For 65 episodes between 1989 and 1990, “Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers” was a weekday fixture in “The Disney Afternoon” syndicated animation block. Featuring shows like “DuckTales,” “TaleSpin” and “Darkwing Duck,” “The Disney Afternoon” was how many grade schoolers of the era were introduced to Disney’s library of beloved characters. Their stories remain a signature touchstone in the company’s vast history of popular culture.

Now, the classic series about the chipmunk duo’s crime-solving capers has found new life with a feature film premiering Friday, May 20, on Disney+. Far from just rebooting an old IP with a 2022 makeover, the movie takes a meta, self-aware approach by mixing live-action footage, hand-drawn animation and CGI to both celebrate and lampoon the legacy of Disney (and non-Disney) cartoons.

假定一个世界,“救助流浪者”是一个电视how Chip and Dale starred in, the new film picks up three decades after its cancellation, finding the famous pair on the outs personally and professionally. Of course, like any buddy comedy, the two are pulled back together after an old co-star goes missing and must find a way to work through their differences before a larger cartoon conspiracy overtakes them.

The film stars the voices of John Mulaney and Berkeley native Andy Samberg as the title characters, and is directed by fellow Lonely Island member and Bay Area native Akiva Schaffer (“Hot Rod,” “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”), who told The Chronicle he approached the project as both a fan of the original show and with a desire to do something new and different with the genre. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What was your first exposure to “Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers”?

A:It was in “The Disney Afternoon.” I can’t remember the first time, because I was probably too young and I’d have to check old TV Guides. But “DuckTales,” this, “Gummi Bears”… “Darkwing Duck” was the one I always wanted to watch more of, but somehow it evaded me.

I loved it back then. I can’t say I kept up with it over the last 20 years since then.

Q: Well, clearly Chip ’n Dale had a falling-out…

A:Exactly. This movie explains why.

Q: What was it about this idea that piqued your interest as a filmmaker?

A:When I read the script (by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand), I was excited to read it just because I was flattered that I was being sent Disney IP and that it was Chip ‘n Dale and they were like icons even before “Rescue Rangers,” but then I was also really surprised by it. By the take, by the cleverness, by the sweetness to some of the story, the self-awareness and just all that stuff that’s in the movie, it made it so much more interesting for me.

So on a story level, that’s why I was excited. But then also on a filmmaking level, I wanted to learn how to make an animated movie. I wanted to learn about modern live-action hybrids, which is almost like half of all modern movies. Every Marvel movie, every “Star Wars” movie, they’re all live-action hybrids. They all have CG environments and CG characters, all blending with live action. So I was just excited also for the experimental nature of it and just learning how those things are made.

Q: You definitely tip your hat to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in this movie, and that is the gold standard.

A:That’s the exact phrase I’ve been using all day: “Roger Rabbit is the gold standard.” We were also the right age for that thing where it just blew our minds and it honestly holds up. It blows your mind today knowing how they did it.

Q: What that movie does is what you do, which is you have fun with the characters, but the stakes feel real and the jeopardy feels real. And I think that’s a real balancing act.

A:Yeah. Ideally you’re not doing references and cameos and nostalgia for the sake of them. You’re doing them because they’re additive to either the story, or are genuinely funny in a real way.

“歌手”实际上是一个非常相似的事情where it’s full of cameos. But the rule that we gave ourselves was we can’t include someone just because we got them. And so some really excellent people that gave great interviews ended up on the cutting-room floor that would seem very cool.

Like Ed Sheeran, who we love and couldn’t believe he did the interview, and then we had to be like, “Oh, I’m so sorry, man, we didn’t use it.” Because it didn’t fit in the story in a way that was additive. We would’ve just been putting it up there so that people that like Ed Sheeran would go, “It’s Ed Sheeran!” So in a similar way with this, the core story is just a friendship story and that’s what it is. And this other stuff is the background. It’s just the world they’re in. It’s not in there for no reason.

Q: I was watching with my daughter, she’s 5, and there’s an emotional moment near the end where I glanced over at her and her eyes were getting glassy.

A:Aw, what a nice young lady. I mean, that is the hope. Not to make your daughter cry, that was not my hope. (laughs) But the hope is that, because Chip ’n Dale are really cute little chipmunks, you’re telling a story with them that somebody who’s 5 can enjoy it for that. And then 20 years from now, she’ll watch it again and go, “Oh, that’s what was going on?” And she’ll see all this stuff around it. But that other stuff is for you (parents), so that hopefully you guys can be enjoying it, but you’re almost watching two different movies at the same time.

Q: You have cameos in here from other characters outside of Disney. Was that a challenge as far as who you got to include?

A:It was definitely a challenge, but there was nobody fighting against it. Everybody was on the same page. I think even when I had to come in and sell them on my take and why I was the going to make it and why I need them to cut the check, was part of making sure it didn’t just feel like a ad for Disney+, where it’s like, “Check out all this stuff from Disney!”

Part of what made “Roger Rabbit” feel so amazing is the fact that it had Donald Duck with Daffy Duck and, even as a kid where I didn’t know they were owned by different companies, I just knew it was special because they weren’t cartoons you saw with each other very often. And so in a similar way, if this is supposed to be a love-letter celebration of animation, it really wouldn’t feel like that if it was just a celebration of Disney animation. It needed to feel like it’s everything, because the whole point is that it’s the real world and it’s the world we all live in and these toons just live with us.

I keep bringing up the lawyers in all these talks, and honestly, a big thank you to the legal team. Because, can you imagine? Each time we would say, “MC Skat Kat,” they have to go figure out who owns MC Skat Kat. And then you have to pitch them the whole movie to tell them why it would be exciting and then you have to negotiate terms, and can it be used in marketing and just, there’s so much that goes into getting any one character in the movie. So, there was a lot for them to do, but I’m grateful they did it.

Q: You said the script was largely set before you came on, but how much of Chip ’n Dale is Andy and John?

A:It’s not their real personalities, but the way they talk and their cadences and their comedic personas, obviously, that’s part of why I asked them to be in the movie. It’s a classic odd couple. As classic as Laurel and Hardy, and then Matthau and Jack Lemmon, or Farley and Spade or whatever.

And that’s not new to this movie. That’s who Chip ’n Dale were in the “Rescue Rangers.” With Dale, with the Hawaiian shirt and the red nose and buck teeth, he’s the clown of it. And Dale is the more straitlaced one. So, in trying to find people that would fit that, they are naturally, I don’t know that they are that in real life, but the comedic things, they do feel like it naturally fits into that.

Q: This movie certainly leaves room for more adventures in this world. Is that something that you’d be interested in doing?