"CHIP ‘N’ DALE RESCUE RANGERS: VOLUME 1 & DUCK TALES: VOLUME 1"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Disney Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Even as a young child, I knew that when it came to cartoons, the original ones were often the best – or at least the ones made prior to the 1970s. I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons (which was our only chance for a glut of animation, before the Cartoon Network and other 24-hour cartoon options), there were always new versions of old cartoons. Bugs Bunny. Droopy Dog. Mickey Mouse.
I was never a big fan of the new ones. It’s not that they were overtly bad, but rather mass produced. The heart was gone. Take an old Warner Bros., MGM or Disney cartoon when they were produced for the movie houses, and you have an awesome piece of art. A lot of care was put into just one single cartoon – even the cheap ones pioneered by Hanna Barbara.
However, when a studio’s got to crank out almost 30 long-form episodes each season, the care goes by the wayside.
In the 1980s, the Walt Disney Television Animation department tackled several major properties, formulating television shows based on everything from Winnie the Pooh to Chip ‘N’ Dale. I’ve always felt these 20-year-old series had a lot to be desired. Even the direct-to-DVD releases today have more care than the series that produced ten hours of content a season.
Sure, the television animation division still cranks out series based on hot properties. They aren’t the best out there (like the series based on “The Little Mermaid”), but some are quite decent (like the series based on “Lilo & Stitch”). However, the slop from the 80s is a special kind of cheese.
Disney has released two of their popular series on DVD – “Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers” and “Duck Tales.” (“Goof Troop” is coming later this year, and I’ll bet “Tail Spin” isn’t far behind.)
Of the two, “Duck Tales” is a little better. This series tells the story of Donald’s famous nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie as they live with their Uncle Scrooge. Donald makes an occasional appearance, but otherwise he’s kept busy in the Navy (which makes sense, considering he’d been parading around in a sailor outfit for fifty years).
The three young ducklings get in various adventures, often dragging Scrooge in on the game. One thing that I did appreciate is that the adventures were all real in the context of the show. There’s a witch duck who is their nemesis, and they battle everything from dinosaurs to space aliens. I’ve always been irritated at series that have talking animals throughout but have to try to ground themselves in reality by reminding kids that the show is just make-believe.
“Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers” takes a similar approach by putting the classic cartoon characters in recurring roles. In this series, Chip and Dale are part of a rescue team that helps people in need. Think of “The Rescuers” with chipmunks instead of mice. They have their standard bad guys as well, including Fat Cat and an evil scientist named Professor Nimnul.
The problem with putting Chip and Dale as the stars of the show is that they are hard to understand. By making them easier to understand, some of the magic is gone. Plus, they are humanized a little too much. I always liked the classic cartoons when they were chipmunks only concerned with acorns and a tree to live in, often harassing Donald Duck to no end.
Both shows also introduce a supporting cast of misfits that help them through their adventures. None of these characters are as fresh as the original stars.
Both “Duck Tales” and “Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers” come in three-disc box sets. There’s no special features to speak of, so they lose some major points there.
While the spark of the original cartoons are gone, the shows are still good for kids. My sons love them, and 600 minutes of each show beats a 30-minute DVD set to auto-repeat. So, if you’ve got kids that like the characters and crave cartoons like pregnant woman craves pickles and ice cream, it’s not a bad set to own.
Specifications: Dolby Digital Mono Sound. Full frame (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
