* I wrote this extremly fast so please forgive the spelling errors
Rescue Rangers was a delightful little show that aired on the Disney afternoon in the 90s’. It was kids show that taught children the value of teamwork, friendship & featured Disney’s classic chipmunks Chip & Dale. In 2022 we get a sequel/live action remake to the classic cartoon but rather than expand on the original show’s ideas and themes, writers Dan Grego, Doug Mand & Director Akiva Schaffer have decided to fill this to brim with gags/jokes and so many throwbacks to past things and pop culture references, the movie suffers for it.
What this movie is in a nutshell. *See Below
The movie goes full “meta” treating the Rescue Ranger characters as actors with the same name, who have fallen onto hard times years later. Which is clearly what everyone wants to see apparently. Chip & Dale’s voices have been replaced by John Mulaney & Andy Samberg and no, their voices are not pitched up, they talk normally. Their performances are completely flat which is weird. Both Mulaney & Samberg have done roles in the past and they are talented, but here they both sound half asleep while delivering their lines. The live actors are not much better. Kiki Layne also has a lot of awkward line delivery, which comes off as stiff and fake. I am not sure why, but I can guess the combination of the bad writing and direction was the cause. Perhaps if the movie spent less time showing off things in the background that are arguably more interesting than anything else happening with our main characters, the plot, story & acting would have not suffered so much.
The movie is so side tracked by the gags and jokes that you start to realizes how little there is on offer. The main plot of following Chip & Dale to find their teammate Monterey Jack, who’s fallen into debt at the hands of an Adult Peter Pan who sells off the “toons” in debt to be changed and put into black market VHS releases. I am really confused about who this movie was made for. The jokes are highly adult themed and will go over kid’s heads, but it’s not smart enough for an adult to appreciate the gag either. Its like the movie was made in a vacuum with 4-6 people that had all these inside jokes no one else understands or just simply aren’t funny.
The movie does not know what it wants to be, is it a serious story like Roger Rabbit? Or a parody movie like This is the End or Scary Movie? Rescue Rangers (2022) tries to do both and fails. I wish more time would have been put into this film as they are some interesting ideas here but they're snuffed out by brainless humor & dumb pointless “action” sequences that drag on forever. The bar is so low, and this movie lowers it even more. Next time maybe someone will actually try to make a movie that has, heart, themes and clever humor instead of crutching on nostalgia and past films to do the heavy lifting for them. This movie sucks and showcases the idiocracy we are currently in. I’d be embarrassed to be attached to this film and based on everyone’s performances they are to.
“Turn off your brain off and have fun” is a term a lot of people throw at me when I judge movies like this. The issue I have with that motto, is I feel you must do it for almost everything released that's a “AAA/Blockbuster” comdey/action film. It’s okay to have a few films a year that ask you to do this, the problem is it’s not just a few, it’s the majority of modern films in 2022. I hate it here.
