Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)

This movie was such a complete bore! It wasn't humorous, cute or even mildly entertaining. No, instead it was annoying, poorly written, crude and stupid. Alvin and the chipmunks are supposed to be funny and cute, and someone needs to let this film in on that little secret. The acting was bad from lead Jason Lee, I feel like he didn't even try, which I can kinda understand, based on the material he was given to work with. If you wanna sit down with your young children to watch this, then they might enjoy it, young meaning like the 2-5 range, but anyone older is probably gonna be bored or annoyed. The chipmunks singing wasn't even that fun or entertaining either, once again, it was uninteresting and just downright bland. Sorry, but unfortunately the filmmakers behind Alvin and the chipmunks wasted the potential of what could've been an amusing film, instead they went for dumb and annoying and bland. Yep that basically sums it up for Alvin and the chipmunks, and dear god I haven't even seen the many sequels. Do we really need soo many chipmunk movies?? Do we? How about we give sequels to movies that actually deserve them. 1/10.

As someone who grew up on shows such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, I could rip this film apart for all the flaws, removal of character and overall enjoyment that the original cartoon had. But I'll try to contain my frustration at this heinous film and look at it with some objectivity.What's the pastrami? Three Chipmunks with a talent for singing named Alvin, Simon and Theodore live in the forest leading a less than stellar life. This all changes when their tree is cut down with them in it and taken to Los Angeles. There they come across Dave, a struggling songwriter who has a tough time getting his songs green-lighted by his boss Ian Hawke. This all changes when he finds that the Chipmunks have a natural talent for singing and therefore takes them on to help him make music, unaware that his evil boss is planning to work them practically to death so as to make the most money.So, what's fundamentally wrong with this movie? One, it's live action. Why oh why is everything live action these days? The great thing about animation is that characters can be drawn to different styles and in forms that make the more appealing to the eye. The idea usually is to incorporate human features to make the characters relatable and dare I say give them a cute factor.In live action from, they look like dancing, singing rodents that really do put you off the whole thing. They're not designed well and it really doesn't look that good.Next, the story, which is about as 100% recycled as you can get. The usual 'Trouble in Paradise' story has been done a million times before and will probably be done a million times again. Next, the characters, which are dated husks of their former selves. In the show the attachment of the characters to Dave like a father makes up a majority of the show's charm and likability, as well as having personalities that seemed really quite timeless because their design and character traits had been a constant since their original conception back in the 1950's. In this, they get famous, Dave disappears for a while whilst the Chipmunks are worked to within an inch of their lives to record and cover songs. At the same time, their attitudes have been updated to conform to what was currently 'hip' at the time, taking on a rapper persona with the Hoodies and Backward caps. This is not a good choice as come 5 or 10 years down the line this whole fad would have shifted and these will be just lost in a time that people will look back on and laugh. I dare say already the who thing is rather dated, and it's only been 8 years!Now the songs I won't criticise because I'm not here to judge music. Although I personally hate every single one of the songs played or covered in this movie, I suppose they are trying to appeal to what was 'hip' at the time. But musical tastes are something that differs from person to person so I'm not going to condemn nor support the soundtrack on my own opinions. If you happen to like them that's okay with me.Overall, I seriously can't recommend this film, for fans of the original Chipmunks or the new audience in general. The story is recycled, the characters are dated and uninteresting, and the fact that it's live action is probably the biggest sin because it doesn't make them look cute or relatable like they were in the original. If you want to see the Chipmunks do what they do best, watch the originals from the 1980's as this is not a good introduction to the characters or the story at all!

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.

great amazing it is the best Chipmunks movie so far i can not wait for the forth one this movie was funny you will like it a lot if you are looking for a movie that you will laugh on this is the perfect movie this movie is a sweet movie i never thought this movie was going too be this good but it was amazing this movie is one of a kind this is one funny movie for the whole family this is a enjoyable movie for the whole family i liked this movie a lot so will you you have never seen a movie like this before i laughed so hard it as a one of a kind movie you will like it too you have never seen a movie like this before do you know the Chipmunks or not because this movie is like a true story it is a enjoyable movie you will say wow after you see it if you see this movie you will know why i am saying this have a great day