Cartoon noir?

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2004)

I never realized it as a kid, but this film had more innuendo than you could shake a stick at - or carrot.
Disguising his British accent effortlessly, Bob Hoskins plays a down and out 1947 circa detective who was once a great champion of cartoon stars until his brother was killed by one. He is asked by animation film maker RK Maroon to trail cartoon owner Marvin Acme, who owns "Toon Town" and take incriminating pictures of him to show to a popular yet hapless cartoon rabbit by name of Roger (RK is Roger's boss and lately Roger can't seem to concentrate). The subject of the pictures: Roger's ravishing red haired wife Jessica (voice of an unbilled Kathleen Turner) with Marvin Acme! This understandably rattles Roger, who thinks his wife is "Betty Crocker", even though she happens to be a sultry singer at the Ink & Paint Club. But when Marvin turns up dead, Bob is forced to help Roger find the real culprit when Roger is believed to be the killer, which clashes with his image as the hapless straight man/rabbit to the crude, cigar chomping yet adorable cartoon character Baby Herman. But who IS the real culprit and why did they do it? And can Bob solve the case and save Roger before he is destroyed by the inhuman Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) and his cartoon Weesles?

Loaded with gags, in joke references to both 1940s cartoons and the film noir private eye detective films that starred Humphrey Bogart, and making an almost seamless blend between live action actors and animated figures, this is one of the most entertaining pieces to come along in the history of cinema. Bob Hoskins holds his own admirably while playing 2nd fiddle to the hapless Roger and his cartoon pals.