Alvin and the Chipmunks

My 11-year-old son has wanted to see this movie since the previews for it started rolling and he got his wish this weekend. My wife was hosting our seven-year-old daughter's Brownie troop for a cooking lesson (so they could earn another coveted badge) so my son and I went to the movies. Since this was the opening weekend for Alvin and the Chipmunks, it was on two screens at our local theater so it was difficult to avoid. In short, we enjoyed the film but I couldn't help but marvel at how predictable the whole thing was and scratch my head over the decidedly strange plot of the movie.

We start off with the beloved chipmunks -- Alvin, Simon and Theodore rendered in dandy CGI -- harmonizing in the forest as they're collecting nuts for the winter. Alvin complains about the whole "scratching for survival" gig, then the boys' tree gets cut down and they wind up going to the city. Naturally, they meet up with Dave Seville (played by My Name is Earl's Jason Lee. Dave is a struggling songwriter who simply can't make it big in the music business, but that all changes with the chipmunks -- their high-pitched squeaking is the perfect gimmick for Dave's songs.

The interesting thing here is that the original chipmunks were created 50 years ago by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., a broke songwriter who had the wacky idea to speed up voices in the studio. That idea was novel enough to give birth to the chipmunks and create a franchise that has stuck around for years. Honestly, the only thing really interesting about this film is how it adapts Bagdarasian's story and conveys it in a way that would have made the man proud -- Dave happens upon the chipmunks then acts as their father in an quasi-traditional family.

At any rate, the chipmunks hit it big and the requisite bad guy shows up. The head of the chipmunks' record label -- Ian (David Cross) -- starts plotting on how to steal Alvin and the Chipmunks from Dave and make them a huge success. And that's where things go from cute but unbelievable to downright ridiculous and unbelievable. It seems that Dave is (get this, now) mostly interested in the purity of his music, whereas Ian just wants to attach the chipmunks to the latest pop fad and strike it rich. Yes, it seems that Ian simply wants to force the chipmunks to "sell out" rather than allow them to follow a pure artistic vision.

Think about that. The original chipmunks were pretty well born as a commercial gimmick and have utilized the latest pop fads for years to sell records. The notion of artistic purity seems as ridiculous here as it did with, say, the Monkees.

But, that's another matter entirely. In the end, we have Ian working the chipmunks to exhaustion is his quest for money. Dave, meanwhile, views the chipmunks as his kids and seeks to do the right thing -- get them away from Ian, look after their welfare and (presumably) cut some albums along the way. The film, folks, is as predictable as can be.

However, there is some fun to be had here. Those of us who grew up watching Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons may well appreciate the CGI rendering of the characters. The movie has a more "realistic" look about it than the cartoons did in that the computer generated chipmunks react fairly realistically to people and their "real world" environment. The chipmunks are cute and cuddly enough and do resemble the cartoon characters with which most of us familiar.

On the whole, however, this movie seems more than a bit run of the mill. This is supposed to be a comedy, but the obligatory fart/poop jokes wear thin, as does the notion of chipmunks tearing up the house and ruining Dave's dating life. Naturally, you've got the "Warner Brothers singing frog" gag at one point, but that's been done to death by now. And let's not forget about the chipmunks throwing out hip hop references and wallowing excess as they become successful, either. It's enough to make one's head hurt after awhile.

In the end, this isn't a bad movie, but it could have been better. The creators of Alvin and the Chipmunks seem to have been charged with the job of making Alvin and the Chipmunks relevant to the 21st century and they come across as desperate in the attempt. The result is a film that's big, bright and a little bit annoying, but extremely shallow even by the already low standards of the franchise. This is fun to watch with your kids about once, but that's it.