| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Roger Rabbit, a toon star at Maroon Cartoons, is accused of murdering Marvin Acme because Acme had been playing pattycake (literally, not figuratively) with Roger's wife Jessica. Acme was the owner of the Acme Warehouse (which stocks all manner of toon devices) and of the toon ghetto Toontown. The only person who can help clear his name is Eddie Valiant ( Bob Hoskins), a detective who hates toons because one of them killed his brother, Teddy, with a piano during a routine criminal investigation in Toontown years before. Valiant takes the case and is surprised to learn that Jessica Rabbit is not a toon rabbit but a sexy toon human (voiced by Kathleen Turner except for a song sung by Amy Irving, both uncredited).
In the storyline, things are stacked heavily against Roger, and so he turns to Eddie for help, and for sanctuary from the Judge of the Toontown District Superior Court, Judge Doom ( Christopher Lloyd) and Judge Doom's "Toon Patrol" henchmen, the weasels.
As part of the overall plot, the giant Cloverleaf Corporation, controlled by Judge Doom, is plotting to buy out the interurban railway, the Pacific-Electric Red CarThe Pacific Electric Railway also known as the Red Car system, was a mass transit system in Southern California using streetcars, light rail and buses. At its greatest extent, the system connected cities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and the Inland, and replace it with freewayA freeway (also superhighway or expressway is a multi- lane highway ( road) designed for high-speed travel by large numbers of vehicles, and having no traffic lights, stop signs, nor other regulations requiring vehicles to stop. Freeways have high speed ls (See also: General Motors streetcar conspiracyThe General Motors streetcar conspiracy describes a contention that General Motors (GM), along with several other companies through the National City Lines (NCL) holding company illegally acquired many US streetcar systems and replaced them with buses for; National City LinesBetween 1936 and 1950, National City Lines NCL , a holding company sponsored and funded by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum, bought out more than 100 electric surface-traction ( streetcar) systems in 45 cit).
Aside from trying to clear Roger's name, Eddie and Roger are also trying to find the will of the late Marvin Acme, which supposedly 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 place a freeway in its stead, to 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, benzine, and turpentine, and the only sure way to kill a toon outside of making them laugh to death.
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 gets shot in the confrontation. Thinking the shooter is 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. While in Toontown, Eddie discovers that the assassin was Judge Doom, who manages to kidnap Jessica, and later Roger so he can "dip" them.
In the film's climax, set in the Acme Warehouse, Judge Doom has a huge machine that spews "dip" and is trying to eradicate Roger and his wife Jessica with it. He plans to then use his "dip" vehicle to erase Toontown. To combat Doom's weasel henchmen, Eddie, the typically hard-nosed detective, plays a clown (not unexpected, 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. After the weasels are out of the way and during the final battle with Eddie, Judge Doom is revealed to be a toon after a steam-roller rolls over him and he reinflates himself. To Eddie's horror, Doom then reveals himself to be the toon that murdered Teddy. 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, causing Judge Doom to be drenched with "dip" and melt away.
The police soon arrive, and realize that Judge Doom was responsible for the murders of both Maroon and Acme, though no one knows for sure who he was. Marvin Acme's will is found, and Toontown is handed over to the control of the toons, who all cheer and sing a chorus of "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile."