Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

I was really happy when I saw the trailer for Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun. Finding out that it was being delivered by a couple of the main figures behind Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping just made me even more keen to see it. Then I started watching it, the smile fading from my face quicker with each passing minute. You can find a lot of people around who really liked this movie. I'm not one of them. There are some good gags, but I'll attempt to highlight some of the biggest problems I had with the film here.

Having gone on separate career paths over the years, Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg) are reunited by a worrying phonecall from their friend, Monterey Jack (Eric Bana). Jack's addiction to stinky cheese has landed him in trouble with the wrong people, and he fears that he will soon be kidnapped, altered slightly, and trafficked to somewhere overseas that has characters creating bootleg versions of their works in perpetuity. Chip and Dale have to get back into old habits, hoping to crack the case in time to save their friend. They end up dealing with the police, in the form of Captain Putty (J. K. Simmons) and Officer Ellie Steckler (KiKi Layne), a variety of twisted cartoon creations, and a big baddie who goes by the name of Sweet Pete (Will Arnett).

When you look at the separate elements here, this is hard to view as anything other than an easy win. Chip ‘n’ Dale have always been my favourite animated chipmunks, nostalgia is arguably one of the most profitable filmic commodities right now, and the direction from Akiva Schaffer is decent throughout. There are also some fun gags in the script, written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, who also wrote the very enjoyable, although formulaic, Magic Camp and the less enjoyable Dolittle. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough good gags, especially when you have scenes too busy cramming in familiar personalities and entertainment archetypes. And those gags feel harder to laugh at when you realise the dark truth being reconfigured as something of an extended punchline throughout the second half of the film. I am willing to give both Gregor and Mand the benefit of the doubt, willing to believe that they were trying to pin the comedy on one serious point, on one subversive critique of the Disney studio system (of old?), but it doesn’t work. It rankles as much as that book by O. J. Simpson called “If I Did It: Confessions Of The Killer”. I would never want to read that book, and I never want to revisit this movie.

Another big problem that the movie has, and I know this will sound like a very silly complaint, is a lack of any rhyme or reason to the different types of characters. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is the nearest touchstone for this, underlined in a scene that actually has a cameo from the man himself, but that had clearly defined populations of people and toons. This doesn’t. You get some people living their lives, some cartoon characters everywhere, some cgi creations, muppety puppets, even the difference between Chip and Dale feels very random (one traditionally animated and one fleshed out into a CGI animated character). I know there is a reason for it, but the reason feels a bit arbitrary. 

Mulaney and Samberg are a great fit in the lead voice roles, Simmons is equally enjoyable, and there are entertaining turns from Arnett, Seth Rogen, Eric Bana, Tim Robinson (in the absolutely brilliant role of Ugly Sonic), and many others. Layne also does well, playing one of the few actual humans onscreen, and there’s no faulting the mix of live-action and animation throughout.

There are jokes that work, and some scenes are very funny. References to the uncanny valley are a lot of fun, as is a special appearance from Post Malone, and the meta commentary of older properties being freshened up for a new audience is surprisingly effective, acknowledging that all of these things are just as formulaic as standard sequels or remakes. This is fairly easy to like and enjoy, and many people have done just that. I just couldn’t manage it, especially when I kept circling back to the backstory of the villain (not to mention the way in which it attempts to put a darkly comic spin on people trafficking, which is equally misguided). So I guess I will just wait to see if the inevitable Roger Rabbit sequel will work better. There’s going to be a Roger Rabbit sequel now, right? Right??

4/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Mary And Max (2009)

Every time I dive a bit deeper into the world of animation, I am almost pleasantly surprised by the sheer range of style and content to be explored. Far too many people still think that animation equals kid-friendly movies and, while the great majority of animated films do fall into that bracket, that really isn't the case for people willing to give their time to film-makers wanting to deliver their message in a way that isn't the standard live-action film form.

Mary And Max is a prime case in point. I guess that children could watch this, there are moments of darkness but nothing really too disturbing or graphic, and it would raise some interesting points for discussion. But it will really strike a chord with adult viewers, those who have seen the world through some of the filters used by both protagonists. Mary has the innocence of youth for a lot of the film, Max has a tense and confused relationship with a world that expects him to act like every other adult, despite the fact that he has health issues affecting the way he interacts with others.

Narrated by Barry Humphries, this is the tale of two unlikely pen pals, and therefore also manages to be the tale of two lives. Mary (voiced by Bethany Whitmore, and then by Toni Collete) is a lonely young girl who lives in Melbourne. Max (voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a middle-aged man who lives in New York. The two would seem to have nothing in common, yet they develop a strong friendship through the years. Can it last though?

Written and directed by Adam Elliot, it doesn't take long to see why he decided to make this an animated movie. First of all, he heads up a great team. Second, there are many moments in this film that would be unbearably depressing if shown in live-action. In animated form, viewers can still find humour in the many lovely touches in each frame, carried through some of the darker scenes by the attention to detail. This is a movie that feels, like so many of the best animated movies, crafted with real care, hard work, and an eagerness to pack every frame with subtle delights.

The voices are equal to the visuals. Whitmore is a naive joy as young Mary, while Collete somehow keeps the voice of that inner child there even as she becomes more affected and worn down by adulthood. Hoffman is wonderfully gruff at all times, whether he's being grumpy or sweet and earnest. And Barry Humphries is a great addition as the narrator, given so many great scripted lines that it's hard to imagine him not relishing every one of them.

Despite me going on about the animated coating making the pill easier to swallow, this isn't an easy watch. There were moments in the third act in which I had to stop my lip from wobbling and my eyes from tearing up as I journeyed on to whatever the end would bring. I had become so strongly attached to both of the main characters that any of the ways in which life started to intensely knock them down caused me to have a lump in my throat immediately.

This is, to date, the only feature from Elliot. I hope he does more, and I'll be keen to check out his short films ASAP.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.