It has been over thirty years since Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg) filmed their famous Rescue Rangers series. Since then they have become estranged with Chip working in an office and living alone with his dog, whilst Dale still chases the acting dream appearing at conventions with other cartoon characters who had fifteen minutes of fame. When Monterey Jack (Eric Bana) goes missing though they join forces once again to see if they can be Rescue Rangers in real life. 

Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers is the kind of surprise package that makes me feel all warm inside. It is an inventive post modern comedy that brings to mind the likes of the ‘21 Jump Street’ reinventions starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. The film reimagines the 1990’s TV show as exactly that, a TV show. One that was starred in by two friends who have fallen out over time and gone their separate ways. The world they live in is one similar to the one in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ where humans and cartoons live alongside each other. The plot line has our cartoon heroes teaming up with a real life cop (Kiki Layne) similar to the recent let down ‘The Happytime Murders’. Whilst the outlandish humour bares all the hallmarks of The Lonely Island’s ‘Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping’, a film that I utterly adore and has a very similar plot where two friends fall out and grow apart when they become famous. In fact for quite some time whilst watching I thought this was a film by The Lonely Island which consists of Andy Samberg (who voices Dale), Akiva Schaffer (who directs) and Jorma Taccone (who voices a side character). But whilst their fingerprints are all over it the film was written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand whose most famous output is the TV series ‘How I Met Your Mother’. 

The result is one where there seems to be a million jokes per second both in what is actively happening and dotted around the frame in little in jokes. A lot of which relate to animation and trends there in (Dale has even had CGI surgery to make him more employable). Roger Rabbit has a small cameo, as does Paula Abdul and the cat from her famous song ‘Opposites Attract’. If you keep your eyes peeled you will see many others as well. There is one section where they enter the Uncanny Valley, the sort of animation that Robert Zemeckis became famous for with Beowulf and The Polar Express after he made Roger Rabbit. In fact one of the villains voiced by Seth Rogen who comes from this region could easily have been taken from Beowulf. Speaking of Rogen watch out for a bit where his character in this film is mobbed by a few of the other animated characters he has voiced. And on it goes with almost no limitation to how wacky it will get including the odd South Park character and the ugly Sonic The Hedgehog character from the much maligned first trailer.

All in all it is great fun and one of those kids films that people of all ages will thoroughly enjoy. Bonus points as well for including a song by Tenacious D as well.