Character Analysis
Hare-Raising Adventure
Move over, Bugs Bunny. Step aside, Thumper. And get outta here, White Rabbit—you're always late anyway. Roger Rabbit is the star of this show.
Okay, he's not quite the star. His name may be in the title, but we're giving him second billing. Eddie Valiant is head honcho. Top banana. The big cheese. Roger's the sidekick. The second fiddle. The low bunny on the totem pole.
But he's a loyal-to-the-end low bunny. Check out his response to photos showing his wife canoodling (in the most innocent of ways) with Marvin Acme:
ROGER: Somebody must have made her do it.
That shows us that he trusts his wife. We hope he's right.
But Roger's not just loyal—he's also empathetic. He puts up with a lot of anger from Eddie…who in turn puts up with a lot of annoyance from Roger's constant slapstick. But the two come to know, understand, and even like each other. The moment that cements their friendship is when Eddie confesses to Roger than a Toon killed his brother. Any other Toon might take this opportunity to make a joke, but Roger responds with tender sympathy:
ROGER: No wonder you hate me! If a Toon killed my brother I'd hate me too.
This moment helps Eddie see Roger as more than just a source of non-stop humor. He has a heart and he's not afraid to use it.
Speaking of Roger's heart, Roger's willing to sacrifice himself to save Toontown. In the movie's climax, he marches up to Judge Doom and channels his inner Batman with the following statement:
ROGER: We Toons may act idiotic but we're not stupid. We demand justice.
Roger stands up to Judge Doom at the end not just to save Jessica, but in an attempt to keep all of Toontown out of his clutches. In fact, an early draft of the script actually had Roger sacrificing himself at the end of the movie. (Source)
We're glad he didn't. But he we know he'd give everything to save everything he believes in. That's more than we can say for Bugs Bunny. That rascal only looks after his own cottontail.
Roger's Timeline