Reaction to Disney+’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers Teaser Trailer

Hey, did you hear that a teaser trailer for Disney’s new Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie dropped earlier? Let’s check it out!

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Okay, I have some thoughts on this.

Skipping past all the “did we really need this?” and “why did it have to be live action?” chatter, I have a bigger issue with what we’ve seen here. And that issue is:

Why is this a Rescue Rangers movie?

Make no mistake, I’m a big fan of the old cartoon, but it makes no sense to me. Granted, this is a teaser trailer, so there could be more to it than we’re seeing. But despite the verbiage used in the trailer, I’m not getting much of a sense of Rescue Rangers from this, particularly the “rescue” part. “Some times, some crimes, go slipping through the cracks” and all that jazz.

Rather, this reeks of a “old cartoon celebrities get thrown into the 21st century” fish-out-of-water type of story. And you know what? That’s fine. That actually works pretty well with Chip ‘n Dale — you know, the two chipmunks who starred in various shorts with Donald Duck (including one of my favorite Christmas cartoons ever), and palling around with Mickey Mouse at the House of Mouse and all that stuff.

And hey, you know what? Rescue Rangers was a big part of that celebrity they once held. Heck, I couldn’t even tell them apart easily before that cartoon, and was frankly disappointed when the next time I saw them, they weren’t wearing their signature outfits from it. By all means, bring back Monterrey Jack, Zipper, and Gadget! Their star had obviously shone brightly, then faded once the syndication episode quota was met. That’s part of their story!

But this teaser… I’m just not getting the vibe that a “Rescue Rangers” trailer should be giving me here. This feels more like Looney Tunes: Back in Action to me, or something along those lines. Which is fine in itself, I suppose. But this?

I suppose it likely either comes down to one of two things: Either the branding on this movie is wrong, or the teaser focused on the wrong aspect of the movie.

Let’s look at the description:

In “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” Chip and Dale are living amongst cartoons and humans in modern-day Los Angeles, but their lives are quite different now. It has been decades since their successful television series was canceled, and Chip (voice of Mulaney) has succumbed to a life of suburban domesticity as an insurance salesman. Dale (voice of Sandberg), meanwhile, has had CGI surgery and works the nostalgia convention circuit, desperate to relive his glory days. When a former cast mate mysteriously disappears, Chip and Dale must repair their broken friendship and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend’s life.

Okay, so they are actually rescuing someone (probably Gadget). Maybe Fat Cat came back, too, and kidnapped her? I don’t know, this just makes it sound like they’re sidelining one of the team members (to say nothing of a fan favorite) to tell that other story… which I still think might work better as more just “Chip ‘n Dale” and less “Rescue Rangers“.

I’m making no judgments on anything else here, just that for the name on the tin? This doesn’t feel right to me.

But that’s just my opinion upon seeing this. I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

Thanks for reading!

(And yeah, I’ve got other stuff that probably should have been finished and gone up before this, but seeing that trailer just lit a fire under me.)

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David Oxford is a freelance writer of many varied interests. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.