It's a meta adventure in animated Disney lore in wild first trailer for 'Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'

SYFY WIRE Trailers

It's a meta adventure in animated Disney lore in wild first trailer for 'Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'

Directed by The Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer, the film will premiere on Disney+ Friday, May 20.

By Josh Weiss

Disney+ harkens back to the halcyon days of Who Framed Roger Rabbit with the first trailer for Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. In fact, Roger Rabbit makes an appearance in the teaser for the movie, which is scheduled to hit the Mouse House's subscription streaming platform at the end of May. The comedy-loving rabbit of the Robert Zemeckis classic is one of several big-name characters audiences can expect to cameo in the film (we also spotted Aladdin, Scrooge McDuck, the ponies of My Little Pony, and even MC Skat Kat from Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract" music video). 

Much like the universe of Roger Rabbit, Rescue Rangers — directed by The Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer — takes place in a meta world where humans and cartoon characters exist side-by-side. As a result, the movie has the freedom to play around with a number of different animation styles, including anime, the traditional hand-drawn aesthetic, uncanny video game graphics, and modern day CGI.

Picking up 30 years after their successful TV show was canceled, the iconic chipmunk duo has fallen apart. Chip (John Mulaney) lives a humdrum existence as a suburban insurance agent while Dale (Andy Samberg) underwent CGI surgery in an effort to relive the glory days. When one of their format cast mate disappears under mysterious circumstances, the old friends need to mend their broken friendship "and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend’s life," reads the official synopsis.

KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Eric Bana (Dirty John), Flula Borg (The Suicide Squad), Dennis Haysbert (24), Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon!), Tress MacNeille (The Simpsons), Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave), Seth Rogen (Pam and Tommy), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Chris Parnell (Rick and Morty) co-star.

Watch the trailer below:

The project's cinematographer, Larry Fong (Watchmen, Super 8), hinted at all the different creative styles last spring during an exclusive interview with SYFY WIRE, in which he stated that the goal was to take the live-action/animation hybrid concept "a step further."

"The director, Akiva Schaffer, is amazing, and it’s funny as hell. I never thought it would be this funny," he said. "I’m looking at the animatics and I’m still laughing at the lines and the situations. It’s one of those movies where the kids watch it, but the adults, who are in the kitchen watching, are going to be laughing too. You can’t say that for a lot of the animation things, but this is definitely like that. [It also has] a lot of Easter eggs and it’s also a love letter to animation because there’s different — I probably shouldn’t say too much — but there’s definitely nods to many, if not all, animation techniques and characters if that makes any sense."

Written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), the project is produced by Todd Lieberman (Wonder) and David Hoberman (Beauty and the Beast), Alexander Young (Extinction) and Tom Peitzman are executive producers.

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers arrives on Disney+ Friday, May 20.