Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

Directed by Akiva Schaffer. Starring KiKi Layne, (voices) Andy Samberg, John Mulaney, Will Arnett, J. K. Simmons, Seth Rogen, Eric Bana, Tress MacNeille, Keegan-Michael Key, Dennis Haysbert, Tim Robinson. [PG]

In the cesspool of films that were designed and/or marketed in an attempt to recreate the hybridized excellence and box office draw of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Space Jam, Cool World, The Happytime Murders, etc.), this one joins the thin ranks of, say, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, as being pretty decent. Granted, it’s preoccupied with IP recognition and the notion that mere visual references qualify as “gags,” but the self-mockery and periodic clever bits ease that frustration. The story is a semi-continuation/semi-parody of the popular kids’ cartoon from over three decades prior—a red alert that the humor is going to be aimed at now-grown fans of the show more than the age-range of the children who initially tuned in—with those mystery-solving chipmunks being characters in a show played by chipmunk actors also named Chip and Dale, living in a world populated by real, animated, and “puppeted” people/creatures; in the years since the show’s cancellation, they fell out and went their separate ways, but wouldn’t you know it, there’s a new mystery to be solved that reluctantly reunites them: investigating the disappearance of their old chum, Monterey Jack. Messy, inconsistently-paced, and not particularly original, but there are enough quality jokes spread out across the whole thing to keep the viewer committed; may not sound like much, but that’s not factoring in the good will and astute sensibilities behind the filmmakers’ creativity, or the way that some pop-culture observations are simply too true to fail (e.g., the uncanny valley dead-eyes, “Ugly” Sonic the Hedgehog’s human mouth, etc.), or even the awkward send-ups of its own nostalgia-baiting (“Stuck to my face like Silly Putty…remember that stuff?”). In addition to numerous voice cameos, Paul Rudd and Chris Parnell are among those who make brief live-action appearances.

64/100