Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American live-action/animated mystery comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts and written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Loosely based on Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, it stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, and Joanna Cassidy. Set in 1947 in a version of Hollywood where cartoon characters and people co-exist, it follows Eddie Valiant, a private detective who must exonerate "Toon" (i.e. cartoon character) Roger Rabbit, who is accused of murdering a wealthy businessman.

Walt Disney Pictures purchased the film rights for the film's story in 1981. Price and Seaman wrote two drafts of the script before Disney brought in executive producer Steven Spielberg and his production company, Amblin Entertainment. Zemeckis was brought on to direct the film while Canadian animator Richard Williams was hired to supervise the animation sequences. Production was moved from Los Angeles to Elstree Studios in England to accommodate Williams and his group of animators. While filming, the production budget began to rapidly expand and the shooting schedule ran longer than expected.

The film was released through Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner on June 22, 1988 to critical and commercial success, becoming a blockbuster hit. It brought a renewed interest in the Golden Age of American animation, spearheading modern American animation and the Disney Renaissance. It won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects and received a Special Achievement Academy Award for its animation direction by Williams. In 2016, it was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
In 1947 Los Angeles, "toons" act in theatrical cartoon shorts as with live-action films; they regularly interact with real people and animals and reside in Toontown. Private detective Eddie Valiant and his brother, Teddy, once worked closely with the toons on several famous cases, but after Teddy was killed by a toon, Eddie lapsed into alcoholism, lost his sense of humor, and vowed never to work for toons again.

R.K. Maroon, head of Maroon Cartoon Studios, is concerned about the recent poor performances of one of his biggest stars, Roger Rabbit. Maroon hires Valiant to investigate rumors about Roger's attractive toon wife Jessica being romantically involved with businessman Marvin Acme, owner of both Acme Corporation and Toontown. After watching Jessica perform at an underground nightclub, Valiant secretly photographs her and Acme playing patty-cake in her dressing room, which he shows to Roger. Roger angrily declares that he and his wife will be happy, and he flees.

The next morning, Acme is discovered dead at his factory, and evidence points to Roger being responsible. While investigating, Valiant meets Judge Doom, Toontown's sinister superior court judge, who has created a chemical substance capable of killing the otherwise invulnerable toons: a toxic "dip". Valiant later runs into Roger's toon co-star, Baby Herman, who believes Roger is innocent and that Acme's missing will, which will give the toons ownership of Toontown, may be the key to his murder. In his office, Valiant finds Roger, who begs him to help exonerate him. Valiant reluctantly hides Roger in a local bar, where his girlfriend Dolores works. Jessica approaches Valiant and says that Maroon forced her to pose for the photographs so he could blackmail Acme.

Doom and his toon weasel henchmen discover Roger, but he and Valiant escape with Benny, an anthropomorphic taxicab. They flee to a theater, where Valiant tells Roger that a toon killed Teddy when they were investigating a bank robbery. As they leave with Dolores, Valiant sees a newsreel detailing the sale of Maroon Cartoons to Cloverleaf, a mysterious corporation that bought the city's trolley network shortly before Acme's murder. Valiant goes to the studio to interrogate Maroon, leaving Roger to guard outside, but Jessica knocks Roger out and puts him inside the trunk of Eddie's car. Maroon tells Valiant that he blackmailed Acme into selling his company so he could sell the studio, then admits he only did so out of fear for the safety of the toons. Maroon is killed by an unseen assailant before he can explain the consequences of the missing will. Valiant spots Jessica fleeing the scene, and assuming she is the culprit, follows her into Toontown. Once he apprehends her, Jessica reveals that Doom killed Acme and Maroon and that Acme gave her his will for safekeeping, but she discovered that the will was blank. She and Valiant are then captured by Doom and the weasels.

At the Acme factory, Doom reveals his plot to destroy Toontown with a machine loaded with dip to build a freeway, the only way past Toontown since Cloverleaf (which Doom owns) has bought out Los Angeles' Pacific Electric Railway. Roger unsuccessfully attempts to save Jessica, and the couple is tied onto a hook in front of the machine's hose. Valiant performs a comedic vaudeville act, causing the weasels to die of laughter; Valiant kicks their leader into the machine's dip vat. Valiant fights Doom, who is flattened by a steamroller but survives, exposing him as the very toon who killed Teddy. Valiant empties the machine's dip supply onto Doom and he dissolves.

The empty machine crashes through the wall into Toontown, where it is destroyed by a train. Toons run in to see Doom's remains, and Eddie reveals him to the arriving police officers as Acme's murderer, thus clearing Roger's name. Valiant discovers that Roger inadvertently wrote a love letter for Jessica on Acme's will, which was written in disappearing/reappearing ink, and Toontown is handed over the toons. Having regained his sense of humor, Valiant happily enters Toontown with Dolores alongside Roger, Jessica, and the other toons.

Live-action cast

 * 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

Voice cast

 * Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit,Benny the Cab,Greasy and Psycho.
 * Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
 * Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
 * Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse and Toon Birds
 * Tony Pope as Goofy and Big Bad Wolf
 * Bill Farmer provided additional dialogue as Goofy
 * Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, and Sylvester
 * Lou Hirsch as Baby Herman
 * April Winchell as Mrs. Herman.
 * Les Perkins as J. Thaddeus Toad
 * Cherry Davis as Woody Woodpecker
 * Richard Williams as Droopy
 * Joe Alaskey as Yosemite Sam
 * David Lander as Smarty:
 * June Foray as Lena Hyena and Wheezy
 * Fred Newman as Stupid
 * Peter Westly as Pinocchio
 * Mae Questel as Betty Boop
 * Mary T. Radford as Hyacinth Hippo
 * Jim Cummings as Pat Buttram, and Jim Gallant as Valiant's Bullets
 * Frank Sinatra as Singing Sword.
 * Morgan Deare as Bongo the Gorilla
 * Jack Angel as the Toon Shoes
 * Nancy Cartwright as the Dipped Toon Shoe
 * Bill Farmer as Goofy and Koko the Clown
 * Dave Spafford as Daffy Duck (woo-hoo sound)
 * Kathleen Turner provides the voice of Jessica Rabbit
 * Frank Welker as Dumbo
 * April Winchell provides the "baby noises."