Someone get Stefon on the phone, because this teaser for Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers has everything: Paula Abdul DJing with MC Skat Kat, CGI surgery, Seth Rogen’s laugh, the Cats from Cats, the many ponies of “My Little Pony”. Want a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?? I’m pretty sure this is it. Oh, did I mention this teaser also has Roger Rabbit? I don’t know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t even close.
Despite its influence over a popular 30-year-old Disneyland attraction, “Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers” never made much of a cultural impact. It was a crime-fighting reboot of two beloved Disney characters, which lasted only sixty-five episodes between 1989 and 1990, for better or worse. So, in December 2019, when Disney announced a film adaptation of the short-lived television series, produced by The Lonely Island, directed by Akiva Schaffer, starring Andy Samberg and John Mulaney, I was equal parts curious and skeptical. A Disney adaptation from the folks who brought the world “I Just Had Sex” and “Dick in a Box” did not compute. It still doesn’t, if I’m being perfectly honest.
In The Lonely Islands’ Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, Chip and Dale are actors who played themselves on the titular show over 30 years ago. Chip (Mulaney) quit acting to become an insurance salesman, while Dale (Samberg) had CGI surgery to extend his fame on the convention circuit. When an old castmate of theirs goes missing, Chip and Dale are forced to team back up to save them.
I hope the film feels like a Lonely Island production when all is said and done. Disney isn’t known for letting artists make a Disney film their own, but perhaps they’re finally turning a corner. If the teaser is anything to go by, I’m extremely optimistic. The final Zemeckis joke with a Beowulf-like Seth Rogen felt wildly out of left field for a Disney film. I can only hope the rest of the film is subversive, but it’s a Chip and Dale movie, and they’re Walt’s creations, so, who knows? I’m surprised the company even took this much of a risk. I still want to see a full trailer for the film closer to release, but this teaser piqued my interest enough to resurrect my writing “career”, so I’ll watch the film regardless.
What do you think? Was this teaser as good as you hoped, worse than you hoped, exactly as good as you knew it would be? Feel free to chime in below!
Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers premieres on May, 20, 2022, on Disney+.