Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Release Date: May 20, 2022

Watch Date: April 22, 2024

“A comeback 30 years in the making, ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ catches up with the former Disney Afternoon television stars in modern-day Los Angeles. In this hybrid live-action/CG animated action-comedy, Chip and Dale are living amongst cartoons humans in modern-day Los Angeles, but their lives are quite different now. It has been decades since their successful television series was cancelled, and Chip (voice of John Mulaney) has succumbed to a life of suburban domesticity as an insurance salesman. Dale (voice of Andy Samberg), meanwhile, has had CGI surgery and works the nostalgia convention circuit, desperate to relive his glory days. When a former cast mate mysteriously disappears, Chip and Dale must repair their broken friendship and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend.”

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   I was a little bit worried about how Bob would take this movie, to be perfectly honest. I’m not sure if he’s ever watched ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and this is kind of an unofficial sequel to that film. He also didn’t grow up watching the ‘Rescue Rangers’ show, which I did, and so he’d have no attachment to the characters. But it’s a good movie, and I like it, and it’s my birthday month, so there was nothing for it but to do it.

   He actually really enjoyed it. Like a lot. It was honestly surprising.

   Maybe he didn’t have an attachment to Chip and Dale, but he definitely had an attachment to the numerous background characters, and all the little references. And that’s where this film shines. Because Disney owns the rights to a lot of things now, so there’s no reason for them not to throw every thing they have at this film – and they do.

   Where it really shines is the actual plot. The mystery does manage to keep you guessing, at least for a large portion of it, Bob couldn’t call the plot of the film five minutes in which is his usual modus operendi. Who expects a movie about PI chipmunks to actually have a really well thought out mystery, with an actually kind of terrifying threat to animated characters. And not just random ones. Ones we love. Flounder! Pete is there! Bambi, I think? It’s hard to tell once they’ve been bootlegged. But it’s not ideal.

   Peter Pan also makes an excellent villain. I always knew he’d be a bad guy, I didn’t like his movie, I didn’t like the themes of his movie, and when the boy who never grows up, well, grows up. What else is there for him, but a life of crime?

   If you’re looking for a healthy dose of nostalgia? This will do it for you. If you’re just looking for a funny, and well done, buddy cop movie? This will do that for you too. Calling it a Disney+ Original has caused it to be a little overlooked, but I think if it had been released in movie theaters it would have made a lot more of an impact.