Daffy Duck, to Donald Duck: "Thith ith the latht time I work with thomeone with a thhpeech impediment!"
American film noir/
comedy, part
live action, part
cartoon, released in 1988. It was produced by
Steven Spielberg, directed by
Robert Zemeckis with animation direction by
Richard Williams, and written by
Jeffrey Price and
Peter S. Seaman, based on the
novel "
Who Censored Roger Rabbit?" by
Gary K. Wolf.
The film starred
Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant and
Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom -- both turned in
brilliant performances,
acting against characters who weren't really there.
Charles Fleischer provided the voice of
Roger Rabbit,
Benny the Cab, and other characters, and
Kathleen Turner was the voice of
Jessica Rabbit, with
Amy Irving providing her singing voice. Other actors/voice actors included
Joanna Cassidy as Dolores,
Stubby Kaye as Marvin Acme,
Alan Tilvern as R.K. Maroon,
Richard LeParmentier as Lt. Santino,
Lou Hirsch as
Baby Herman,
Joel Silver as Raoul J. Raoul,
Mae Questel as
Betty Boop,
Mel Blanc as
Daffy Duck,
Tweety,
Bugs Bunny,
Sylvester, and
Porky Pig,
Tony Anselmo as
Donald Duck,
Richard Williams as
Droopy Dog,
Wayne Allwine as
Mickey Mouse,
David L. Lander as the lead weasel,
June Foray as
Lena Hyena, and
Cherry Davis as
Woody Woodpecker.
In a world where
humans and
cartoon characters exist side by side,
hardboiled private eye Eddie Valiant, whose brother was killed by a mad
Toon, agrees to dig up
evidence that cartoon star Roger Rabbit's gorgeous wife Jessica is playing
patty-cake with gag king Marvin Acme. When Acme ends up dead, Roger goes
on the lam from the sinister Judge Doom, and Valiant reluctantly helps him out. In the process, Roger and Eddie discover a mysterious plot to buy and destroy Toontown, the beloved home of the Toons.
When this movie was made, no one cared for
cartoon animation. Most of the movie studios had closed or drastically scaled back their
animation shops, and most of the cartoon characters were considered so worthless that they didn't mind loaning them out for another studio's movie. Of course, "Roger Rabbit" was wildly popular (with much credit going to people enjoying the
spectacle of Bugs
interacting with Mickey, of Daffy fighting with Donald, of Droopy Dog, Lena Hyena, Yosemite Sam, Goofy, and Betty Boop all living in the same world) and ended up kick-starting the
animation boom in
Hollywood. You couldn't make a movie like this today -- none of the studios would agree to let their characters be used...
Shhhh, don't tell anyone -- this movie is a
spoof of 1974's "
Chinatown".