Over the last few years or so, Disney has been on this path of either rebooting or giving a new spin on old classics. There have been some wins such as Christopher Robin and Cruella, but also a whole bunch of misses; I’m looking at you Mulan. Naturally, I was a bit hesitant when I found out that one of my all time favourite Saturday morning cartoons was getting the Disney make over. But after just 10 minutes into the movie, I knew instantly that Disney had struck gold with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
For those of you who grew up with the Disney Channel in the late 80’s and early 90’s, your mornings were most likely filled with the antics of DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and the cult classic Gargoyles. But nothing has stood the test of time quite like The Rescue Rangers. Each week, I would wake up extra early, run to the TV, and get ready for the next adventure with the worlds greatest crime fighting chipmunks. (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore can suck it!)
These two were everything to me. I was obsessed. I had plushies, coasters, t-shirts, and let’s not forget the classic video game on both the NES and Sega Genesis. Now, thanks to the genius of The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, Chip ‘n Dale are back in a big bad way.
Welcome to Toon Town
While this film could have easily gone down the traditional root of perhaps giving us a feature length episode of the classic cartoon, Schaffer has decided instead to make a worthy spiritual successor to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Filled to the brim classic Disney characters, and enough Easter eggs, references, and subtle roasts to pop culture to make your head spin, the entire journey is an incredibly entertaining ride from start to finish.
It’s also the most meta reboot Disney has ever done. Referencing old Rescue Rangers episodes within this movie is just the tip of the iceberg. This, boys and girls, is your childhood… on crack.
The main story centers around a grown up, overweight, washed up Peter Pan (played by Will Arnett no less) is kidnapping your favourite characters and “bootlegging” them for all those crappy, knock-off Disney cartoons, and now Chip and Dale must don their old hats to go on one final mission to stop him. That’s enough of a plot to make you go: “Wait, whaaaat?” But as insane as that idea sounds, the entire story works incredibly well. It’s just 97 minutes of insane fun. But of course, being Disney, there are plenty of moments to tug at your heart strings, especially when you see all your childhood friends back on the screen again. I was that kid again, coming home to all my favourite companions.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers vs. Space Jam: A New Legacy
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an extreme dose of a nostalgia hit, especially for my generation of Disney. Which is why when Bahir subtly pointed out another movie which did almost the exact same thing, but much worse, I couldn’t help but start drawing comparisons.
Another reason for my initial apprehension towards this movie was the fact that only a year ago, I had the exact same feeling. The only difference was that I was majorly let down and frustrated over the end product. Both films had the same formula of bringing all of their the iconic characters into one film. And if you hadn’t already guessed by now, I’m talking about the unmitigated disaster that was Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers used this formula successfully by not shoving it down your throat. Here, it’s almost as if Disney was saying, “Hey, remember the characters you loved? They are all back, but if you blink, you’ll miss them!” Warner Bros. on the other hand went, “HEY! GAME OF THRONES IS COOL RIGHT??? YOU LIKE LEBRON JAMES RIGHT??? OH, AND OVER THERE, THAT’S DOROTHY FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ? SHE’S A WARNER PROPERTY TOO! WHAT ARE CHARACTERS FROM STANLEY KUBRICK’S X-RATED A CLOCKWORK ORANGE DOING IN A KID’S MOVIE? WHO CARES! FUCK YOUR CHILDHOOD!
Yep. God, that was an awful film…
A Love Letter to Disney Fans
Schaffer knew exactly who his target audience for this film was. He could have gone the Warner route of trying to please every single person, but that would have been disastrous (did I mention Space Jam 2 yet). This is a true love letter to every single 90’s Disney kid, and is isn’t ashamed of it. At some points, I couldn’t even believe how much Disney let Schaffer get away with (even the god awful CGI cats from Cats even made an appearance). All of this combined with the voice talent and comedic timing of Andy Samberg and John Mulaney is a surefire recipe for success.
This could possibly be this generations’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit? A film that will go down as perhaps a Disney cult classic that will be watched for years, if not decades, to come.
If you are reading this, please do yourself a favour and watch this film as soon as possible. It will not let you down. It will take you in its arms, knock you over the head with fond memories, and hold you tight while you cry with laughter. This is possibly the single greatest adventure of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
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