These are some very long-lived chipmunks. Thirty years ago, Chip ‘n Dale were famous for their show Rescue Rangers, but time has passed, times have changed, and animation has gone through a lot of phases, some much wackier than others. Can these chipmunks still be relevant in a CGI world? Was going full Behind the Music on this trailer for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers a brilliant idea? The answer to both of these questions is yes.
The new Chip ‘n Dale stars John Mulaney as Chip and Andy Samberg as Dale, and a whole lot of other people in unspecified roles. The chipmunks are actors, long since past their prime—much like MC Skat Cat and Roger Rabbit, who both make appearances—and while Chip seems fine with that, Dale travels from convention to convention, seeking adulation and a taste of his past fame.
This is already a little more meta than I was expecting a chipmunk movie to be, but the trailer makes it even more so. Mice high on cheese! Cats-the-movie-type-cat-people wrestling in an alley! Dale has had CGI surgery! Seth Rogen is an animated dwarf whose eyes never look where they should!
Plotwise, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers sends the buds on a mission to find a missing castmate from their old show, but their friendship apparently needs some work, too. Along the way, they’ll run into Kiki Layne, Will Arnett, Eric Bana, Flula Borg, Dennis Haysbert, Keegan-Michael Key, Tress MacNeille, Tim Robinson, J.K. Simmons, and Chris Parnell. The whole thing is brought to us by director Akiva Schaffer (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Doolittle). It makes me feel like I’m on drugs, and I gently wish the same for you, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers premieres on Disney+ on May 20th.
It’s like the 1980s again.
The Eighties, oh the Eighties! I *knew* they’d come back!
Come back? The Eighties never went away. Sadly.
They should reboot HR Puf’n’stuf
You had me at MC Skat Cat.
I had seen a mention of this (not knowing what it was about) and rolled my eyes but this looks like an amalgamation of Galaxy Quest and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (a movie I still adore) and…I am here for it.
Is it obvious 80s nostalgia pandering to my generation? Also yes.
Yeah, so what if 14-y/o me had a huge crush on Gadget Hackwrench, that’s totally normal alright
right?
@5,
I wasn’t among the infatuated, but I had friends who crushed on Gadget.
I mean, I think we all had crushes on cartoon characters at one point or another during our formative years.
Darn, this looks fun! I remember enjoying the show, and I still periodically rewatch Who Framed Roger Rabbit because it’s such a blast, plus an astonishing technical feat.
@7,
I also remain amazed at how well Zemeckis threaded the needle and balanced the cartoony insanity of classic Tex Aery and Chuck Jones with old school Crime Noir.
@5 and @6 well Goliath from Gargoyles certainly moved the ratio on that question I think lol.
ya know what I’m in. Huge fan of Rescue Rangers. That and Tailspin were my life as a kid. Coolest shows ever.. at least not named Darkwing Duck. I could go on and on and on. This is nothing alike but should be fun enough anyway.
@6 Velma ;)
@6 – I legit had a crush on Michelangelo from the TMNT as a kid. And interestingly in my daydreams/stories I was the one who ended up also finding a way to mutate into a turtle instead of the other way around haha.
I don’t know what that says about me lol.
@12,
As someone who lived through and grew up during the peak of Turtle Mania, I think we all desperately wanted on to join the Turtles on some level. I wanted to be Leo badly, LOL.
As I’ve gotten older, more and more I’ve come to appreciate how versatile the Turtles mythos has become (especially as Eastman and Larid had no plan and were making it up as they went along). With nearly 40 years of mythology, you can do all kinds of stories at this point — from space opera and ancient conspiracies thrillers to street-level crime noir and body horror.
I actually began reading IDW’s Turtles comics during the first year of the pandemic when I desperately needed new reading to pass lockdown. Tom Waltz’s run is very good. He pretty much played it like Ultimate Turtles and mixes and matches those genres and elements from every incarnation up to its kickoff in 2011 (the original Mirage comics, the 1987 and 2003 cartoons, the original New Line films, etc.).
Anyway….since everyone else has discussed cartoon crushes, heh…
In my case it was Aladdin — although I didn’t realize it at the time. I went along with all my friends who were (cliched as it was) smitten with Jasmine…but I just didn’t get it and kept thinking about Al.
In retrospect it should’ve been a major clue as to my orientation. I actually joke Aladdin was trying to, heh, show me ♫A Whole New World!♫, LOL.
hah, yes! I even had my own bandanna (I had to use pink because purple was alredy taken, alas) and weapon (I wanted a spiked swinging mace lol – is that even a practical thing? No clue) in this imaginging.