a very heartbroken Roger, who runs off after vowing that he and Jessica will be happy again. Roger spends the night crying in a dark alley while looking at pictures of them.
The next morning Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the top suspect of the crime, at the crime scene, Eddie is met by Judge Doom of the Toontown District Superior Court and his henchmen, the Toon Patrol. He is anxious to use "Dip", a mixture of chemicals that can dissolve any Toon on contact, on Roger once he can be found. Eddie encounters Baby Herman, Roger's costar, who swears that Roger is innocent and that Acme's will, which would have left Toontown to the Toons, has gone missing; if the will is not found by midnight, Toontown could be sold at a public auction.
Eddie begins further investigating the case with his on-off girlfriend, Dolores, and a Toon taxi named Benny while trying to keep Roger hidden from the Toon Patrol. Eddie discovers that Jessica was forced by Maroon to get close to Acme or else he would have ruined Roger's career. Maroon himself admits that he was forced into blackmail by another person, but is shot before he can reveal who it was to Eddie.
Eddie overcomes his anxiety and chases the murderer into Toontown; though he loses the trail, he recovers Maroon's murder weapon. Eddie encounters Jessica in Toontown who points out that it is Doom's. As they attempt to bring Doom to the authorities and remove him from the judicial position permanently, Eddie, Jessica, and Roger are all captured by the Toon Patrol and taken to the Acme warehouse. Doom reveals his plans; as the sole stockholder in Cloverleaf Industries, he plans to buy Toontown, Acme Corporation, and Maroon Cartoons, and then destroy them to make way for a planned freeway for Los Angeles.
To wipe out Toontown, Doom has built a vehicle with a large Dip vat that he plans to spray throughout the area, wiping out all the Toons, called the Dip Machine. As Roger and Jessica struggle to avoid being hit by the spray of Dip, Eddie manages to free himself and causes (all but the leader, whom Eddie kicks into the Dip Machine) the Toon Patrol to literally “die of laughter” through various antics, leaving the Dip Machine automatically running.
Eddie and Doom then fight, using assorted Toon props in the factory, until Eddie is able to run Doom over with a steamroller. It does not kill him. Instead, he is revealed himself to be a Toon, the same one that killed Eddie's brother. Eddie manages to open the drain on the Dip Machine, showering Doom with the Dip and dissolving him, avenging Teddy's death. Eddie frees Roger and Jessica, while the Dip Machine harmlessly crashes through the warehouse wall into Toontown and immediately smashed by a Toon train.
Valiant washes the Dip away with the emergency fire hydrants, straight to the drain. As the police and numerous Toons enter the warehouse to see what the commotion is, Eddie discovers Marvin Acme's will. It was an apparent blank piece of paper that Acme had given to Jessica that Roger later wrote a love poem to her on, but the will itself was written in disappearing/reappearing ink. With the will in hand and the Tooniverse at peace, the Toons celebrate the ownership of Toontown and sing "Smile Darn Ya Smile" while Roger and Jessica, as well as Eddie and Dolores happily walk into Toontown. Porky Pig says his famous catchphrase, "That's all folks!", closing the film on a high note.
Cast[]
Live-action[]
- Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant
- Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom
- Richard LeParmentier as Lt. Santino
- Joanna Cassidy as Dolores
- Alan Tilvern as R.K. Maroon
- Stubby Kaye as Marvin Acme
- Richard Ridings as Angelo
- Joel Silver as Raoul J. Raoul
Voice cast[]
- Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit
- Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse
- Tony Pope as Goofy and Big Bad Wolf
- Bill Farmer provided additional dialogue as Goofy and also voiced Koko the Clown
- Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, and Sylvester
- Lou Hirsch as Baby Herman: Roger's frequent co-star in Maroon Cartoons. Williams said Baby Herman was a mixture of "Elmer Fudd and Tweety crashed together." Hirsch was the original choice for Benny the Cab.
- April Winchell provides the voice of Mrs. Herman and Baby Herman's baby voice at the beginning of the film.
- Les Perkins as J. Thaddeus Toad
- Cherry Davis as Woody Woodpecker
- Richard Williams as Droopy
- Joe Alaskey as Yosemite Sam
- David Lander as Smarty: The intelligent, wise-cracking leader of the Toon Patrol.
- June Foray as Lena Hyena and Wheezy
- Fred Newman as Stupid
- Peter Westy as Pinocchio
- Mae Questel as Betty Boop
- Mary T. Radford as Hyacinth Hippo
- Jim Cummings, Pat Buttram, and Jim Gallant as Valiant's Bullets
- Morgan Deare as Bongo the Gorilla
- Jack Angel as the Toon Shoes
- Corey Burton as Judge Doom's higher-pitched voice
- Nancy Cartwright as the Dipped Toon Shoe
- Dave Spafford as Daffy Duck (woo-hoo sound)
- Kathleen Turner provides the voice of Jessica Rabbit: Roger Rabbit's astoundingly attractive wife. Amy Irving supplied the singing voice, while Betsy Brantley served as the model for animators to base their picture on. Jessica was also based on actress Veronica Lake.
Archive sound of Frank Sinatra from the song "Witchcraft" was used for the Singing Sword.