Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers Review

When I first heard Disney was making a live-action Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers movie, I was beyond skeptical. The 1980s animated television series was one of my favorite shows of my childhood, but that didn't mean it was ripe for a reboot. In fact, any attempt at resurrecting once-popular intellectual property nowadays only comes off as soulless nostalgia bait fueled by greedy corporations hoping to make a quick buck. Nothing is ever brought back due to integrity, is it? All that cynicism aside--imagine my surprise that Rescue Rangers actually manages to be surprisingly delightful, with some of the funniest gags in any movie so far this year.

Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers tells the story of the falling out between the titular Chip (voiced by John Mulaney) and Dale (voiced by Andy Samberg) over creative differences in their hit show Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers. Dale hates his portrayal as the dumb but lovable goofball, while Chip downplays his concerns and insists the two are of equal importance on the show and as a real-life duo. The show gets canceled as a result of their disagreement and the two go their separate ways--that is, until one of their former castmembers, Monterey Jack urgently calls the two of them over to his place, desperate for their help in doing what they do best: solving mysteries. It seems that once-treasured animated characters are going missing all over town, and Monterey Jack is sure he's going to be next. The two former friends must put their past aside and work together as the fate of beloved animated characters everywhere depend on it.

Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers works not because it's relying on nostalgia of the 80s and 90s kids dying to see these characters again, but rather because of the clever things it has to say about the art of animation. It's incredibly meta-humor, but in really clever ways, rather than being obnoxious and too on-the-nose. This movie has no business being this good and is one of the most unexpected surprises of the year.

RATING: 8/10