With no true sequel, many have tried to recreate the magic, charm, and wit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; however, Disney+’s Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers may prove to be another spiritual successor to the film. Known for its imaginative premise and memorable characters, it was strange that Gary K. Wolf’s Roger Rabbit never returned to the big screen for another movie. However, while Roger’s presence as a pop culture icon has diminished over the years, it’s obvious that the spirit of Toontown is alive, well, and continuing to influence Disney’s more ambitious projects.
Originally broadcast in the ‘80s, Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers was an animated series that reimagined the classic characters as detectives. Supposedly in development since 2014, a film based around Chip and Dale eventually was announced for release on Disney+ in 2022, with Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island directing the movie. The film’s first trailer revealed that the movie was a meta-comedy in which Rescue Rangers was a television show that the chipmunks starred in before being canceled in 1990.
Between the meta-inspired premise and its cameos from other cartoon characters, the first trailer for Disney+’s Rescue Rangers garnered as much confusion as it did curiosity from audiences. Rather than a direct continuation of Chip and Dale’s previous adventures, the movie became a mystery set in a world where cartoons were celebrities and live side-by-side with humans. Strangely, Disney’s project seemed to have more in common with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? than it did with its source material; that’s because the movie wasn't supposed to be a direct adaptation of Disney’s ‘80s and ‘90s cartoons, but rather, a spiritual successor to the 1988 film.
Chip and Dale’s detective agency dealt with mysteries, but they all took place within a fully-animated setting, unlike their trailer that showed them in a live-action world. The idea that cartoons are celebrities in a world coinhabited with human beings wasn’t a new one and insinuated that Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers took place in Toontown or at least a setting where the same surreal concepts apply. However, if the cameos from the cast of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and Scrooge McDuck, wasn’t enough to sell Rescue Rangers as a Toontown-inspired tale, then Roger Rabbit’s appearance was a less-than-subtle nod to the film’s inspiration.
Besides also being a mystery, Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers took a different direction in its tone from their usual Saturday morning fare. Disney+’s trailer seemed self-aware and like it mirrored Roger Rabbit's debut movie. Rescue Rangers’ joke about Dale’s CGI procedure was reminiscent of Betty Boop’s commentary about how hard it’s been for her since cartoons changed to color. Additionally, gags like Monterey Jack’s cheese addiction reflected Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s? more adult sense of humor and themes as seen in Roger’s co-stars: Eddie Valiant, Baby Herman, and Jessica Rabbit. A true sequel to the Rescue Rangers would have been true to the original cartoon, rather than the self-aware, surreal, and adult tones, more in line with its antecedent.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a modern classic, and there are plenty of other projects still looking to carry on its spirit. Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers may have been an odd way to pay tribute, but the love and acknowledgments to its predecessor were still present in its first trailer. Although a true sequel never happened, there’s always hope Roger Rabbit will return for a proper encore.