When you think about Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the classic Disney Afternoon 90s cartoon/now modern film adaptation for Disney+, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a harmless action-adventure romp about a gang of anthropomorphic animals that’s cooler than TaleSpin but not as fun as DuckTales (these are just plain facts). As made obvious by the film’s trailer, this new take on the Rangers is not remotely that, but instead, a modern meta-mystery where the titular chipmunks (Chip voiced by John Mulaney, Dale voiced by Andy Samberg) are washed-up stars that get involved with a cartoon bootleg conspiracy. It’s even weirder than it sounds, which is surprising for a Disney movie, but isn't too surprising given that it’s directed by Akiva Schaffer of Lonely Island fame. So let’s dust off that Indy fedora and strap up those laces as we talk about what happens at the ending of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
Here’s a little context before we reach the film’s climax. The twist for this iteration of these characters is that events of the Rescue Rangers show were, in fact, an actual television show, and the crew went on to pursue other endeavors after its cancellation in the early 90s. Chip and Dale weren’t on speaking terms following Dale’s attempt at getting a spin-off series, Gadget and Zipper (voiced by Tress MacNeille and Dennis Haysbert, respectively) settled down and got married, and Monterey Jack (Eric Bana) is supposedly living an easy life before his sudden disappearance. This event leads to the chipmunk duo to team up and figure out where Jack is, where they eventually cross paths with an evil adult Peter Pan (now going by the name Sweet Pete, voiced by Will Arnett) and a pair of detectives (KiKi Layne as a rookie superfan of the rangers and J. K. Simmons as her claymation superior).
Chip and Dale find out that Sweet Pete has been running a secret cartoon bootlegging company where he takes characters who owe him money and turns them into nightmarish copycats of their former selves (and also keeps signature body parts like Jack’s mustache and Jimmy Neutron’s hair in a zipped up collage that looks about as disturbing as it can be). Once the police get involved, Pete and his goons kidnap Chip, and it’s up to Dale to reunite the remaining rangers to stop the former boy who wouldn’t grow up.
The Rangers succeed in rescuing Chip from being turned into a distinct-from-infringement monster, just as Captain Putty (Simmons) reveals that he’s in cahoots with Sweet Pete’s plan, leading to a hilarious fight between him and his human partner Ellie (Layne). Sweet Pete is accidentally turned into his own bootlegged monster, with a Wreck-it Ralph's arm, a villain's cape, Woody's leg and giant cat face, and chases the chipmunks down. But just as things look like the end for them, Chip comes up with a plan from an early episode of the show where they distract Cat Pete (try saying that six times in a row) with those mandated yellow birds that pop up whenever cartoons get bonked on the head. Pete gets caught in their trap and gets taken by the FBI–courtesy of Ugly Sonic (voiced by Tim Robinson) of all things–the chipmunks finally resolve their issues, and the entire rescue rangers cast is reunited once again when they discover the “Dumbo-fied” Jack is still alive and well.
It seems like everything is happily ever after for the old gang, as the credits reveal that their show now has an actual reboot, proving once and for all that the only thing needed to save the day is a rejected version of a 90s video game character.