Movie Review - "Alvin and The Chipmunks" 12/14/07

This is a movie review for "Alvin and the Chipmunks", released December 14, 2007.

Trailer:

Cast:

Jason Lee   ("My Name Is Earl" (TV Series, 2005-2009) Earl Hickey, "The Incredibles" (2004) Buddy Pine / Syndrome (voice))    -       Dave Seville
David Cross ("Kung Fu Panda" (2008) Crane (voice), "Men in Black" (1997) Morgue Attendant)   -      Ian
Cameron Richardson ("Open Water 2: Adrift" (2006) Michelle, "Rise: Blood Hunter" (2007) Collette / Frannie)  -      Claire
Justin Long ("He's Just Not That Into You" (2009) Alex, "Galaxy Quest" (1999) Brandon) -      Alvin (voice)
Matthew Gray Gubler ("Criminal Minds" (TV series, 2005-2016) Dr. Spencer Reid, "500 Days of Summer" (2009) Paul)    -     Simon (voice)
Jesse McCartney ("Kingdom Hearts" (Video Game series starting with "Kingdom Hearts II" in 2005, English version) Roxas, "Horton Hears a Who!" (2008) JoJo (voice))  -      Theodore (voice)

Plot:

Three chipmunks (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore) live somewhat cozy in the forest in their tree. When the tree is cut down and brought to the city in preparation for Christmas, the chipmunks are brought along. They come across a struggling songwriter named Dave Seville. They sneak into the basket of muffins that he stole from the record company and are brought to his house, where they make an absolute mess of everything. "My life is being sabotaged by talking chipmunks," he says to the next door girl Claire (that he had previously dated?).

Talking and singing chipmunks, though, are all the rage and will make the record company major bucks. The question for them now is "Should we go for fame or should we go for family?" Should the chipmunk kids push themselves past the limit of energy to get rich and famous, or should they listen to Dave's "parenting"?

Criteria:

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.

3.5/5 - I have to knock this rating down a bit because Dave didn't stand up for the chipmunks until the very end, though Ian (record company man) did pit him against the 'munks. Also, some of the music was so outrageously "pop" that I cringed listening to the chipmunks {that I grew up with} singing the stuff. Sure, Funky Town was good and partially was Witch Doctor but Witch Doctor was a bit pop-ish in the "gag me" kind of style.

It was good to hear the ol' "Christmas Song" by the Chipmunks. I remember that from my childhood. In fact, I listen to that song yearly around Christmas. Considering the movie came out near Christmas time in 2007, I think they did a good job at putting it in there.

However, to hear it botched in the pop style was TERRIBLE!! Like kill my childhood, please. *tries not to puke* See:

Not a bad kids' movie, if you can stand the pop culture references. Somewhat recommended.