Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a landmark in the history of animated films – a glance at the credits list above is evidence of that – and may even be regarded as a culmination of the second phase of that genre (if the first is taken as having ended with the integration of colour and sound). Valiant uses trickster means to sabotage this plot and save Toontown and our heroes. Doom's plan is mass murder – to spray all Toontown with The Dip, erasing it from the face of the Earth. Captured by Doom and his weasel/bent-cop sycophants the Toon Patrol, Valiant and Jessica prepare for death. Aided by the sentient taxi Benny the Cab (Fleischer), Valiant pursues Jessica into Toontown where he encounters a cornucopia of historical animated characters – Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny (Blanc), Daffy Duck (Blanc), Droopy Dog (Williams), Porky Pig (Blanc), Betty Boop (Questel) and many more – and is shot at by Judge Doom, now revealed as the true Villain behind Cloverleaf. Valiant is informed by his girlfriend Dolores (Cassidy) that a combine called Cloverleaf Industries is buying up everything in the hope of turning Los Angeles (see California) into a freeway-dominated waste if Acme's will is not found by midnight, Toontown too will fall to Cloverleaf. More devious crookery is afoot: Acme's will – reportedly leaving the Toon ghetto Toontown to the Toons – has gone missing. Judge Doom (Lloyd), sadistic arbiter of all matters Toonish, pronounces Roger guilty without trial and declares the rabbit will be, on apprehension, dissolved in a fluid called The Dip. Valiant takes the photographs, but then Acme is murdered and Roger is chief suspect. Valiant, a confirmed Toon-hater, reluctantly accepts from studio boss R K Maroon (Tilvern) the commission to dog Jessica and capture her indiscretions on film, with the intention of shocking Roger out of his anxiety. Another Toon, Roger Rabbit (Fleischer) – co-star in Maroon Cartoons' series of animated shorts starring Baby Herman (Hirsch) – is fluffing his lines because concerned that his wife Jessica (speaking voice Turner singing voice Irving) has become involved with the owner of Toontown, Marvin Acme (Kaye). Private eye Eddie Valiant (Hoskins) has turned to drink since the murder of his brother by a Toon, one of the animated characters who co-exist with humans in this Alternate-World 1947 Tinseltown. Voice cast includes Mel Blanc, Charles Fleischer, Lou Hirsch, Amy Irving, Kathleen Turner (uncredited) and Richard Williams. Cast includes Joanna Cassidy, Bob Hoskins, Stubby Kaye, Christopher Lloyd, Mae Questel and Alan Tilvern. Special effects by Industrial Light & Magic. Written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S Seaman, loosely based on Who Censored Roger Rabbit? ( 1981) by Gary K Wolf. Producers: Frank Marshall and Robert Watts. Animation director: Richard Williams (uncredited).
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