Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Plot

The movie opens with a Roger Rabbit short subject. This introduces the film's title character, along with a supporting player, Baby Herman. Eventually, it is revealed that Marvin Acme, the owner of the Acme Company and of Toontown, has been murdered. All signs point to Roger Rabbit, a toon star at Maroon Cartoons, who had recently been shown evidence that Acme and Roger's wife, Jessica Rabbit, a sexy Toon femme fatale (uncredited speaking voice by Kathleen Turner, singing voice by Amy Irving), had been playing pattycake together (literally) -- this is tantamount to infidelity in the eyes of a Toon.

Related Topics:
Short subject - Baby Herman - Roger Rabbit - Maroon Cartoons - Jessica Rabbit - Femme fatale - Kathleen Turner - Amy Irving - Pattycake - Infidelity

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The only person who can help clear Roger's name is Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), a washed-up, alcoholic detective who hates Toons because his brother, Teddy, was murdered by a Toon during a routine criminal investigation in Toontown years before when a piano was dropped on his head. Eddie is reluctantly forced into helping when Roger hides in his apartment, and soon finds himself shielding Roger from Judge Doom of the Toontown District Superior Court (Christopher Lloyd) and his "Toon Patrol" henchmen, a group of weasels.

Related Topics:
Bob Hoskins - Judge Doom - Toontown - Christopher Lloyd

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Meanwhile, Doom's giant Cloverleaf Corporation, is plotting to buy out the interurban railway, the Pacific-Electric Red Car, and replace it with freeways (based on the General Motors streetcar conspiracy and the National City Lines). With Acme dead and no will having been found, Toontown is in danger of being bulldozed in order to make way for the freeway.

Related Topics:
Cloverleaf - Interurban railway - Pacific-Electric Red Car - Freeway - General Motors streetcar conspiracy - National City Lines

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Eddie and Roger must find the will of the late Marvin Acme, which purportedly gives ownership of Toontown to the toons. Judge Doom is also trying to find the will in order to dispose of it, so he can destroy Toontown and build his freeway, and make himself profit out of the deal. If any toons happen to get in his way, Judge Doom feels no qualms about subjecting them to the "dip": a mixture he concocted of acetone, benzene, and turpentine (essentially paint thinners), and the only sure way to kill a Toon.

Related Topics:
Acetone - Benzene - Turpentine - Paint thinner

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Eddie goes to the studios of Maroon Cartoons, Roger's employer, to help clear the rabbit's name. There he speaks to R.K. Maroon, who is shot during the confrontation. Thinking the shooter to be Jessica Rabbit, playing Roger as a patsy, Eddie chases the assassin all the way into Toontown, despite his trepidation after the death of his brother there years before. There Eddie discovers that the assassin was actually Judge Doom, who manages to kidnap Jessica, and later Roger so he can "dip" them.

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In the film's climax, set in the Acme Warehouse, Judge Doom spews "dip" from a huge machine and tries to eradicate Roger and his wife, Jessica. He reveals his plans to then use his "dip" vehicle to erase Toontown. To combat Doom's weasel henchmen, the normally hard-nosed Eddie plays a clown, (not completely out of sync with his character, as the audience has been shown a photo of him and his brother working for Ringling Brothers earlier in the film) causing the weasels to die of laughter (evidently another way to kill a Toon, but one that merely turns them to angels, possibly to come back again). During the final battle with Eddie, Judge Doom is revealed to be a Toon after a steam-roller flattens him, and he reinflates himself by using one of the air tanks, revealing his Toon features. To Eddie's horror, Doom then reveals himself to be not just any Toon, but the one who murdered Eddie's brother. Just when it seems that Judge Doom will get the upper hand, Eddie uses a scissor-spring-loaded punch-glove mallet to knock open the drain valve on the "dip" machine. Judge Doom is drenched with "dip" and melts away.

Related Topics:
Ringling Brothers - Steam-roller

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The police soon arrive, and realize that Judge Doom was responsible for the murders of both Maroon, Acme, and Eddie Valiant's brother Teddy, though no one knows for sure who he was. Marvin Acme's will is found (Acme wrote it in "disappearing re-appearing ink" and Roger used the "blank" paper to write Jessica a love letter), and Toontown is handed over to the control of the Toons, who all cheer and sing a chorus of "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile."

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