I was not expecting this to be anywhere near as good as it is. I'm not at all familiar with the original Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers cartoon and although this is built on a love for the show it still works without any prior knowledge.
The premise is that both Chip and Dale are living pretty mediocre lives years after their show was cancelled and they have a complicated relationship after Dale attempted to start a solo project back in the day. They are drawn back together when Monterey Jack, another character from their show, goes missing and it is suspected that crime boss Sweet Pete is behind it.
This very much feels like a 2022 version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit with it's many cartoon (and indeed a couple of live action) cameos, including Roger himself. It would have been easy for this to be simple a load of cameo vaguely tied together into a story but actually the cameos are fantastic with nearly all of them having a great laugh behind them and not hindering the plot. The film mixes animation styles- it's shot in live action but there are lots of 2D animated characters in this world as well as plenty of CG characters and a handful of other styles like Claymation and puppet too.
It's also full of pop culture jokes and I thought this was genuinely the funniest thing I've seen in ages. It makes fun of the ugly original Sonic, the CG in cats and the creepy uncanny valley animation of the early 00s as well as the movie industry and it's trend for big franchises and unnecessary crossovers. Aside from that it's also got some great one-liners and plenty of jokes which don't rely on this stuff that are also great.
At it's heart, the film is a really warm family buddy cop movie. Chip and Dale have a proper investigation to pursue and a bad guy to take down, all whilst dealing with their past and complicated relationship. The film really cleverly takes two high-pitched kids characters and turns them into something much more sophisticated (and gives them less annoying voices). None of the comedy or the fun of the film works without the genuine warmth that sits at the centre of the movie in the two titular chipmunks.
A really great family film that balances nostalgia and pop culture references with a fun and warm story. This is the most interesting reboots Disney have done by a long way.
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