Film Good points and bad points ended up cancelling each other out.
Overall, I think that this movie ended up as 'meh', but because of a weird, weird rollercoaster of quality. Reading the other reviews, I agree with points on both sides: The meta-jokes are really, really good, but the story itself feels lackluster and the highest of it (the story itself) being on how cartoons interact with a society that is adapted to them, in a weird continuation of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'.
Starting with the good points, frankly, the world building is really good. You see a society with tiny buildings for tiny cartoons, and now they have a variety of styles, ranging from the 'hand-drawn' to stop-motion, 3D, and even sock puppets! And most of them don't feel out of place, with mentions of vehicles and pathways adapted for both big and small cartoons.
The meta-jokes were wild and punched from where you least expected, I honestly didn't even fathom so many references to so many branches of animations and studios, and I laughed loud a lot.
Now for the lower points... First of all, there is almost no true 2D animation. Everything is 3D, including the 'hand drawn' cartoons were badly rendered in cel-shading. Many look more uncanny-valley than the ones they mock, especially humanoids. The story feels like it was downright butchered through executive meddling, riddled with hipocrisy (disney doing 'take-that's to flaws of other studios, but never acknowledging its own problems nor shitty behavior) and sets up really good punches, but all of them, without exception, are pulled. The original script seemed quite more interesting than the final product, which ends being a rather bland 'buddy cop' comedy. [While I wasn't much of a fan of the original show, I have to admit that what they did to Gadget, besides the enormous Squick factor, was a letdown since hers and Zip's role boils down to a glorified emergency taxi at the end.
There is a LOT of nostalgia baiting, but worst of all, the story didn't really acknowledged how awful several behaviors were. Dale really doesn't face repercussions, nor apologizes, for shooting down a successful series and putting his friends out of a job due to 'wanting to feel needed' by making his own solo series, even if Chip clearly BEGGED him to not do that. A frustration that is built through the movie ends up easily forgiven after a small talk, and his celebrity gloryhound and obsessively nostalgic behavior aren't called out. Remember, he also screwed up writers, directors and more. Peter Pan being basically abandoned by Disney boils down to 'Hey, shit happens to everyone and we are all in this together', which is extra-callous due to you-know-what, already pointed out by the other reviewers.
Frankly, the movie is worth watching just for the comedy hidden within it, but weirdly, the story can't save the good jokes (whereas its more often the other way around). Ugly Sonic basically steals the show whenever he appears. 6/10
Film Shouldn't have been about Rescue Rangers (or Bobby Driscoll). Spoiler Warning!
I won't deny, this movie definitely had fun with the meta angle. It made sure to use various forms of animation through the movie rather than just sticking to the two our protagonists are animated in. The issue is rather the protagonists themselves, namely they feel like their place means that now the movie has to balance its relation to the Rescue Rangers cartoon and the overall meta premise of the movie.
I know its cliché to say "Oh, this should have been a Roger Rabbit/Bonkers movie!" but there's a reason for this outcry, and considering that this is basically a mystery movie, the Noir feel of Roger Rabbit or the buddy cop tone of Bonkers would have worked well with this movie. This was clearly a duo movie, which means that three out of the five Rescue Rangers are pushed out of the spotlight, which just feels odd for the overall brand. They do the occasional references to the series but it feels like breadcrumbs snuck in to justify the brand of the movie.
Honestly, I feel the strengths of the movie come out when the duo are separately interacting with the world rather than interacting with each other. We see how this shared human-toon world functions. That smaller buildings are made to account for toons tinier than humans. How animated bootlegs are kidnapped toons forced to act in inferior versions of their original works. Really, this movie does a good job of the world building! I feel if the Rescue Rangers brand was not attached, we could focus more on how this world effects those in it.
And then there's Sweet Pete's uncomfortable relation to Bobby Driscoll's backstory. Honestly, I would not have an issue of this if it was about Disney reflecting its ugly past, namely how they threw him away at puberty and indirectly lead him to a short life of substance abuse. But making Sweet Pete not only a villain but a villain who rejects a chance of redemption along with going One-Winged Angel at the end feels mad disrespectful, the latter part especially due to Bobby's drug abuse that he failed to escape from despite his struggles.
I don't regret watching this movie but I do regret the direction it took. I'm not sure if Executive Meddling interfered with the movie or this was a deliberate choice from the writers but it shows not every brand needs to be meta. Meta needs to be used carefully, it can be annoying if used wrong but placed correctly, it makes for writing in its own right whether for a different take of comedy or questions for the audience to ask themselves.
Film A surprisingly fun time and a glorious unhinged tribute/homage/satire to animation
I had little to no hope in this movie from the trailers other than hey I recognize that. My favorite cartoon adaptation was freaking Josie and the Pussycats which wasn't even animated! I watched both Ready Player One and Space Jam 2 and they were okay but those felt more like blatant ads. Also The Lonely Island famous for Popstar (Rated R) their music (mostly about sex) and Brooklyn 99 (fantastic TV-14 sitcom) would produce and write said kids reboot. What I didn't expect was for Chip and Dale to after all of the massive controversy and divisiveness to be surprisingly good and feel like an actual movie. Pros:
- One of the few crossover movies with a ton of cameos that actually don't feel like ads they actually match up with how I felt watching Cartoon Network City bumpers as a kid.
- Chip and Dale's relationship is believable and I dug how they never went through the 3rd act break up that ruins so many show movies.
- The funniest movie I've watched in a long while. I don't know how Disney approved of this script but it's the most demented modern meta thing aimed at kids since The Amazing World of Gumball and I'm glad that it took that risk. The Paw Patrol mutilating a guys wiener is a joke I will think about to my grave. This is the film equivalent to Disney XD airing violent E3 game trailers on children's tv.
- The act of bootlegging was pretty sickening. I did not expect human trafficking for their mystery but holy shit it was basically that and the way they handled it was pretty clever.
- Sweet Pete if you ignore the backstory aspect is one of the best Disney villains in years. I grew tired of every villain being a twist sympathetic or redeemable one this movie just has such an awful cruel villain that it was like a successor to Frollo or an evil Bojack Horseman.
- Fast paced but doesn't run into the problem of a ton of modern comedy cartoons being too quick and loud
- Gadget/Zipper was one of the most brutal scenes to furries/a fandom
- The plot was pretty fun
Film …Well I liked it!
Honestly, I thought it was funny! Sure the Bobby Driscoll stuff was uncomfortable, but I genuinely enjoyed this movie as a tribute to animation!