Review: Disney's 'Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers' revival is a wonderful success

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
3.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Writers: Dan Gregor, Doug Mand
Starring: Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, KiKi Layne
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
Rated: Rated PG for mild action and rude/suggestive humor

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) —Synopsis: Following the cancelation of the television series “Rescue Rangers,” Chip and his co-star Dale have gone in opposite directions. Thirty years later, when series co-star Monterey Jack goes missing, the duo is forced to set aside the past and try to find their old friend.

Review: Originally introduced in 1943 as troublemaking antagonists, Chip 'n Dale, the infamous quarreling chipmunks, were given a positive spin when they were recast as detectives for the 1989 television series “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.” Only 65 episodes were produced (five of which are culled from a two-hour movie special) but the series lived on in syndication.

For this sequel Chip ‘n Dale were never real detectives. They were actors in a popular television program that was unceremoniously canceled when Dale took a role in another action series. The childhood friends became estranged from each other. Chip became an insurance salesman. Dale desperately tried to hold on to his short-lived stardom. Dale even went as far as to have “CGI surgery” to update his look for modern films.

The duo, who have had little to no contact for 30 years, are tricked into working together when Monterey Jack, one of their former co-stars, is kidnapped by bootleggers who slightly alter the appearances of their abducted actors and force them to be in films that rip off the movies that originally made them famous.

Like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers” is set in the real world and features both animated and live-action characters. What makes the film even more unusual is that the animated characters are presented in a variety of styles ranging from the deadeye look of “The Polar Express” to the simple techniques of “Steamboat Willie.” The mishmash isn’t as disjointed as you might think. In fact, I think it works brilliantly.

The film is packed with cameos from famous animated characters from a vast variety of old and new franchises (successful or otherwise) from the last 100 years. Not just Disney animation — all of animation.

The script is, as you might expect, fairly meta as it explores a world populated mostly by former stars who have yet to come to terms with their irrelevance.

Writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand both worked on “How I Met Your Mother” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and their use of quick wit is fully on display here. The material is sharp but stays safely within a PG rating.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed “Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.” Nothing is reinvented but Mand, Gregor and director Akiva Schaffer still manage to craft a film that feels original and familiar at the same time. I would have liked to have watched this in theater. Seeing as it is only available on Disney+, you won’t even have to leave the comfort of your couch to watch it.