Written by Ronnie Gorham
Nowadays, if you were to hear about a Disney film filled with action, suspense, humor, and surprise cameos you would assume it was an MCU movie.
The house that Mickey Mouse built’s latest feature brings back an iconic duo who’ve been saving the day long before Tony Stark told the world he was Iron Man. Their names are Chip and Dale. Although their first appearance was as antagonists in the 1943 cartoon Private Pluto most people remember them from the 1989 short-lived TV show Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. Three decades later, director Akiva Schaffer (The Lonely Island/Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and writers Dan Gregor (Dolittle) and Doug Mand (Most Likely to Murder) try to make Chip and Dale relevant again by adding their unique twist to two beloved Disney characters.
The story follows Chip and Dale years after their hit series, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, was canceled. When we meet them neither Chip nor Dale have spoken to one another because of creative differences that break them apart. Chip becomes an insurance salesman who spends most of his days with his only friend a dog named Millie while Dale gets CGI surgery and tours the comic convention scene autographing 8X10s for money from their glory days. Coincidently, the two chipmunks are brought back together when their friend and former co-star Monterey Jack goes missing. This sends the two off on a hilarious misadventure where they try to find their cheese-obsessed compadre by tracing down clues all over the city.
The film takes an interesting approach in regards to the whole reboot, remake trope, and instead serves as a sequel of sorts to the adults who grew up watching Rescue Rangers. That’s not to say that if you’ve never seen the old show that you won’t enjoy it but from the jump, it’s clear that the film’s primary target audience is the nostalgic adults who watched Chip and Dale when they came home from school back in the ’90s. If you were lucky enough to grow up during that era then it makes the cameos, ’90s references like Terminator 2, and the jaw-dropping reveal of the story’s main antagonist Sweet Pete all the more exciting. The film is drowning in easter eggs and fan service so you may want to give it a second viewing and keep the pause button handy to catch them all like Paul Rudd who starred in the ’90s film Clueless.
The second thing that people already know going into the film from the trailer is that Chip and Dale’s squeaky voices have been swapped out for the voices of SNL alum Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and comedian John Mulaney (John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch). As far as the chemistry between Mulaney and Samberg goes — it’s brilliant, hysterical, and makes you want to see the two possibly do a buddy cop film. Mulaney’s version of Chip comes off as a smart, sarcastic party pooper while Samberg’s Dale is more of a go-with-the-flow comedy relief much like the original cartoon. In addition to both Mulaney and Sandberg are great performances by the supporting cast which includes: KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk), Will Arnett (Muppets Haunted Mansion), Seth Rogen (Long Shot), J. K. Simmons (Whiplash), Eric Bana (Dirty John), and Tress Macneille who reprises her voice role as Gadget.
The film as a whole never takes itself too seriously and pays homage to movies that came before it like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Space Jam by combining a world where cartoon characters and humans live amongst each other with a few muppet appearances as well. One of the funniest bits about Chip and Dale though is the number of times Disney pokes fun at themselves and other cartoon franchises like The Little Mermaid, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Batman, and many others.
In this day and age, it is not easy to pull off a decent reboot, remake, or sequel but Chip and Dale do it with ease. Chip and Dale is fun for the whole family with enough hilarious moments that’ll have people talking about this flick for a long time to come. Perhaps it might stir up enough buzz to green light a sequel. The story is simple, you’ll laugh a lot and there are enough cameos to last a lifetime.
