Alvin and the Chipmunks Reviews

Is this cartoon revival worth it?

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks ago on 5 January 2013 03:44

*There are spoilers in this review.*

Alvin and the Chipmunks is about the story of Dave Seville and three unexpected permanent house guests, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The trio of chipmunks ends up in a boy band.

If you're wondering about the answer to the question above this review, allow me to answer it with a big N-O. While Alvin and the Chipmunks was a box office success thanks to reviving an old property adults grew up with and making it pander to children, it all comes at the expense of quality. Alvin and the Chipmunks is another one of those high-grossing-yet-terribly-unfunny kid's movies like Cat in the Hat and Shark Tale, and when you sit through the movie, you're just angry that a movie like that did so well in the box office.

There were three writers to this movie. Two of them, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, both co-wrote forgettable films like Snow Day, The Tale of Despereaux, and My Boss's Daughter. The other one, Jon Vitti, wrote mostly children's films with varying quality (I'd hate to use "varying success" in this sentence because it can apply to both critics' reactions and box office sales). While he wrote the surprisingly great The Simpsons Movie, he also wrote mediocre films like Ice Age 2 and Dinner for Schmucks.

Keep this in mind. Three writers wrote Alvin and the Chipmunks, and it ended up being the worst movie (quality-wise) of each of their writing careers.

The plot stinks with every cartoon adaptation movie cliche ever created. Takes place in our real world? Check. CGI? Check. Banal human characters? Check. Love subplot for two of those human characters? Check. Lowest-common-denominator pandering towards children? Of course.

There are two plots of this movie: the plot revolving around Alvin and his chipmunk pals landing a singing career but eventually regretting it, and the plot with Dave and his love interest, Claire. The plot with the chipmunks is forgettable, unfunny, and cliched, consisting of terrible jokes centered around yelling, pop culture and potty humor. In other words, typical kid's movie fare. The chipmunk plot feels like it should be in an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks instead of a feature-length movie. The other plot with Claire is even more cliched, forgettable, and unfunny, and on top of that, it fails to be the least bit romantic. You'll find better romantic subplots in cartoons on Nickelodeon that air at 7 in the morning.

However, this film has some redeeming qualities to it. The CGI looks great, save for a few scenes (such as when Alvin is showering in the dishwasher). The animation for the chipmunks is very expressive and achieves to make the chipmunks cartoony while keeping them out of the Uncanny Valley. The chipmunks' voice actors (Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney for Alvin, Simon and Theodore, respectively) manage to make the chipmunks sound like they should sound when they are talking or singing. Unfortunately, these are the film's only strong points, and kid's probably won't notice or care for them.

I do not recommend Alvin and the Chipmunks to anybody who was a fan of the original cartoon, as they're better off watching old episodes of the show on DVDs or VHSs instead. As I said before, no one over ten will enjoy Alvin and the Chipmunks. Still, unless you really need to keep your children quiet for an hour and a half, do not show this to children, as their is far better children's entertainment out there.

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A bad movie

Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago on 26 August 2011 06:02

In spite that it actually looked pretty bad, since it was a huge success, I thought I should check it out with my step-son. Oh boy... What a waste of time! I think my step-son thought it was allright but I thought it was just plain bad. The story was so moronic and those 'chipmunks' were way beyond obnoxious. Just avoid this and if you have some kids, just watch something else...

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Fish and Chipmunk.

Posted : 4 years, 4 months ago on 7 January 2009 08:15

''We're talking chipmunks, Dave. We can get out of a cat carrier. Not even hard to do.''

A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville finds success when he comes across a trio of singing chipmunks: mischievous leader Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby, impressionable Theodore.

Jason Lee: Dave

When I finally got around to seeing this film recently, it turned out to be exactly what I predicted... yet another Hollywood CG/live-action rehash of an established cartoon franchise. Nothing special or memorable whatsoever. Designed in every way possible to appeal to very young children and very immature adults, making heavy use of comedic devices such as farts, poo-eating, and the size of Theodore's butt.

Alvin and the Chipmunks would bother me a lot less if it weren't such an obvious step down for the cartoon series. Even their characters I found were drastically altered, for the negatively oppressed, for this story. While history has denoted, each one of the three, have had a very distinct personality.
In this film version, they all behaved like immature, smart-alecky children with too much energy, constantly bouncing erratically off the walls. It especially bothered me to see Simon portrayed in this way... He's supposedly the smart one of the trio, a serious nerd who acts as the "straight man" to Alvin's crazy antics. But here he's pretty much a clone of the other two. One joke in the film even implies that Simon only thinks he's intelligent, but really isn't... and honestly if I had never heard of the Chipmunks before seeing this film, I would have agreed.

One of the other irritations that Alvin & the Chipmunks continues to give us, is the money obsessed manager, played by David Cross. Uncle Ian, is the obvious villain of the piece, the temptation aspect of the whole affair. When Dave falls out with the Chipmunks, its rich Ian whom looks after the trio. For a start his whiny voice and whimsical philosophy on fame and commercialized success in pop, also proves sickening as well as annoying. He uses the Chipmunks to make big bucks, although how any one can actually consider Chipmunk singing music is beyond my reasoning. Despite all these whispering jaunts, his villainy proves to be one of the most energized things in the film. Ian and some squirrels was amusing, to say the least, in the credits.

In my opinion, this whole affair, is just another obvious cash makind device, like Garfield was, and I'm more than a little disappointed, the cartoons being far superior to any CGI creation. The fact that it's a children orientated movie doesn't excuse its many flaws... To excuse a stupid movie that degrades a classic franchise, just because it's for children is insulting to children and adults alike, in equal measure.
Any child would deserve something more intelligent than this offering.

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