Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers review

CHIP ‘N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS: 

DISNEY’S LOVABLE CHIPMUNK DUO FOLLOWS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ROGER RABBIT WITH A PRETTY DARN ENTERTAINING CAPER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DISNEY+

Chip and Dale are on the case in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers

 

            Chip and Dale make their feature film debut in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the new live-action/animation hybrid based on the titular Disney Channel animated series of the same name. I’ll be completely honest; I didn’t really grow up with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers or most of the Disney Afternoon shows as most of my cartoon-watching was from the late 90s-2000s, but I’ve seen a few episodes and got the basic gist of it. 

            For those who don’t know, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers was a TV series on the Disney Channel from the late 80s-early 90s and was a spin-off of the Chip and Dale characters from the Mickey Mouse cartoons where they go on adventures as detectives with the help of their friends, a mouse inventor named Gadget, a mustachioed, adventure-loving mouse known as Monterey Jack, and his housefly friend, Zipper. I’m not a purist on this show, but from what I’ve seen it’s a very enjoyable kids’ cartoon and was part of the holy trinity of Disney shows back then which also included DuckTales and Darkwing Duck. 

Also, fun fact for newcomers, the outfits Chip and Dale wore in the series were based off Indiana Jones and Thomas Magnum from Magnum P.I.

Now, we have this live-action/animated hybrid film which at first, I was very skeptical about because Disney already rebooted another one of their animated shows into a live-action film with the 2019 version of Kim Possible and it…wasn’t very good to put it lightly and was concerned it was going to be another botching of a beloved Disney property. I quickly changed my mind when the trailer first came out for the movie and was basically like a spiritual successor to the 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit which remains the best mixture of live-action and animation to this day. 

Honestly, when the trailer dropped the hype surrounding this film was almost as huge as Spider-Man: No Way Home because it seemed like anything was possible. A bunch of characters from Disney shows and movies, Marvel heroes, and even a handful of non-Disney characters making appearances like The Mane Six from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Ugly Sonic design from the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer. 

Now that the film is finally out on Disney+, I can gladly say that I had a really good time watching this movie. I don’t think it’s quite on par with Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Wreck-It Ralph, it does follow in those films’ footsteps and gives a very unique, meta, and thoroughly entertaining caper that often satirizes Hollywood filmmaking fads like Robert Zemeckis-style motion capture animation and a lot of references and callbacks to various shows and movies in yet another universe where toons and people co-exist. 

The film follows Chip (voiced by John Mulaney-Saturday Night Live, Documentary Now!, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Dale (voiced by Andy Samberg-Saturday Night Live, Hot Rod, Hotel Transylvania franchise), the chipmunk duo who was once on the top of the world thanks to the success of their show, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. But after the show’s cancellation, the two of them fell on hard times, Chip is now an insurance salesman while Dale has gotten the “CGI surgery” and has been spending his time on the fan convention circuit. 

However, when their friend and former co-star, Monterey Jack (voiced by Eric Bana-Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Hanna) suddenly gets captured, Chip and Dale must reunite, solve the mystery, and save him with the help of a rookie LAPD cop, Det. Ellie Steckler (KiKi Layne-If Beale Street Could Talk, The Old Guard, Coming 2 America). Along the way, they encounter Ugly Sonic (voiced by Tim Robinson-Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Saturday Night Live), hideous CGI abominations from the Uncanny Valley, and the boy who never grew up…except he did…and is now a fat, middle-aged crime boss named Sweet Pete (voiced by Will Arnett-Arrested Development, Blades of Glory, The Lego Movie franchise)…and wants to kill Chip and Dale. 

The film also features the voices of Flula Borg (Ferdinand, Tangled: The Series, The Suicide Squad) as DJ Herzogenaurach, Seth Rogen (Superbad, Kung Fu Panda trilogy, This is the End) as Bob the Viking and reprising his role as the voice of Pumbaa from The Lion King (2019), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man franchise, Whiplash, Zootopia) as Captain Putty, Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Tomorrowland, Keanu) as Bjornson the Cheesemonger, and Tress MacNeille (Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, Futurama) reprising her role as Gadget. 

Overall, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers may not be the movie longtime fans of the series probably wanted, but for those looking for a very funny satire of the film industry with a lot of meta humor in the same breakfast club as Roger Rabbit, you will have a blast with this movie. Much like Roger Rabbit and Wreck-It Ralph, there are so many characters and references scattered all throughout the film that you probably won’t be able to catch them all in one viewing. 

Some of my favorites included Ugly Sonic, which had me laughing hard whenever he appeared onscreen, and I was so grateful that he’s in the movie more than you’d think. Also, this monster Chip and Dale fight during the climax that’s made up of different toon body parts like a Transformer leg, Woody the Cowboy’s leg, an arm cannon, Wreck-It Ralph’s fist, and…the head of a certain villain from the original show. 

There’s also this brilliant subplot about famous characters getting “bootlegged” where they alter their designs and ship them off to star in those knock-off movies you always find at your local thrift store. I think that’s somehow a lot eviler than melting Toontown with a bunch of Dip…by the way, there’s also a brief reference to the Dip from Roger Rabbit in this movie. 

The animation is great and it’s neat to see a bunch of different animation styles, live-action people, and puppetry interacting with each other. It reminded me a lot of the Cartoon Network show, The Amazing World of Gumball as I was watching it. 

The voice acting is excellent, John Mulaney and Andy Samberg are the perfect picks to voice Chip and Dale in a meta-universe, their banter is quite funny, and they do sell the heartfelt moments. Not to mention, they cleverly work in the original Chip and Dale voices in a similar way they worked the original Pikachu voice into Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. 

I was, however, very disappointed that the other Rescue Rangers, Gadget, Zipper, and Monterey Jack weren’t utilized that much in the film. I’m glad they weren’t cut from it, but I felt they could have done more with them especially since the movie is called “Rescue Rangers”. 

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers isn’t a perfect film, but it’s a very fun movie that fully embraces nostalgic and modern animation with a clever and witty premise to boot.