Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)

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Directed by: Tim Hill
Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson and Justin Long

Like many kids, I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons. I suffered through the each week just so I could get to the weekend and wake up as early as I could(MAN how times have changed!) and sit in front of the TV for HOURS and watch cartoons. One of my favorites as a kid was Alvin and the Chipmunks. I am not entirely sure why to be hontest. I think it had to do with growing up in a very musical family and the fact that Alvin and the Chipmunks was two of my favorite things rolled in to one... cartoons and music. It just could not get any better for me.

And so it was with those fond memories, yet a horrible sense of dread as to what modern Hollywood was going to do with my beloved Alvin and the Chipmunks that I sat down to watch the 2007 incarnation of singing, helium breathing rodents... And I wasn't COMPLETELY crushed by what I saw.

The film stars a favorite of mine, Jason Lee, as Dave Seville, a down on his luck musician trying to break into the music industry asa a song writer. Dave's problem is that his contact at Jett Records, Ian Hawke(Cross), thinks that Dave's song stinks. Ian tells Dave to give up his dreams as a song writer because he just doesn't have what it takes. As Dave is leaving Jett Records he picks up a couple of hitchhikers inside of his stolen fruitbasket in the form of the aforementioned Alvin, Simon and Theordore. They got into Jett Records by being unfortunate enough to be gathering nuts in a tree destined for Jett Records Christmas decorations. Once Dave gets home and finds the three talking rodents... and has the obligatory, "But Chipmunks can't talk! Am I going crazy?" scene he quickly ousts the glorified squirrels from his house. Once outside of his house the Chipmunks, of course, begin singing at his window in the rain and he has the epiphany that singing chipmunks might be the exact gimmick he needs to get his big break.

Dave rounds up his furry, four legged friends and takes them over to Jett Records right away... where they totally freeze up and Ian thinks that Dave is having a melt down. The three little demons then proceed to screw up Dave's date with his cute, blonde neighbor, Claire(Richardson) and get Dave fired from his day job by drawing all over his presentation. So as a result of their guilt for wrecking Dave's life, Alvin and his cohorts go over to Ian Hawkes house to show him that they really can sing nd to try and help Dave get his record deal.

Now here's the deal, Alvin and the Chipmunks is not really original in any way. Once the three Chipmunks start to become famous the movie goes the TOTAL safe and pedictable route with the Chipmunks taking on the role of the naive artist, Dave is the caring, protective paternal figure and Hawke is the greedy, back-stabbing record exec who only cares about how much money he can make. Simplified, the story goes, the record exec starts to get more control, he drives a wedge between the talent and their father-figure, he takes the talent away from the father-figure, uses up the talent will there's nothing left, then ultimately losses the talent back to the never relenting father-figure. I do not really consider any of this spoiler material because there is not really anything that you do not expect in this film. Now, that does not make the film bad, it just makes it a very safe picture.

I have a couple of small gripes with the film, none that ruin it but still enough to make them worth mentioning. First off, in case you could not tell from the box art, the Chipmunks themselves are completely CGI... *sigh* What can you do? Second is that the people who made the film, of course, made all the Chipmunk music hip-hop. *sigh* I am just not much of a hip-hop fan. If I am going to listen to rap then give me some NWA, DMX or UGK you know? Something with some backbone. Last is that with a film loaded with actors I love(Lee, Cross, Long, etc) the finished product is just not what you might hope to get out of those guys.

The upside is that if you have kids or, if like me, you just have uber fond memories of Saturday morning cartoon then this DVD is definitely for you. Just do not have your expectations too high when you watch this one anad you will not be disappointed.




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