Rated: PG for some mild rude humor.
Plot & Players: The probability of a live-action “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie could easily have been the subject of some undergraduate mathematics term paper back in the mid-1990s, when kids who grew up watching The Chipmunks’ Saturday morning cartoon were climbing the Hollywood ranks in tandem with advances in computer animation. The plot, which unabashedly fuses Ross Bagdasarian’s 50-year-old-plus Chipmunks song and the mid-1980s cartoon, was as inevitable as America’s credit crisis, Pamela Anderson’s latest divorce and toasted subs at Arby’s. A loveable but entirely replaceable Jason Lee (“My Name Is Earl”) is Dave, the struggling songwriter who unwittingly becomes the caretaker for three chipmunks who not only can talk, but also turn Dave’s lame tunes into pop music goldmines. David Cross (“Arrested Development”) is the conniving studio exec who tries to thwart Dave’s parental instincts and make some bucks off of Alvin, Simon … Theodore! Doo. Doo. Doo-doo-doo-doo.
Some Highlights: “We’re the Chipmunks. C-H-I-P-M-U-N-K.” Parents, if that lyric is still stuck in your brain a quarter-century after the ‘80s incarnation of the furry little musical trio, then there’s still a small part of you that cannot help but laugh, or at least smile warmly, at certain scenes in the film. Yeah, so, as a whole it’s kinda dumb. And overly sentimental. And entirely predictable. But the CG versions of The Chipmunks are, like, totally adorable, especially when they remake pop hits such as Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” and Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha.” I mean, come owwwn, they sing “Funkytown” … how cute is that! Oh, and Jason Lee and David Cross have caught a lot of, um, raisins (you should get that joke even if you’ve only seen the previews) for taking on roles that clearly offered little more than fat paychecks sprinkled with warm nostalgia, but such criticism isn’t entirely fair. Lee and Cross won’t be collecting any gold-colored statues for their performances here, but you know, they’re not half-bad, all things considered.
Quality: Three out of five stars
Like It? OK, here’s the dorky psychoanalysis of a movie about three computer-generated, singing chipmunks. There are several not-so-subtle references to other young pop divas who obviously couldn’t handle their rapid ascents to stardom, and The Chipmunks are saved from similar meltdowns only after Dave fully embraces his identity as their “father.” Are the filmmakers suggesting that certain unnamed musical sensations (whose names rhyme with “Shmritney Shpears” and “Shmlindsay Shmlohan”) went off of the deep end because they lacked the influence of proper father figures? Hmmmm…
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
