Who Framed Roger Rabbit (film)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Amblin Entertainment, and Touchstone Pictures in June 22, 1988. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters interact directly with human beings. Who Framed Roger Rabbit stars Bob Hoskins as a private detective who investigates a murder involving the famous cartoon character, Roger Rabbit. Charles Fleischer co-stars as the titular character's voice, Christopher Lloyd as the villain, Kathleen Turner as the voice of Roger's cartoon wife, and Joanna Cassidy as the detective's girlfriend.
Plot
In a stereotypical 1948 cartoon, Somethin's Cookin', Roger Rabbit messes up (he sees birds instead of seeing stars). Detective Eddie Valiant watches him blow his lines, and R.K. Maroon, Roger's boss, tells Eddie that he thinks Roger`s wife, Jessica Rabbit, has been making Roger suspicious that he is cheating on him. He sends Eddie to figure out if Jessica ha been cheating, to which Ediie replies he will not work with Toons. (A Toon killed Eddie`s brother.) RK convinces Eddie, and he finds out that Jessica has been playing patty-cake---literally---with Marvin Acme, the owner of Toontown.
Eddie takes a few pictures of the patty-cake game and shows them to Roger. Roger gets drunk and storms off, declaring that him adn Jessica will be happy no matter what. Roger sits outside of the Acme Factory crying wile looking at pictures of him and Jessica. The next day, Eddie finds out that Marvin has been killed by a safe dropped on his head. Roger is the prime suspect, according to Judge Doom, the Judge of ToonTown. Doom says that when he catches Roger, he will kill him using the Dip, the only thing capable of killing a cartoon character. Doom has enlisted the help of the Toon Patrol, a gang of weasels named Smartass, Stupid, Sleazy, Psycho, Greasy, and Wheezy, to capture Roger.
Eddie goes home and recieves a tip from Roger`s co-star, Baby Herman, that Roger did not kill Marvin. He said that whoever did kill him, however, must have been after Marvin`s will, which supposedly left ToonTown to the Toons. Without it, anyone could destroy ToonTown. Eddie discovers Roger in his room, pleading innocent. Eddie decides to take his case, only because whoever set Roger up was also making Eddie look bad. He hides Roger in a bar, only to have Doom find him the next day. Now, Doom and the Patrol are after both Eddie and Roger.
After saving Benny the Cab from being "dipped" for driving on the sidewalk, Benny drives Eddie and Roger to safety. They go to a movie theater, where a news bulletin says that RK has signed a deal with Cloverleaf Industries, who want to buy ToonTown.
Eddie and Roger go to interrogate RK, and Eddie tells Roger to stay outside and guard. Roger gets captured by Jessica, who throws him in the trunk of her car. While questioning RK, RK tells Eddie that Cloverleaf wanted ToonTown, but it would ``become land for the free-`` then RK is shot before he can finish the word. When Eddie goes to see who shot RK to death, he sees Jessica running to her car and leaving. He follows her into ToonTown. While chasing her, Eddie thinks he has found her. He is fooled, as he has just found Lena Hyena, who wants to marry him all of a sudden. Scared, Eddie runs away into the men`s bathroom, except...there is no men`s bathroom! Eddie starts falling to what he thinks is his doom. While falling, Eddie runs into Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, who are skydiving. They both taunt him by saying they have a spare, but Bugs says that Eddie probably doesn`t want it. Thinking Bugs means a spare parachute, Eddie pleads Bugs to give it to him until Mickey says, ``Better let him have it, Bugs!`` Turns out the ``spare`` was a tire, which weighs Eddie down.
Eddie thinks he is about to die, until Lena catches him. After escaping her, Eddie encounters Jessica and finds out that she is innocent, and that Judge Doom killed Marvin Acme and RK Maroon. Benny comes and drives Jessica and Eddie to chase Doom, until, Doom makes Benny slip. Jessica and Eddie fall out to the ground, and Benny pretends to be dead. Doom and the Patrol take Jessica and Eddie to the Acme Factory.
Roger comes by Benny, and Benny finds the strength to get up and drive Roger to where Doom is holding Eddie and Jessica. Roger grabs a gun and tells Benny to call the cops. Doom revelas that he is the boss of Cloverleaf, and that he will dip Toontown off the face of earth and put a freeway in it`s place. Roger then comes and starts threatening Doom with a gun, until Sleazy drops a pile of bricks on him. He sees stars, and becomes happy because he couldn`t see stars at the beggining of the movie. Doom has Roger and Jessica tied up, and leaves the weasels alone to dip Roger and Jessica with a dip cannon. Eddie gets an idea and makes the weasels laugh themselves to death, except for Smarty, who falls in a pool of dip.
Eddie gets ready to shut the dip cannon off, until Doom stops him. Eddie then runs over Doom with a steamroller, but Doom survives, because he was a Toon. But not just any Toon---he killed Eddie`s brother! After a long fight, Eddie reversed the dip cannon and fires all the dip left in the world at Doom, killing him. He lets Roger and Jessica down just as the cops show up, as well as a bunch of famous cartoon characters. Roger is proven innocent, and Muppet`s will shows up. Toontown now belongs to the Toons! Anyone sings ``Smile, Darn Ya, Smile`` as Porky Pig closes the movie with his famous ``Th-th-tha-th-th-th-that-th-that`s all, folks!`` and Tinkerbell flies by.
(Plot added to this wiki by user Cartoonist Guy.)
Cast
| Bob Hoskins | Edward "Eddie" Valiant |
| Charles Fleischer | Roger Rabbit |
| Christopher Lloyd | Judge Doom |
| Joanna Cassidy | Dolores |
| Gloria Blondell | Benny the Cab |
| Kathleen Turner | Jessica Rabbit (Speaking Voice) |
| Amy Irving | Jessica Rabbit (Singing Voice) |
| Betsy Brantley | Jessica Rabbit (Performance Model) |
| Nicholas Martorell Jr. | Baby Herman (Baby Voice) |
| Lou Hirsch | Baby Herman (Adult Voice) |
| Stubby Kaye | Marvin Acme |
| Alan Tilvern | R. K. Maroon |
| Richard LeParmentier | Lt. Santino |
| Joel Silver | Raoul J. Raoul |
| Paul Springer | Augie |
| Richard Ridings | Angelo |
| Edwin Craig | Arthritic Cowboy/Man in Bar |
| Lindsay Holiday | Soldier In Bar |
| Mike Edmonds | Stretch |
| Morgan Deare | Editor |
| Danny Capri | Kid #1 |
| Christopher Hollosy | Kid #2 |
| John-Paul Sipla | Kid #3 |
| Laura Frances | Blonde Starlet |
| Andrew Robinson | Andy Devine |
| Joel Cutrara | Forensic #1 |
| Billy J. Mitchell | Forensic #2 |
| Eric B. Sindon | Mailman |
| Ed Herlihy | Newscaster |
| James O'Connell | Conductor |
| Eugene Guirterrez | Teddy Valiant |
| April Winchell | Mrs. Herman |
| Mae Questel | Marvin the Martian |
| Tom Hiddleston | Gorilla |
| Wayne Allwine | Mickey Mouse |
| Frank Gorshin | Bugs Bunny |
| Tony Pope | Goofy |
| Mel Blanc | Porky Pig |
| Tony Anselmo | Donald Duck |
| Rob Paulsen | Daffy Duck |
| Anna Paquin | Tweety Bird |
| Jeff Bergman | Sylvester the Cat |
| Mary T. Radford | Hyacinth Hippo |
| Hank Azaria | Yosemite Sam |
| Jeff Bennett | Foghorn Leghorn |
| Jim Gallant | Bullet #1 |
| Jim Cummings | Bullet #2 |
| Pat Buttram | Bullet #3 |
| Sam Raimi | Additional Weasels |
| Russi Taylor | Minnie Mouse |
| Wyatt Smith | Toontown Bluebirds #1 |
| Steven Yeun | Toontown Bluebirds #2 |
| Jordan Kaiser | Toontown Bluebirds #3 |
| Alyson Stoner | Toontown Bluebirds #4 |
| Peter Westy | Pinocchio |
| Les Perkins | Toad |
| Frank Welker | Dumbo |
| Cherry Davis | Woody Woodpecker |
| Marton Csokas | Big Bad Wolf |
| David Lander | Smart Ass |
| Cillian Murphy | Greasy |
| Fred Newsman | Stupid |
| June Foray | Wheezy |
| Jim Varney | Psycho |
| Andrew Lincoln | Lena Hyena |
| Frank Sinatra | Singing Sword |
| Joan Ganz Cooney | Shoe |
| Jeff Arbaugh | Mime |
| Sadie Corre | Ink and Paint Club Patron #1 |
| Christine Hewett | Ink and Paint Club Patron #2 |
| Kit Hillier | Ink and Paint Club Patron #3 |
| Lane Leavitt | Motocyrcle Cop |
| Derek Lyons | Drunk In Bar |
| Philip O'Brien | Earl (Bar Customer) |
| Ken Ralston | Judge Doom when he runs away in Toontown |
Trivia
This is the final movie where Mel Blanc voiced the Looney Tunes before his death in 1989.
The film inspired 3 cartoon shorts "Tummy Trouble", and "Trail-Mix Up". It also inspired a comic book series called "Roger Rabbit Comics" and a short comic book series called "Roger Rabbit's Toontown".
The film also included a chapter book "Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit" and a graphic novel "Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom".
Gallery
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Roger at Disney's Parks
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Roger crying
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Roger on Tiny Toon Adventures
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit on DVD (January 1, 2003)
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A CGI test for Roger
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Roger with Mickey Mouse
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Roger as he appears in the comics
