Dale The Dumb Narcissist - (over)Analyzing the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Reboot
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- A video in which I spend way too much time talking about a fictional cartoon rodent from a direct to streaming movie most people who saw already forgot about. It's sounds absurd, because it is.
Presented in 4K! Because why not?
This was inspired by a comment from user @Jacked Thor-so posted on YMS' review of the CDRR movie, so thanks for that.
Twitter: / zeronightact0
being meta and self aware for a second I know nobody is gonna watch this video because nobody cares about this movie, please watch it :)
This is an interesting character study! I hesitate to call Dale a narcissist, because I don't know if he meets enough of the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, but I enjoyed hearing your take on his character.
You mentioned in the video that the flashback keeps bringing up stuff that isn't expanded upon (5:16). For me personally, that didn't overly bother me, because I don't mind filling in the gaps with my own headcanons about Chip and Dale's childhoods and their time in California. I'm the sort of person who enjoys stories more for their potential than for what we actually get. As long as I have some characters I can fall in love with - and I really like Chip and Dale in this film (although Chip is my favourite over Dale) - I can spend ages making up rich and detailed histories for them.
It's good for a film to have both a well-written plot and great characters, but if I had to choose, I'd take the characters. They're the reason I develop special interests in the first place. I love Cars 2 because of Mater. I love Wreck-It Ralph because of Vanellope. I love Sonic the Hedgehog because of ... well, Sonic. So I can be a bit more lenient on an imperfect plot. But some people have a much stronger preference for a well-crafted plot with as few gaps as possible, and they are valid.
You also didn't seem to like the fact that Dale wanted Chip to explicitly tell him he needed him, seemingly not remembering their years of friendship (8:15). I take your point; actions are supposed to speak louder than words, and Dale would surely have a load of evidence that Chip valued him. But I think the purpose of this scene was to dig into the film's emotional core - which is all about the importance of communication in relationships.
The reason Chip and Dale's friendship fell apart was because Chip couldn't be honest about his feelings or about his difficult past, and because Dale expected Chip to be able to read his mind and tell him what he wanted to hear without him asking for it. It's only through honesty and vulnerability that their emotional wounds can start to heal. That, to me, is the heart of the film. Strip away the meta references (and the dark stuff about addiction and trafficking), and that's the warm fuzzy message to take away. It's about men's friendship and men's mental health.
By the way, when you said the flashback should have come later in the film (14:21), I'm inclined to agree. We could have seen Chip and Dale being tense around each other, and we would wonder, "Wow, what happened between them?" Then, in the middle of the film, we'd get a flashback and have our answer. And then for the rest of the film we'd be cheering them on to get back together. It might have worked better structurally.
Actually, I think this film should have been the third in a trilogy! Film One would be Chip and Dale's childhood, ending with them dropping out of high school and leaving for California. (I don't believe Dale when he says he and Chip graduated high school; the dates don't add up.) Film Two would be about their time looking for work, and then it would cover their Rescue Rangers gig up to the point of the fallout. Film Three would do the Thirty Years Later timeskip and show us their reconciliation. But that's just me being hungry for more Chip 'n Dale content.
Sorry for the long comment! I just really like this film and I saw a chance to express my opinions. It introduced me to the Rescue Rangers cartoon, which has been a lot of fun to watch. And it inspired me to check out Chip and Dale's older shorts, which was also fun to do.
Other people might forget this film, but I won't. I remember all my special interests.
TL;DR: You make some valid points about the film's structure. I still enjoy this film and I still love Chip and Dale as characters, but I appreciated hearing a different opinion.
Something I forgot to mention - Dale can be honest about his failures sometimes. While he and Chip are walking down Main Street, Dale is talking about the shady businesses in a sinister, over-the-top voice. He seems to be enjoying the performance. But when Chip asks him how he knows all this stuff, Dale drops the act and admits he turns to one such shady business when he's low on cash.
I don't think Dale is a narcissist, per se. I think he just has a mask that he almost always wears, a mask that makes him appear carefree and slightly egotistical. But sometimes, the mask does slip, and we realise how much he's been suffering without Chip.
I genuinely appreciate how well thought out your comments are. I meant to respond to them earlier but I got caught up in other things. While I don't agree with everything you wrote, it's good that you managed to see something in this movie (that I clearly didn't) and enjoyed it in the end.
To me Chip hiding his obvious feelings (listen to the insurance pitch he gives to the sheep guy at the beginning of the movie. He's clearly still bitter about the show getting cancelled lol) didn't excuse Dale for acting the way he did. Turning Dale into someone so ego driven and insecure was a choice I found interesting because he was never like that on the show. He was more well meaning and oblivious to everything, but in the end still cared about his friends.
I'm not too sure about a trilogy of movies, maybe a miniseries could have fleshed things out, but this seems more like a one and done. Akiva Schaffer (the director of the movie) said he was willing to do a sequel though I don't think this movie was successful enough to warrant one, but you never know with these things. Thanks for the comment(s) and thank you watching!
The movie had me laughing, and like a lot of comedies, the story doesn't matter
I'm glad the movie made you laugh, I would be lying if I said it was never funny, but the story in CDRR clearly mattered, or else the writers/director wouldn't have bothered writing a story at all.
I know what you mean about this
same
Does anyone actually know what first means? Is first view,first comment, first like?