Directed By Akiva Schaffer

Starring – Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, Kiki Layne

The Plot – Thirty years after their popular television show ended, chipmunks Chip (Mulaney) and Dale (Samberg) live very different lives. When a cast member from the original series mysteriously disappears, the pair must reunite to save their friend.

Rated PG for mild action and rude/suggestive humor

Official Trailer | Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers | Disney+ – YouTube

POSITIVES

Unlike a majority of nostalgic rehashes and reboots, “Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers” cements with it an abundance of heart and ingenuity to the idealism of its construct that justifies its existence, while offering to fans of the franchise a breezy, whimsical trip down memory lane. It starts with the appeal of the humor, both in effectiveness and creativity, that channels something meta in the depths of its fictional enveloping, similar to how “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” did so over thirty years ago. This takes a familiar product in the context of the show’s narrative and fleshes it out with an expanding real world persisting in the backdrop, allowing the material no shortage of creative commentaries or insightful depictions inside of the thoughtless concepts of contemporary reboots. In addition to this, the humor itself packs with it an occasionally edgy emphasis, which not only affords it the freedom of exploration inside of its PG rating, but also proves the film is aimed solely at the aged fans of the TV show, which now are bringing their own children to the occasion. Aside from the humor offering several hearty belly laughs to the delight, the animation style is equally transfixing, with a variance in designs bringing forth a deep-seeded meaning to the very ethos of this unorthodox world-building that they’re channeling. The obvious serves in the two dominating aspects of the feature, with the three-dimensional C.G textures conveying surgical impulses of outdated characters seeking fresh starts for a new generation, and the classic illustrated style of animation prescribes a seamless fluidity that are lifted directly from the show they spawned from. But what’s even more credible to the artistic merit is the occasional usage of stop motion animation and uncanny 21st century emotionless manifestations that each allude to something unnerving in the designs of the characters they adorn, rounding out a stylish siesta that is every bit versatile as it is ambitious. This affords the film plenty of surprising animated cameos from various properties, Disney and non, that pop up to eventually stir the pot of intrigue or deliver an effective punchline in delivery, all for the sake of capitalizing on a dream scenario where these characters live and interact in the same world. These would normally be considered as property porn as they were in a film like “Ready Player One”, where the appearances have little imagination or reasoning to be called upon, but here each of them attain a value to the scenes and sequences they influence which is commendable to say the least, and shocking to say the most, considering studios actually agreed to converge on a creative property. In addition to these technical merits, the exhilarating energy of action sequences and overall direction from Schaffer provide urgency, vulnerability, and stakes for the experience, and when supplanted with Brian Tyler’s emotionally triggering score of the show’s classic favorites in orchestral form, attains a big screen appeal that transitions well beyond both the TV format of its original property and the streaming stunting of its cinematic release. The stars also align magnificently for the spectacle, with no shortage of visual cameos or audio work bringing forth a who’s who of A-list variety. I will leave the surprises on the side of ambiguity to not take away from the uniqueness of their untimely arrivals, and instead focus on Samberg and Mulaney, who are picture perfect selections in their respective roles. Both endear themselves to a radiance in chemistry that often make the characters feel like brothers instead of co-stars, and with Samberg’s silliness and Mulaney’s maturity creating a bickering balance in the patchy dynamic of their healing friendship, the good times are aplenty in affording each of them scene-stealing instances that prove this to be a vital group effort.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, even for a film that is smart enough to point out all of Hollywood’s bleeding inanity with respect to cherished properties, it’s still one that falls for plenty of hinderances that often condemn those properties on arrival. The first and most obvious of these instances is the human characters, which as I pointed out in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” provide the weakest element of the film that contradicts much of its gaining momentum. This is especially the case with the humor and characterization of the character, which feels so sewn together at the last minute for its lack of depth or conviction when compared to animated properties, and when combined with the lack of direction for the character, essentially makes her an unnecessary extension that is only there to hold the hands of audiences while repeating what was essentially just shown in the previous scene. This is also the case with familiar story beats, which limit the film to predictability in the form of an ending that completely eviscerates all of the aforementioned stakes that I was previously mentioned, all in favor of a resolution that is safe, so not to upset or disturb any of the audience. Considering the film is a meta commentary on the popularity of the Chip N Dale TV show, the big reveal at the end not only doesn’t make any sense in the context of the narrative with real animated animals playing fictional characters, but also simultaneously reverts on the conflict it firmly establishes, with an ending that is a little too safe and inconsequential to reach the level of the occasionally daring “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, which the film periodically pulls from.

OVERALL

Disney Plus finally gets onto the board with “Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers”, a film too good for streaming that surprisingly entails with it the most impactful comedic value of 2022, while cementing Samberg and Mulaney as an irresistibly infectious buddy duo. Though the film isn’t quite wise enough to allude all of the nagging hinderances that it calls out in weaker animated properties with its own batch of refreshing meta commentary, it is nonetheless a charming diversion from contemporary clutter, and one that seamlessly and simultaneously channels the playful innocence of its television counterpart.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+