Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

So, this is certainly a movie that I watched. I mean, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a modern day Rescue Rangers Movie, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this. So, it’s no secret that I was a huge fan of the Disney Afternoon growing up. However, even with that in mind, I never really got into Rescue Rangers. I would catch an episode here and there and I remember enjoying it fine, but it didn’t leave an impact on me in the same way that shows like Gargoyles or Darkwing Duck did. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t really have that much of a nostalgic connection to the source material. However, I really don’t think that matters here since this isn’t actually a straight up adaptation of Rescue Rangers but rather a strange meta narrative in which Chip and Dale were actors on a TV show and inhabit a Roger Rabbit like world where humans and cartoon characters live side by side. It all started when Dale started at a new elementary school. As a bit of a socially awkward kid, Dale has a hard time making friends with anyone until Chip shows up. The two hit it off almost immediately and eventually discovered that they had a knack for entertaining. This talent translated into high school talent shows, various gigs and ultimately the hit TV series that everyone assumed this movie would be based on. The show enjoyed great success until Dale decided to leave the show and go solo with his own TV series. That would prove the beginning of the end as Rescue Rangers would be cancelled later that year, Dale’s show wouldn’t make it past the pilot and Chip and Dale wouldn’t speak again for years. Several years later, Dale is now a washed up former star making his living working the convention circuit and Chip is a lonely insurance agent who wants nothing to do with his past as a TV star. However, when their former co-star, Monterey Jack is kidnapped by some seedy underworld types, Chip and Dale are forced to reunite and find their friend. The search leads them to something truly horrible. Turns out this group called the Valley Gang, led by Peter Pan of all people, have been systematically kidnapping toons and surgically altering them to get around the copyright laws in order to make their own bootleg knockoff movies. Now it’s up to Chip and Dale to put an end to Pan’s evil plot and save Monty. It’s a fun movie that’s loaded to the brim with in-jokes and out of nowhere cameos so let’s waste no time and get into, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Main Character:

I think if you’re expecting the characters from the TV show, you’re going to be disappointed. Remember in this version of events, Chip and Dale were just actors in a show called Rescue Rangers so their personalities wouldn’t necessarily match the characters you know. They also don’t have the iconic high squeaky voices either, which I personally feel is a good thing since, iconic or not, that would have gotten really annoying over the course of a ninety-eight-minute movie. In any case, let’s start with Dale. Dale is voiced by Andy Samberg, an actor I used to find grating, but learned to appreciate after recently binging all of Brookyln 99 (which is an amazing show that everyone should watch by the way.) When we catch up with Dale, he’s essentially living the life of a pathetic washed-up star from the 90’s deluding himself into believing he’s still relevant, even going so far as to get the “CGI surgery” in order to stay in the game. Kind of like Bojack Horseman only thankfully, significantly less depressing. He does get a little annoying here and there especially with how he never seems to take anything seriously, but it seems to work for the character. Dale is someone who took a gamble on himself and ended up losing everything, and he’s desperately trying to get back a small crumb what he once had, much to the annoyance of Chip

Speaking of, Chip in this movie is voiced by the very funny John Mulaney, who you Spider-Verse fans may recognize as the voice of the amazing Spider-Ham. I’m a huge fan of Mulaney’s standup, particularly his “Horse Loose in a Hospital” bit. After Chip and Dale split up in the 90’s, Chip grew cynical and bitter. He never said this to Dale, but the day they met, he wanted to skip school because he had no friends. Dale was the first person he ever met who he grew close to. The only reason he treated Dale like second banana was because he wanted to feel like first banana, to feel important, like he mattered. When Dale tried to go solo, it felt like a slap in the face to all they’d been through together. Now he lives an unremarkable life as an insurance salesman and his only friend is a dog. While he actively denies it, it’s clear that spending time with Dale has reminded him of the good old days and eventually this allows him to let go of his bitterness and rekindle his relationship with his best friend.

Villain:

For over a year now, I’ve been saying that Peter Pan (voiced by Will Arnett in this film) was the true villain of his story. The dude was a creeper who kidnapped children and indoctrinated them into his cult and forced them to fight pirates. However, here, Peter’s plan is much worse. He kidnaps cartoon characters, mutilates them beyond recognition and forces them to star in cheap bootleg knockoffs. Apparently, Peter was on top of the world after his movie was a hit, but then once Peter got older and wasn’t cute anymore, Hollywood kicked him to the curb. So, he started making his own bootleg knockoff movies and found success, so much so that he even began abducting others. I’d be remiss if I did not mention how this plot point eerily and somewhat tastelessly mirrors the sad fate of Bobby Driscol, Peter Pan’s original voice actor who was also kicked to the curb by Disney when he wasn’t cute anymore. I don’t have anything else to say on this unpleasant matter so let’s just quietly move on. Pan’s got his hands in many businesses, both legitimate and disreputable, and when someone becomes indebted to him, he sends his goons to collect them and make them part of his bootlegging operation. Said Goons include Bob, a creepy dead-eyed CGI Viking voiced by Seth Rogen and Jimmy, who may or may not be one of the Coca-Cola polar bears. He also has Chief Putty, the gumby like Chief of Police, in his pocket, meaning that the cops never get close to busting him. By the way, Putty, voiced by J.K. Simmons is hilarious and gets some of the best lines in the film. Sweet Pete is pretty unapologetically evil in this and shows no regrets for the horrific acts he commits. He also gives us the return of one of my favorite Disney Villain tropes, turning into a monster for the final battle, however, we’ll save that for the Dark Disney factor.

Side Characters:

First thing’s first, no disrespect to Eric Bana, but how fucking dare they replace Jim Cummings as the voice of Monterey Jack! Jim Cummings is already in the movie voicing various other characters, let the man play Monty again, come on! Anywho, Monty is what you’d expect him to be in this movie, what with the horrible cheese addiction and all. I also appreciate that, in as much as Chip and Dale may be at odds with each other, both still maintain a close relationship with Monty and are willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary to help him. That's actually kind of sweet.

Gadget, voiced by Tress MacNeille, the only original Rescue Rangers cast member to reprise their role, is pretty much the same as her TV counterpart. In fact they even make a joke about it. Also, in the 30-ish years since the show ended, she married Zipper, voiced in this movie by Dennis Haysbert, and had hundreds of weird fly-mouse hybrid babies. That’s gross but also cool!

Kiki Layne plays Ellie, a police detective who helps out Chip and Dale. They actually set her up as a red herring as Peter’s mole in the police, thinking Putty would be too obvious, and they make a joke about it when Putty’s revealed. On top of that, Ellie is shown to be a huge fan of Rescue Rangers, having been inspired to become a detective because of them. Ugly Sonic from the old Sonic the Hedgehog trailers is in this movie, human-like teeth and everything. It’s fucking weird.

Finally, Darkwing Duck has a cameo in a mid-credits scene, which not only made me squee at the sight of my favorite superhero, but also makes me hope like hell that there’s some kind of Darkwing Duck reboot in the works. Maybe then Ducktales can finally follow up on that Negaduck plot line.

Songs:

The only song we have is a cover of the Rescue Rangers theme song by Post Malone that plays over the credits. It’s okay, I generally enjoy Post Malone’s music and the song certainly sticks in your head.

Memorable Scenes:

There’s a bit where Chip and Dale have to get out of a sticky situation by rapping (long story). Chip has already said numerous times at this point how much he hates it when cartoon characters have to seem cool by rapping so it get's a chuckle when he's forced to do it for Monty’s sake. What’s especially funny is that they’re both terrible at it.

I actually really enjoyed the showdown between Ellie and Putty. All throughout the film, Putty has been taking every opportunity to knock Ellie down and remind her of her of her past screw-ups, screw-ups that only happened because Putty set her up to fail to keep her off the trail of Pan and his goons. Seeing her finally get to kick the shit out of this little clay weasel is pretty cathartic. I also love all of Putty’s one liners throughout and the really random Terminator references. Finally, I need to mention this poster shown during the credits of Disney Afternoon fight fest, a Smash Bros. like video game that would feature characters from the Disney Afternoon, including Darkwing Duck and The Gargoyles. First, it’s awesome to see some Gargoyles representation in a modern movie, but more importantly, I don’t care how many kickstarters it takes, this NEEDS to be a real game as soon as humanly possible!

Story:

The story is that of a movie trying to be a modern day Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Now, I enjoyed this movie, but it isn’t even in the same league as Roger Rabbit. Roger Rabbit was a true masterpiece, this is just a strange movie that wants to cram in every weird cameo (regardless if the character is owned by Disney or not) and reference it can. And good lord is this movie packed with all the weirdness, deep cut cameos and even deeper references it can throw at the audience. So much so that I barely had time to process one crazy thing before the next crazy thing showed up. There’s a moment where Chip and Dale walk into a room and find what appears to be a Gorilla fucking a Snake, and before I even had time to finish that sentence, suddenly, Randy fucking Marsh from South Park is on my screen. Like, Holy Shit movie, slow down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this was a weakness of the film. I love weird shit and this movie gave me plenty to work with. I especially liked this bit where we see Peter's thugs melting down Shrek merchandise to make portable toilets, which is almost assuredly some kind of Fuck You to Jeffrey Katzenberg. There was much randomness that it would be impossible to enumerate here, but this is one of those movies where you notice something new with each subsequent viewing.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Well, we’ve already discussed the sinister nature of Peter’s operation, but we haven’t gone into detail. Apparently, the first thing Peter does is erase his victims mouth so they don’t screen. Then he puts them in his machine and mutilates them beyond recognition, and we see some nightmarish abominations result from all this. I mean, when we finally find Monty, he’s got Dumbo ears and worse yet, THEY REMOVED HIS MUSTACHE, OH THE HORROR!! There’s also this one especially unsettling moment where they find Pan’s facility and see parts of different cartoon characters in bags, implying that Pan straight up scalped a few of these guys. Yikes! And then, Peter himself goes through the machine, transforming him into a monster made of parts of different cartoon characters. An especially nice touch is how he now has the head of Fat Cat, the main villain from the original Rescue Rangers cartoon. I really miss bad guys who turn into horrible monsters for the final battle, so I was happy to see this.

Final Thoughts: I liked this movie. Was it perfect, no. Was it a worthy tribute the the original show, I don't think so. But, for what it was, I had fun with it. It's not going to go down as anything groundbreaking, but it was weird enough to be memorable and that's enough for me. Next time (hopefully) I'll finally be finishing my Top 20 Disney Villains list redux.