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From my favorite movies..

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The movie was terrible, I LOVED Alvin and the Chipmunks when I was little, I even sang along constantly to their music, and I was excited to hear that a movie was coming out, but Jason Lee RUINED this movie, he's SO god damn grating it's literally unbearable to watch. his "Alvinnnnnnnnnn!" scream is terrible, his acting is terrible (Literally the worst I've ever seen, Megan Fox is light-years ahead of this douche-bag) the only good *anything* he's ever been in, was My Name is Earl, and that's because he's "playing" a white trash character, and given his acting chops, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out he is actually white trash. there is nothing redeemable about his "performance" and the sad part is, the rest of the movie isn't too bad, not great, but I'd give the non Jason Lee parts a 5.5-6. Hopefully Universal will reboot this franchise and actually find a good male lead, and do away with all the cheesiness, and "we're-gonna-pander-the-movie-to-three-year-olds-because-they- don't-know-what-a-decent-movie-is".

PlotThe tree that the chipmunks Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles. Once in L.A., the Chipmunks meet struggling songwriter David Seville (Jason Lee) who had his latest song rejected by JETT Records executive Ian Hawke (David Cross), his old college roommate. Dave also once had a relationship with his next door neighbor, Claire Wilson (Cameron Richardson). After winding up at Dave's interview, the Chipmunks hop into his basket and follow him home. Once at home, Dave discovers the Chipmunks, and is accidentally knocked unconscious. Upon waking, he kicks them out until hearing them sing "Only You (And You Alone)". Dave then makes a deal with them; they sing the songs he writes, and in exchange he provides food and shelter for them. However, all does not go well, as Dave's job presentation is ruined by their coloring on it, and when Alvin tries to set the mood for his dinner with Claire, things become weird and she rejects him after he tells her, "My life is being sabotaged by talking chipmunks." To make it up to Dave, the boys go to Ian in an attempt to record a song and get a record deal. Once the Chipmunks sing Dave's song to Ian, Ian signs them to the label and rehires Dave the next day. After a few singles, the Chipmunks become wildly popular. When Dave expresses concern for their well-being and insists that the Chipmunks are "kids" who don't need so much craziness in their lives, Ian convinces the Chipmunks that Dave is holding them back. After a misunderstanding with Dave, they go live with "Uncle Ian". They become enchanted with Ian at first, but once they set off on a coast-to-coast tour, Ian takes advantage of their naivete, changing their image and working them constantly. Meanwhile, Dave misses the chipmunks and he wishes they would come back home. He calls Ian to see if he can talk to them but Ian refuses, and then conceals Dave's motives from the boys. Later, the Chipmunks are wearing out, and it is all over the news. Dave, infuriated by what Ian has done to the three, decides to take matters into his own hands by infiltrating their concert. Just before the big concert, a doctor says that the Chipmunks are unable to sing due to exhaustion. Ian refuses to hand out refunds and advises the Chipmunks to lip sync. With Claire's help, Dave sneaks into the concert, but is grabbed by the security guards. When the Chipmunks see Dave being taken away, they realize that they've been tricked, decide that they have had enough of Ian, revealing that they were lip-syncing and ruin the concert. Ian catches them just when Dave is about to rescue them. He locks them up in a cage and prepares to take them to Paris. Dave tries to convince Ian to let the boys go but Ian refuses. Ian then leaves in his limo with the boys and Dave chases them but the boys have already escaped to Dave's car. Dave immediately pulls over and admits that he loves them like his own family. Meanwhile, Ian looks in the cage and is shocked to see the boys have replaced themselves with merchandising dolls. Sometime later, when the boys are fully accepted as part of the family, they invite Claire over for dinner again. Alvin accidentally creates a short circuit while having difficulty opening a bottle of champagne. Dave is trying not to say it, but the short circuit causes a blackout in the kitchen. Dave can hold it in no longer and says it, letting out his trademark yell "ALLLLVINNN!!", to which Alvin responds with "Okay!". In the film's epilogue, Ian (now unemployed) tries to make three squirrels sing, but fails.

It truly is a shame when cartoon hero's of your childhood are made into Live action films, it really is, and this is a prime example. Rather than leaving the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise alone and letting it end on the high note it did with Alvin and the Chipmunks meet the Wolfman, they decided that a live action version had to be done, and this just doesn't meet the bar that the last animated feature left off.The first problem appears in the first 2 minutes, the Chipmunks design. I realise the idea of a live action film is to make them look realistic, but the problem is we don't want to see Alvin and the Chipmunks in a realistic light, we always remember them as the almost childlike chipmunks of the 1980s with their long roll-neck jumpers and Alvin's signature cap. The idea of separating fiction from reality is to make it look unrealistic, and that's what the original series did well, made the Chipmunks look more personified and thereby more relate-able, here they just look like the rodents that chipmunks truly are so you can't exactly relate to them.Second problem is the fact that the film doesn't seem to grasp each of their individual characters. The original series has Alvin as the mischievously egotistical one, Simon as the intelligent pillar of reason and Theodore as the cutesy and innocent one with a heavy appetite. Here, they all appear to be just Alvin, mischievous, egotistical and not really cute at all. The thing that also made the original chipmunks relate-able was the fact that they had individual personalities, rather than just one stereotype like this movie has. Although this does lend itself to some humorous moments within the film, they're unfortunately few and far between and when they do show up you hardly notice them.Thirdly and probably the most important problem, the music. As well as having a critical overview on films, I have a critical overview on music, and this film seems to have no effort in giving Dave a chance to be the musical genius he was depicted as in the previous series, being the one who wrote their songs and oversaw their concerts. Also the music Alvin and the Chipmunks were more often than not known for was 50s Rock, 80s Rock, Symphonic Melodies and other Classic Tracks. Here, they just borrow from other artists and make either Rap or Hip Hop tracks, which to my mind requires little to no brain power to sing or make, just talking to the beat of a drum machine about one's sexual experiences, but that's beside the point. What was important was that Dave in the original was truly the music man, making the songs whilst sometimes borrowing from existing tracks, but at least the music was enjoyable and had something you could bounce to, here Dave doesn't write one song nor does he show up that often, its more so the sleazy villain that does the role of what Dave would normally be accustomed to.Overall, this film isn't its best and though you may consider me to have set to bar really too high for this film based on the last feature length chipmunk film, it probably wouldn't come close to the mark even if I lowered it. It's got a story (to a point), the humour is there (somewhere) and at least Alvin is his usual up to no good self (at the cost of Simon and Theodore losing their personalities). As for the rest, sadly not my cup of tea.

I wasn't that aware of the Chipmunks, but they do seem to have a following. And you can see their appeal to a younger (=kids) audience. They are cute and they can talk. What else do you need for a successful kids movie? Of course the story as it is, is not anything new or great or anything else.As an adult you have to make sure, to try to think as little as possible. A world where Chipmunks exists (an adult world that is) wouldn't look anything like this kids version of it. But you can't blame the movie for that. It's our cynical (realistic?) view that might spoil it for us. Still not the best kids entertainment, it will occupy and satisfy every need the little ones have.