The revival and reinvention of Disney’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers hits Disney+ today with a new film that turns the chipmunk duo’s cartoon adventures into a Hollywood-focused satire set years after their fame has faded. In it, Chip and Dale deal with the realities of staying relevant in an industry that has changed significantly over the course of multiple decades. In one scene at a fan convention, the Rangers run into a familiar face that we never thought we’d actually see in a finished film, Ugly Sonic.
That’s right, the version of Sonic the Hedgehog that caused the 2020 film to be delayed and re-modeled makes his triumphant return in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Polygon spoke with Akiva Schaffer, the director of Chip ‘n Dale, who said getting the rejected mascot likeness is one of his favorite cameos in the movie. “It’s one of my favorite things in the movie. And I’m very excited for people to see it,” Schaffer told Polygon. “I don’t know what I should, what I’m allowed to say [about it]. I think I will actually plead the fifth.”
Ugly Sonic is played to perfection by I Think You Should Leave creator and star, Tim Robinson. In the scene where Sonic appears, he has a full booth with photos showing off his range and talks about the time the internet got a look at his human teeth and “burned the place down.” It’s okay though because he has a pretty sweet reality show in the works.
Not only does Ugly Sonic show his mug in the film, but plenty of other animated characters also show up as well. In a way, the movie is like a modern-day Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Schaffer told Polygon, “It was super-important to me to get a bunch of third-party cartoons, because if this is going to be some sort of a celebration of animation, it can’t just be a celebration of Disney animation.”
You can see Ugly Sonic for yourself in Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, which is available to watch now on Disney+. You can read our review of Handsome Sonic’s latest film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 here.
