Chip’n Dale Rescue Rangers
Released on Disney+ May 20, 2022
Runtime: 1 Hour 38 Minutes
Rated PG
If you are around my age (38) you likely grew up watching the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers cartoon that was part of the Disney Afternoon line up. Duck Tales, TaleSpin, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Gummi Bears, and Darkwing Duck were all from that era and would come on right after school during the week. If you are younger, or much older, than me you likely didn’t watch any of those unless you decided to dive in to them now that they are available on Disney+.
If you are looking for the episodic, humorous detective show that was Rescue Rangers, you won’t find it here. This is a meta multiverse type world in which cartoons, muppets, CGI characters, and claymation characters live amongst humans. They act together in television shows and movies much like “Who Farmed Roger Rabbit?” In fact, Roger makes a short appearance. This movie takes place years after the Rescue Rangers show has become a thing of the past. Chip and Dale have split up and have been doing their own thing for about thirty years. Chip is an insurance salesman and Dale is a celebrity you can meet at comic cons. They are reunited when their friend Monterey Jack falls into some trouble and disappears. Then these two actors have to become real life detectives and solve the crime.
Themes:
Friendship, movie stars, fame, real life vs what you see on tv, addiction, gangs, mobsters, bootlegging, kidnapping, forgiveness, human trafficking, change, grudges, plastic surgery, comic cons, marriage, drug use, and reboots/comebacks.
Language:
There is plenty of name calling and some bullying. There were a few words and phrases that surprised me. “I’m in Hell” and “Dang it” are both used. One character says “God awful” and the word crap. One character asks another if they want to get a drink.
Stuff to be aware of:
Some characters drink out of bottles, but you can’t tell if they are sodas or alcohol. Several cartoons are kidnapped and thought the be dead. Later parts of these characters that have been removed are found in bags. One character is made of clay and gets cut up, frozen, and then breaks.
Characters visit a sketchy red light type district. One character in this area is a “dealer” of cheese and sells it in a secret underground hideout. The cheese is sold like drugs to mice. There are characters that have an addiction to the cheese. In this district we find that one character kidnaps cartoons and uses a big machine to change their looks so he can make bootleg movies with them. The machine changes one character into a big monster with a bunch of parts from Disney and Pixar characters.
There are many characters from various properties and movies (Like Space Jam: Legacies) and a few surprised me. Some that more adult toons that show up are: a bootleg version of the Simpsons, Butthead from Bevis and Butthead on a sign in the background, and a character from South Park. There is also a scene that shows the chipmunks in different animation styles. Some styles include the Simpsons, South Park, and Rick and Morty.
A few other things to note are: reference that the Paw Patrol attacked someone and now they can’t have kids, a few other sexual innuendos, potty humor, and some jokes, pictures, and references of chip and dale dancers.
Overall:
While it made me laugh, I was not a huge fan of this movie. I don’t recommend it for young children at all. The story was okay, but predictable. A lot of the humor will likely go over kids heads. It seems to be made more with adults in mind, but toned down everything just enough that they could claim it was for kids too.
I grew up watching all things Disney and what they do with some characters from various Disney properties is sad. Minor spoilers ahead, if you watched the trailers you probably won’t have anything spoiled. Peter Pan has become an overweight gang leader that is involved in smuggling weapons, dealing cheese and kelp (like drugs), bootlegging movies, and cartoon trafficking. Gadget marries zipper, which is played for humor, but was a bit much for me. Classic Disney characters, like Flounder, are borrowing money from a gang and get in trouble. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? had its share of adult themes like sex and alcoholism, but this movie seems to try to get just as close to the adult edge without going over into the PG-13 rating. It is just “adult” enough to still be considered a “kids” movie, but not “adult” enough to be aimed at adults. I guess Roger Rabbit was a bit more digestible because the main character and the bad guy were made up for the movie, and not long time classic Disney characters.
It does have a great voice cast, expect I missed Chip and Dales’s normal voices. The movie reboot jokes are pretty witty.
Overall, there are some fun and funny moments, but I probably won’t be watching this one again. Many adults will probably enjoy it and find it humorous. It did make me want to re-watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but I will not be letting my kids watch that one. I would have been happy with just a live action Rescue Rangers, but I guess some people will enjoy this. For sure, all the Easter eggs and cameos will be enjoyed.