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Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg)

Started by Small Man Big Horse, May 21, 2022, 04:37:46 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

Thirty two years on from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and he's back! For about five seconds! But the influence of that film is all over this mix of live action and animation as it portrays Chip and Dale as two school friends who after graduating headed off to Hollywood and managed to get their own tv show, except here once it finished the two went their separate ways and haven't spoken to each other for decades. But then they're forced to team up when former co-star Monterey Jack goes missing, and it's one meta gag after another in this quite good comedy that feels on the edge of being really great but doesn't quite manage it. Andy Samberg and John  Mulaney play the two leads, there's a huge amount of cameos from famous (and not so famous) cartoons and movies, and sometimes it's really funny (appearances from
Spoiler alert
Ugly Sonic, based on his look from the first trailer for the recent film,
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are a highlight) but it only starts to feel really fun in the final third. A shame, as there's a lot of potential here, but for me it's only a 7.1/10

BritishHobo

I was very excited for this but really didn't get on with it. It didn't feel like it was made by somebody with a passion for animation, it just felt like a bunch of cynical ideas from someone who's familiar with most popular animation but isn't all that interested in it as a medium. With Roger Rabbit there's so much thought in this world they created. This film was like a bunch of ideas thrown at the wall. The actual storyline was straight out of so many other films - and again, could have been about any characters or any show, really. There was a bit of novelty in seeing the mix of all the styles - 2D Disney Channel shows alongside realistic 'live-action' CGI characters - but I felt most of the big cameos
Spoiler alert
Stan from South Park! Pickle Rick!
[close]
were no less shallow than the stuff in Ready Player One or Space Jam 2, and all the jokes about unseen characters
Spoiler alert
Peppa Pig got kidnapped and we fought the Paw Patrol!!!!
[close]
actively worse. Like something in a lazy edgy YouTube sketch.

Goldentony

Quoteit just felt like a bunch of cynical ideas from someone who's familiar with most popular animation but isn't all that interested in it as a medium

this is now going to be every non MCU film with popular but unrelated characters available to use since the release Spiderverse, Spiderman and now Dr Strange. Everythings slowly going the Ready Player One route now that everyone's more or less forgot that existed. Eventually we'll get a CGI Jaxxon in Mandalorian to go AHHH at.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Well I enjoyed this a great deal. Sure, it's not Roger Rabbit (and the live action cop was certainly no Bob Hoskins) but I think this made me laugh more. And yes, it's a lot of reference humour, but it shat on Ready Player One from a great height.

idunnosomename

The toon-napping plot I suppose is a bit like it, but it's absolutely nothing like the technical achievement and utter joy of Roger Rabbit. A lot of the real-world sets were totally CG which makes it a helluva lot more straight-forward to make, and the toons weren't drawings but cel-shaded models. There were quite a few very dodgy effects shots too. It's not up to feature-film level at all.

I think if you took out all the references to things (like, um, Robert Crumb's Mr. Natural, that was quite a drop) it wouldn't be great as a story. Although to be fair you do have things like the police chief who's a Gumby knock-off (and animated on threes or fours, in contrast with the toons who were on twos I think) and the henchmen were off-brand Zemickis stuff so cant totally criticise them for that.
 
I also felt a lack of genuine affection for the original Rescue Rangers cartoon at times, can understand why they didn't have the pitch-shifted voices throughout but a bit miffed Jim Cummings, although he did Fat Cat, didn't do Monterey Jack (and god you could tell it was just famous Australian actor man). I suppose it's cultural appropriation now to do an Australian accent, couldnt make it up, etc. but Rescue Rangers was a really great kids cartoon and I watched some on Disney+ and it really holds up as a production (even if Disney+ cuts the tops and bottoms off for 16:9, bleh)

Spoiler alert
Shipping Gadget and Zipper was bizarre, especially the implication they've been fucking non-stop. and shes been pregnant with flies? doesnt bear thinking about really. considering Gadget is quite arguably the best character in the original cartoon and the only one in this consistently voiced by the original actor (Tress MacNeille) she was barely in this
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also I suppose one thing that's key to the plot in this is that unlike Roger Rabbit, toons age. bit stupid really. of course Chip n' Dale were around in the 40s and Baloo was around as a cartoon in the 60s (they imply he was in Talespin first before having CGI surgery). in all the "lets reference shit" they kinda forget pretty much all of Disney before 1980 (well, except Peter Pan)

fun to watch once but don't see myself ever watching it again

Mister Six

The ugly Sonic joke made me laugh when I saw it pop up on Facebook, but I'm a bit tired of all these "It's a 1980s/90s cartoon with an edgy/meta twist!"

It was pretty cool when Space Ghost Coast to Coast/Sealab 2021 did it 25 years ago, but now, no matter how good the execution is, it feels like it's just a big corporation trying to justify the same IP mining that makes up 75% of all popular culture now.

Sorry for being such a downer. But fuck it, post.

idunnosomename

I thought Ugly Sonic was weird but inspired. Since the Sonic movies are successful since the redesign it is quite a significant thing in film that the reaction to a trailer was so bad the production completely reanimated the main character. So its not just an internet meme

Also voiced by Tim Robinson who I really just know as the man dressed as a hot dog concerned about finding out who drove a hot-dog shaped car into a clothes shop.

madhair60

Ugly Sonic saying "SLLLLLOOOWWWWWWWW BBBBAAAAABBBBBYYYYYY" makes me laugh every time I think about it

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: BritishHobo on May 21, 2022, 07:10:58 PMI was very excited for this but really didn't get on with it. It didn't feel like it was made by somebody with a passion for animation, it just felt like a bunch of cynical ideas from someone who's familiar with most popular animation but isn't all that interested in it as a medium.

Even though I enjoyed it more than you (I'm kind of in the middle between your views and Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth's fondness for it), I think you're 100% there, it was something I thought during the film but failed to mention in my post. It relied far too much on the cameos, but rarely did anything fun or playful with them, and someone who really loved animation would have done so much more with them.

The Mollusk

Two questions: 1. is Gidget in it,  and 2. is she sexy



idunnosomename

to be honest its just as bad. its in my spoiler. yes, but she's only shown "filming" the TV show at the beginning and then comes in to help at the end. But she's got a lot less screentime than Monterey Jack. I suspect it's to keep Tress Macneille on cameo pay since nobody cares about cartoon voices except nerds.

colacentral

Quote from: Mister Six on May 22, 2022, 02:04:58 AMThe ugly Sonic joke made me laugh when I saw it pop up on Facebook, but I'm a bit tired of all these "It's a 1980s/90s cartoon with an edgy/meta twist!"

It was pretty cool when Space Ghost Coast to Coast/Sealab 2021 did it 25 years ago, but now, no matter how good the execution is, it feels like it's just a big corporation trying to justify the same IP mining that makes up 75% of all popular culture now.

Sorry for being such a downer. But fuck it, post.

The thing is, Space Ghost and Sealab weren't doing that. You could have no idea that they were recycled old characters and still get the humour. This is more like the dreadful Harvey Birdman, which really was "lol what if Fred Flintstone was beating Velma," lazy "remember this?" sub Family Guy tier shite.

Saying that, I'd have forgiven all this film's sins if they got Xavier: Renegade Angel as a main character.

idunnosomename

eh I don't really mind something like Harvey Birdman where the point is cartoon characters in a courtroom, which isn't normal, haha lol etc

I mean this was it was, a bit produced for streaming being all meta about a thing 30-somethings remember, but doesn't quite do it for people who want to fuck Gadget Hackwrench

madhair60



Mister Six

Yeah, Harvey Birdman was great, but it's where the whole "What if Shaggy was arrested for DEALING WEED!?!?!" thing should have ended.

Replies From View

They should try to make films of these where instead of making it quite weak and rubbish, they manage to make a good film that is worth watching.

It really does stagger me sometimes the way this concept doesn't seem to filter down to the director or the writers or anyone involved in production.  Is there some way to let film makers know that good things would be preferable to garbage?  Does anyone know what language they speak?


madhair60

Quote from: Mister Six on May 23, 2022, 04:10:04 AMYeah, Harvey Birdman was great, but it's where the whole "What if Shaggy was arrested for DEALING WEED!?!?!" thing should have ended.

didn't it?

colacentral

Lazy "children's character does something edgy" comedy writing shouldn't have started in the first place. "I bet Scooby Snacks are drugs!" is something that shouldn't be coming out of anyone's mouth after the age of 15. Robot Chicken was the nadir of that sort of thing. Space Ghost, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the early Sealab didn't depend on that easy irony for laughs and they still hold up.

Mister Six

Quote from: madhair60 on May 23, 2022, 01:16:25 PMdidn't it?

I meant the general juxtaposition of children's cartoon characters and adult situations/circumstances, which continue in this Chip & Dale movie. There's also an upcoming Velma show in which she investigates grisly murders.



Anyway, I'll stop dragging the thread off-topic. Sorry all!

madhair60

hang on, hang on, that Velma isn't white. i'm not having this!!!

Replies From View

Quote from: idunnosomename on May 23, 2022, 11:03:20 AMMoney

Fairly sure they spent no less on this than if they'd tried to make one that was even a tiny bit better.

They should test it.  Do a film that is 3% better and see if it loses 3% of monetary potential.  Then gradually creep it up until maybe in 2054 they have a film that is 100% worth bothering to watch.

Small Man Big Horse

I wasn't aware of this before but it's written by Dan Gregor (aka Rachel Bloom's husband) and Doug Mand who have worked together a fair bit, and created comedy that I've really enjoyed (episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, NTSF:SD:SUV) so I don't think this was just a soulless cash in. Then again there were responsible for Dolittle so I could be horribly wrong.

Goldentony

fucking hell REMEMBER they made another Dolittle film with I, Ron Man?!

letsgobrian

Quote from: Replies From View on May 23, 2022, 03:56:13 PMFairly sure they spent no less on this than if they'd tried to make one that was even a tiny bit better.

They should test it.  Do a film that is 3% better and see if it loses 3% of monetary potential.  Then gradually creep it up until maybe in 2054 they have a film that is 100% worth bothering to watch.

Director Akiva Schaffer on the "Scott Hasn't Seen Podcast" said it was about one-tenth of the budget of a typical animated feature.

Replies From View

Quote from: letsgobrian on May 23, 2022, 10:40:24 PMDirector Akiva Schaffer on the "Scott Hasn't Seen Podcast" said it was about one-tenth of the budget of a typical animated feature.

The Brave Little Toaster, for example.

idunnosomename

shhh keep your voice down or Disney will do a cheky celeb-voiced reboot of that too