Chip and Dale

He's also voiced by Tim Robinson of I Think You Should Leave fame (just picture the meme of a man in a hot dog suit), who gives him a very different performance ...

A scene later in the movie has both Chip and Dale talking to Ugly Sonic after needing help from the FBI, who Sonic previously claimed to have known. He then mentions that he's getting his own show where he goes on ride alongs with the FBI. The clips show that Ugly Sonic appears with his own booth at the same convention that Dale is selling old photos of himself at, with most passersby seemingly completely uninterested in the two.

The chipmunks are washed-up actors from their's '80s TV show, with Chip (John Mulaney) selling insurance and Dale (Andy Samberg) reliving his glory days at fan ...

Chip and Dale are brought to an unsettling location, look to their left, and see two furry humanoid cats—done in the style of Cats (2019)—fighting in the alley. Chip ‘n Dale takes shots at Cats (2019), Polar Express (2004), and more when the two chipmunks visit the Valley—the Uncanny Valley, that is. Without spoiling too much, Ugly Sonic shows up a few more times in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and in fact becomes a fairly crucial character in the film. I love the Sonic movie.” The chipmunks are washed-up actors from their’s ’80s TV show, with Chip (John Mulaney) selling insurance and Dale (Andy Samberg) reliving his glory days at fan cons. Because, yes, Ugly Sonic shows up in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and it is possible we have given Twitter too much power.

'Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers' resurrected the biffed Sonic the Hedgehog CGI design from the dead.

Rescue Rangers gleefully partakes in the sub-genre of the moment, made popular by Space Jam: A New Legacy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: the multiversal romp. Since I will not see Rescue Rangers until I light several Bath & Body Works candles and begin my satanic Sonic ritual tonight, I can only offer a small bit of context, most of which I've gleaned from the clip below. Apparently, there is another children's movie in town—Disney+'s Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, featuring John Mulaney and Andy Samberg as the titular chipmunks—that has once again dared to include this hellish creature, the one with fur the color of Gatorade Cool Blue, into the once-great history of the moving image.

With the release of Chip 'N' Dale: Rescue Rangers on Disney+, I knew there'd be tons of little hidden fun and easter eggs hidden throughout, ...

Early in the film when Chip is at home, he gets ready to serve up some food and opens up his freezer. There could be a wikipedia page dedicated to this moment alone in the film and everything in here alone. I feel like every movie that celebrates the art of animation, especially nowadays, has some kind of reference to the Nine Old Men, the classic animators who worked with Walt Disney and developed and mastered the artform. Chip ‘N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers fans are sure to recognize much of the merchandise in Dale’s garage, including the video games, toys, and vhs tapes. Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers owes so much to the 1988 classic film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, that took place in the early days of Hollywood and animation and created a world where toons lived alongside humans without blinking twice. - Detective Florez – Spotted in one of the shots at the LAPD, the appearance of Detective Florez from Netflix’s animated series, Big Mouth, might be a questionable choice to some. While Chip is walking down the street near Monty’s apartment there are aerial shots that reveal a cartoon character walk of fame. While not exactly the same as what we saw in Roger Rabbit, the hillside depictions and cartoon sun are similar to what visitors to Toontown first encounter when they arrive through the tunnel. It could stand to reason that Chip and Dale know them from their early animation days, but in this story universe, Chip and Dale never made the earlier cartoons, having only met each other in the early 80s. - Zummi Gummi – As the end credits roll, we see a bus stop ad for Ellie, who is now a Private Investigator. Waiting on that bus stop is none other than Zummi Gummi playing on his phone. Also, be aware that as I point out where to find some things, I get specific as to where they all happen throughout the film so consider this a SPOILER ALERT. Almost every wide shot had something hiding in it, and the cartoon buff in me was also incredibly pleased by the amount of character appearances that aren’t even called to attention.

Sonic's original movie design for 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog provoked internet outrage and a quick CG redesign. But the original version of the character is ...

“It was a process. It’s one of my favorite things in the movie. “You don’t want it to feel like an ad for Disney Plus.” “It’s one of my favorite [cameos in the film],” he says. In the wake of the public response, the character was quickly and substantially redesigned for the actual film release. First introduced at a fandom convention, signing autographs and coasting on his internet notoriety, Ugly Sonic (he bills himself that way, complete with a giant “Ugly Sonic” banner for his booth) comes across as a little smug and a little bitter about his brief, curtailed movie career.

John Mulaney and Andy Samberg voice the animated chipmunks in a half-subversive riff on 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit.'

In the end, this is still a product of the house the mouse built, though it’s weirder than the norm — just the company proving it can laugh at itself provided the jokes aren’t too pointed. Ugly Sonic — as in the version of Sonic the Hedgehog who was scrapped after fans revolted against his unsettling human teeth — plays a small but pivotal role as another animation D-lister (voiced by Tim Robinson, even). And the main baddie, Sweet Pete (Will Arnett), is actually Peter Pan, who grew up and turned to a life of crime after, like many a former child star, being deemed un-castable as an uncute adult. A villain’s lair is located in the Valley, as in the Uncanny one, populated by the cats from Cats and a few dead-eyed motion-capture characters from The Polar Express and Beowulf (another, less flattering, nod to Zemeckis). J.K. Simmons is a delight as Captain Putty, a police chief in the style of a Gumby character who’s able to use his Claymation for some formidable fighting moves. The original Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers makes them stars until Dale tries to go solo, their show gets canceled, and an embittered Chip goes off to lead a normie life while Dale gets 3-D surgery and rides out his waning fame signing autographs at fan conventions and holding out for a reboot. Like Robert Zemeckis’s 1988 movie, it’s set in a reality in which cartoon characters live among us and takes the form of a Hollywood mystery in which past-their-prime animated stars have been vanishing. Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers is well aware that, as a combination live-action and animated sequel (of sorts) to the Disney show of the same name, it’s as much a product of the current IP hellscape as any of these spoof titles.

Everyone's gotta hustle to make a living, and Sega's rejected mascot is doing just that in the new Rescue Rangers movie.

I mean, he—and his dad bod—were rejected in favor of the newer design seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and presumably the in-production third film and live-action TV series, as well. As far as Sonic’s games go, Sega’s remastering the first four series games for the compilation pack Sonic Origins, which is cool. So, I booted up Disney+, checked the “New Releases” section for Rescue Rangers, and fast-forwarded to the cameo that had people reeling in shock and disbelief. While we got a much better design once the film hit theatres, Ugly Sonic has now reemerged in a different movie starring those cunning and mischievous Disney chipmunks, Chip and Dale. Sigh, Ugly Sonic would be a cop. What we got was much more consistent with Sonic’s existing design and way less human-like (and without those horrifying teeth), going on to become one of the better parts of the mostly-fine film action-comedy.

Chip 'n Dale returns with a new movie on Disney+ that pays homage to the history of animation.

The straight-to-Disney+ buddy movie offers an exciting taste of what Disney can achieve when it decides to take risks and get clever when it dusts off its extensive archives. Its wackiness retains wit, doing a fantastic job praising Disney’s contribution to the animation landscape over the past three decades (including Rescue Rangers’ bite-sized place in that period). Simultaneously, it disses Disney and its animation “rivals” Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network (among others), making a caricature of Hollywood’s obsession with nostalgia pandering. Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a romp around a meta and multi-studio Toontown-in-Tinseltown that serves as an ode to (and diss track of) animation. If you were a kid in the 80s, you likely tuned your TV on weekday afternoons and stopped at the sound of Mark Mueller’s infectious “Ch-ch-ch-Chip and Dale, Rescue Rangeeeeeers” theme for the animated adventure comedy. The two soon take on the role of a lifetime — real-life amateur investigators — after one of their mutual friends with a stinky cheese addiction goes missing. The new movie will have you rooting for Disney's oldest anthropomorphic bromance with lines crammed with smart jests, scenes packed with goofs, and a ton of heart.

In this Akiva Schaffer interview, the Lonely Island comedian talks about directing Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, helping with the script, and crossovers.

I think I’ll celebrate the Disney+ release, but I do wish, if I knew it was going to be a crowded theater, that people could have that experience. Jorm was stuck in New York and Andy was stuck doing his thing, and I was doing this movie. Every day, we would have iPads on set and I would be able to have the crew gather around and be like, “Here’s what we’re filming today.” They could see a rudimentary version of it and we could go, “Okay, let’s do shot 1.” I’m trying to think of the fastest way to tell it all, but on set it was the fun of having dolls of Chip and Dale—you have eye line things that are like LED lights on little sticks so people know where to look. I color-corrected on a big screen, just the way you would for a theatrical movie. It was not easy and I keep giving big shout-outs to the lawyers—I always keep making a special point of that. I think we’re going to wait and see how people enjoy this film, but I think you can put in your request straight to Bob Chapek. Just write him an email. That’s part of what I was so excited to learn—getting to work with storyboard artists, creating animatics, and just do what you think of as classic animation the exact same way you would if you were making a Pixar movie. I love the Sonic movie and I’m very excited to see the second one. The producers dug it out because they always loved it and were like, “This has gotta go somewhere.” When they brought it to me, I definitely had a lot of things I wanted to do with it, and I was lucky that Dan and Doug agreed to come back on. The whale rap is definitely me and Andy. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wrote it so I want to be careful about not taking any ownership away from them having written it, because their script was so good and that is what attracted me to it. I thought it was super funny and clever, and then I was also excited about learning modern filmmaking which is the live-action hybrid stuff. For Schaffer—who got his start by directing and editing goofy videos of Samberg and Jorma Taccone fake-rapping when they were just teenagers—it was a legal headache that was worth it.

A Shrek for a new era, as Disney lets Lonely Island go nuts (in PG fashion).

Dale, as part of a running gag in the film, has gotten "CGI surgery" and emerges as a fully 3D-rendered chipmunk. We get to see each lead character move on from early '90s fame to their "adult" lives for the next 25 years or so before they're forced to reunite. So much so, in fact, that I watched the entirety of the credits to see exactly who got thanked for allowing their biggest franchises to be either passive-aggressively mocked or outright, er, melted in this film.

Sonic, South Park, He-Man and Seth Rogen are among the surprising cameos in the Disney+ animated movie Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

The best part of the cameo is that Charles Fleischer reprises the character he voiced in the Robert Zemeckis classic starring the legendary Bob Hoskins. (Additional fun fan note: Eddie Murphy once said that Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the only film on which he ever regretted passing.) Toward the end of the film, in the same convention scene with He-Man and Skeletor, Pete bumps into one of the classic Disney Peter Pan Lost Boys. After he notes, shocked, that Peter grew up, Peter responds: “Yeah, death is coming for us all, kid.” One of the funniest moments in the film is between He-Man and Skeletor, who appear together at a fan convention. Rendered in their classic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ’80s animation, the duo is at a table signing pictures when Chip and Dale run underneath to avoid trouble. The fan-favorite South Park character is seen briefly hanging out in a bathhouse sauna while Chip and Dale are on a mission. The poor guy is trying to get by in the industry as best he can — but it’s pretty clear opportunities have dried up and cons are his main source of income.

It wouldn't be a Disney movie without some Marvel references throw in but Rescue Rangers went for some deep cuts.

Sadly in the Rescue Rangers verse the title was changed to Ant-Man, though in the closing credits we do see a poster for the fictional film: Paul Rudd in his Ant-Man costume, minus the helmet, poses with several aunts. In the Rescue Rangers movie, it seems Tigra never got much acting success outside of the short lived series, the banner at her booth features nothing but photos from the short-lived series and the inviting statement, “Meet the Were-Woman In Person!” No, Rescue Rangers goes for the deepest of deep cuts.

The satirical movie comes from The Lonely Island comedy team. "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" is exclusive to Disney Plus and won't be in theaters.

You can also download movies and shows from Disney Plus to watch offline later. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. You can download the Disney Plus app on iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox, and most smart TV and streaming player brands. For more details, check out our full Disney Plus guide. Disney Plus costs $8 a month or $80 per year. The pair have been separated for years at the start of the film, but find themselves thrust back together when a former member of their show disappears.

Take away the cameos—in the recording booth, and animated on-screen—and you get something that's a little too close to the same old junk.

The Henson company tried something similar to this a few years ago with vats of bodily fluids in the godawful “ The Happytime Murders.” This movie isn’t that bad, which is a plus. At the least the premise is funny: former enchanted sweetheart Sweet Pete ( Will Arnett) has been kidnapping characters and changing their physical features, “bootlegging” them for knock-offs. It doesn’t help that the jokes not related to current properties just aren't funny or memorable. This movie is directed by Akiva Schaffer, and stars Andy Samberg voicing as Dale, so technically that makes it a Lonely Island movie (their third member, Jorma Taccone, does bit voice parts). That inherently raises the pedigree for it, especially with how they have previously parodied pop music and success in the past. One such inspired idea is how this movie casually includes different eras and recognizable styles on animation, recognizing that we've all become historians in the industry, whether we realize it or not. Chip and Dale are smart candidates for a reboot—they’re a recognizable cartoon Disney duo, even if one doesn’t know their series, or have a nostalgia for them in the slightest.

The Disney+ film is like an updated Who Framed Roger Rabbit—a fantastically funny cartoon satire.

In Chip ’n Dale, Dale is trying to ride that trend to a comeback. (Samberg and Mulaney’s easy chemistry also helps.) The movie works mostly because, through its weird tricks of animation and self-referentiality, it somehow finds a fresh satirical angle. The return of Ugly Sonic is one of the biggest reasons to recommend Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, because it exemplifies the kind of humor on display in the rest of Akiva Schaffer’s film. That space is where characters such as Ugly Sonic are languishing, alongside Sweet Pete (Will Arnett), a middle-aged, beer-bellied version of Disney’s Peter Pan; and (most amusingly) a glassy-eyed CGI Viking warrior played by Seth Rogen, who resembles the eerie mannequins of 2000s films such as The Polar Express and Beowulf. In Chip ’n Dale, all of these forgotten figures continue to toil in obscurity, fighting for even a scrap of relevance amid so many flashy, new brands. I’m talking about the return of “Ugly Sonic”—an unsettling version of Sonic the Hedgehog with human teeth, beady eyes, and a weirdly elongated body that you might remember from 2020 before a hasty redesign salvaged his live-action movie debut. Hollywood loves a good comeback story, and the new Disney+ film Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers has a great one.