Disney Planning Live Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers Movie

[Randall]

Ouch. That spelling made my eyes hurt.

Winsor McCay.

[Buzz Bumble]

Sorry, I should have said Mary Poppins is usually said to be the first feature film to combine animated characters and live actors.

[Ben]

Well that would again be Mickey and Durante, in the 1934 MGM picture Hollywood Party.

But I'll let you off since that was just a short segment. The first true feature to combine live-action and animated characters in a major way was Disney's The Three Caballeros in 1944/45, 20 years pre-Poppins. Before this there had been films (The Reluctant Dragon, Victory Through Air Power, Saludos Amigos) that had included cartoon sequences with live-action, but not in combined interaction.

After Caballeros, Song Of The South in 46 really perfected the technique, Melody Time came along a year or two after, and we had MGM's Tom & Jerry pairings with Gene Kelly and Rather Williams, while even more extensive was the excellent half hour "Sinbad" sequence created for Gene Kelly's Invitation To The Dance, shot in 1954 but not released until the animation was finished in 1956!

All these came well before Poppins and arguably featured more interaction and/or animated screentime than Poppins' relatively brief Jolly Holiday sequence (at under 18 minutes, I believe).

So Poppins wasn't the first...not by a long-shot!

[Buzz Bumble]

I didn't say I thought it was the first.

[EricJ]

After Caballeros, Song Of The South in 46 really perfected the technique, Melody Time came along a year or two after, and we had MGM's Tom & Jerry pairings with Gene Kelly and Rather Williams,

Spellchecks are nice, but I'd Rather have Esther.

[Ben]

Weird! Not only did I type Esther, but I checked back to make sure I had it right! Strange...must have been my phone "correcting" it as it posted!?

Though in all honesty, I'd Rather have Kelly's sequences than Williams', cute as it is!

[Scar]

Sure there were movies before Scooby Doo that combined animated characters with live action actors but I meant that Scooby Doo popularized the concept. It's like after Scooby Doo became a huge hit with audiences, there was this sudden wave of films that remade classic cartoons with famous actors and CGI animation like Garfield, Smurfs, and The Chipmunks etc.

[Buzz Bumble]

The two Scooby Doo movies were pretty much disliked by everyone. It was the earlier Flintstones movies that likely kick started the trend, although they weren't that much better (and not helped by changing actors).

According to Leonard Maltin ...

• The Flintstones (1994), 2.5 stars out of four
• The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000), 2 stars out of four
• Scooby Doo (2002), 2 stars out of four
• Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), 2 stars out of four

Note: 2 stars is the lowest star rating he gives, any worse and it's simply called a "bomb".

[Dacey]

Wait...so if Leonard Maltin hates something....everyone hates it then?

[Buzz Bumble]

It was simply one example I had readily to hand.

[Daniel]

The film will be heading to Disney+ and production will begin in Los Angeles next spring. The original voices are expected to return. That's one thing in its favor!

[EricJ]

Six years since the main announcement thread? "Long in development", indeed.

[Daniel]

Live action Chip and Dale(s)... Geddit?

[Daniel]

Corey Burton will be reprising his roles of Dale and Zipper. Yay!

[Daniel]

John Mulaney and Andy Samberg will voice Chip and Dale. Yay stunt casting...