While various musical acts are noted as having changed the sound of music, few can compete with Alvin, Simon and Theodore Seville. Better known collectively as The Chipmunks, they appeared with their creator, Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., on a novelty record called "The Witch Doctor." It quickly caught fire on the charts, the little high-pitched rodents became stars of both the aural and visual airwaves, and kids soon discovered that inhaling helium from party balloons could create the same sounding effect.
Of course, their best known hit was "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)," so I guess it's appropriate that their latest incarnation, the partially computer-generated "Alvin and the Chipmunks" is hitting theaters in mid December. Designed to introduce and thus capture the next young generation in Chipmunk fever, the film isn't without its charms.
Yet, it's a telling sign when the biggest reaction from kids at our test screening wasn't from those high-pitched voices or the various goofy shenanigans. Instead, it came from two brief and unintentional sing along bits featuring young kids' recent favorite, Spongebob Squarepants. The 'Munks may have ruled back in the late '50s and various versions in the interim, but they're now up against some serious and certainly unique competition.
Obviously trying to play off the nostalgic value of baby boomers' childhoods, the film is nevertheless designed and aimed squarely at young kids. Although there's nothing wrong with that, director Tim Hill -- working from a script by Jon Vitti and Will McRobb & Chris Viscardi -- has let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and thus potentially lost some teen or even childless adult viewers should this have become something of a cult classic.
And that would have been through skewering the music industry, particularly in regard to today's pop phenoms who barely have any talent save for the ability to stay in the news due to their off-stage antics. Granted, some of that's there, including a briefly funny bit about lip synching, and more plentiful but less amusing moments featuring a record studio exec (David Cross) pushing the "band" faster and harder than they're ready to go.
Yet, it's only a partial and frustrating taste of what it really could have been, a wicked satire that would play to older viewers on that level while still amusing the little ones with the poop jokes, slapstick material, and everything else expected in a pic targeting a young demographic.
I'll have to admit that this was one of the films of 2007 that I was particularly dreading, not because of any dislike of the act (I'm a sucker for the cutesy, harmonizing voices), but because the previews made it look dreadful, something akin to this year's version of "Garfield" or its equally awful sequel (directed by, of all people, none other than Mr. Hill).
While it doesn't even come close to the lofty standards set by most Pixar films, it's clearly much better than those feline predecessors, and is far from the worst thing I've seen -- or will see -- this or any other year. With most of the satire muted, however, there aren't many surprises as the plot goes through the easily anticipated/predictable motions.
The chipmunks -- spat out of computers in more 3-dimensional cartoon rather than photorealistic form -- are discovered, disrupt the personal and professional life of human Dave Seville (Jason Lee, not always convincingly playing opposite characters that obviously weren't there when his parts were filmed), and make it big on the music scene.
That latter is complete with obligatory montages including various well-known magazine cover shots, covers of famous songs (and much more), with a pro-family message shoehorned in to give everything a warm and fuzzy feeling before the end credits roll some 90 minutes after the shenanigans begin.
Not as bad as I had feared, but clearly nothing remarkable, the film has its cute moments and should entertain younger kids with its formulaic story and gags. Just keep the helium balloons away from the little ones and you won't have to worry about yelling out your kid's name like Dave does for the title character in "Alvin and the Chipmunks." The film rates as a 4 out of 10.
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