Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 American live-action/CGI holiday comedy and musical film starring Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Jane Lynch and the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney.
The film features Alvin and the Chipmunks and is based on the animated series of the same name. It was directed by Tim Hill, distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions.
The film was panned by critics as one of the worst films of the year, but was a major financial success: on a budget of $55[1]-$60 million, it made $217 million in North America and $359 million at the box office worldwide,[2] and was the seventh-best selling DVD of 2008, earning over $101 million.
Plot synopsis
The tree that the chipmunks Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney) live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles to become a Christmas tree. Once in LA, the Chipmunks meet struggling songwriter David "Dave" Seville (Jason Lee) who had his latest song rejected by JETT Records executive Ian Hawke (David Cross), who was Dave's college roommate. Dave once had a relationship with his next door neighbor, Claire Wilson (Cameron Richardson). She broke up with him because she felt he was too busy and irresponsible and he had no time for her.
After winding up at Dave's interview, they hop into his basket and follow him home. Once at home, he discovers the Chipmunks, and is accidentally knocked unconscious. Upon waking, he kicks them out until hearing them sing. 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 his life has been ruined by them. To make it up to Dave, Alvin, Simon and Theodore go to Ian.
Once the Chipmunks sing Dave's song to Ian, Ian instantly 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.
Eventually, Dave and the Chipmunks have an argument and, in anger, Dave tells them that if they like "Uncle Ian" so much, they should just go live with him. 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 the 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 at the Los Angeles Orpheum Theater.
Immediately before a big concert, a doctor says that the Chipmunks can't sing because their voices have given out. Ian doesn't want to hand out refunds and orders 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 they've been tricked, decide that they've had enough of Ian, reveal that they were lip-syncing and run amok, ruining the concert. They are soon caught by Ian just when Dave is about to rescue them. He locks them up in a cage. 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 sees the boys have replaced themselves with merchandising dolls.
Sometime later, the boys are now part of the family, and they invite Claire over for dinner. Alvin accidentally shorts out the circuits trying to open champagne. Dave decides not to say it, but it causes a blackout in the kitchen. Dave decides to say it, and receives his trademark yell "ALLLLVINNN!!", and Alvin responds with "Okay!"
Cast
The Chipmunks (L. to R. Theodore, Alvin and Simon).
Voices
Critical reception
The film was not well received by most critics, receiving only a 26% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes classifying it as "Rotten"[3], and a 39 out of 100 at Metacritic, indicating "generally negative reviews".[4]
Variety magazine called the film a "harmless and frequently humorous trifle that might be a potent B.O. performer, if only by default, during a holiday season surprisingly short on kidpics" and noted that "homevid prospects are huge";[5] the home video prediction later proved to be accurate. Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of four, saying it is "about as good as a movie with these characters can probably be...at some level, the movie may even be doing something satirical about rock stars and the hype machine."[6] The critics for The Guardian and The Observer were split, with Philip French saying its a "film that kids will love and adults will find tolerable" and Peter Bradshaw giving it one star out of five and calling it a "thoroughly brain-dead semi-animated family comedy".[7]
Box office
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released in North America on December 14, 2007. Despite negative reviews, the film grossed a surprising $44,307,417 in 3,475 theaters its opening weekend averaging to about $12,750 per venue, and placing second at the box office behind I Am Legend, with nearly sold out showings.[8] According to Box Office Guru, the first weekend was twice as much as Fox originally expected. Its second weekend was $28,179,556, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets and I Am Legend. On its third weekend, it surpassed I Am Legend for #2 at the box office, still behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
The film closed on Thursday June 5, 2008, making $217,326,974 domestically and $141,560,622 overseas for a total of $358,887,596 worldwide, making it a huge commercial success considering the film's modest $55 million budget.[8] The sustained box-office success of the film surprised 20th Century Fox; Elizabeth Gabler of Fox 2000 told the Los Angeles Times "I look at the numbers every day, and we just laugh."[9] Given its budget, Alvin was far more profitable than either I Am Legend or National Treasure: Book of Secrets.[9] According to MTV, it also has become the highest-grossing talking animal/live-action cartoon adaptation to date. It is also 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film domestically to be released in 2007.[1]
Home media
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 1, 2008. The DVD release is presented on a flipper disc featuring both full screen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) and widescreen formats (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English and Spanish subtitles. Special features include a preview of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, a history of The Chipmunks, and an explanation of how the singing is created.[10] The Wal-Mart edition includes a bonus exclusive music CD.[11] The K-Mart edition includes a free junior novel of the movie.[12] The Best Buy edition includes 3 mini plush toys of Alvin, Simon and Theodore in a collectible box.[13]
The Blu-ray release is presented in widescreen format on a 25GB single-layer disc authored in AVC (MPEG 4) compression with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital plus English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and French subtitles.[citation needed] Bonus content includes the same features as the standard release, several trailers, and a digital copy for download.[citation needed]
In some DVDs[specify], instead of an Inside Look at Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, the DVD has a Get Munk'd featurette, it's when the dancers of the movie will teach the viewers the action to the song "The Witch Doctor".[citation needed] The film sold a total of six million copies in 2008 grossing $101 million in DVD sales making it the seventh best selling DVD in 2008.[citation needed]
Awards
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released November 20, 2007, three weeks before the film's opening and contains new versions of old songs such as "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late)" (as made famous by David Seville and The Chipmunks), cover versions of songs such as "Bad Day" (as made famous by Daniel Powter) and "Funkytown" (as made famous by Lipps Inc.) and new songs such as "Coast 2 Coast", "Get You Goin'" and "Get Munk'd". The second track on the album is "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas's Don't Be Late)", a remake version, without Jason Lee as the voice of Dave. However, the seventh track, the rock version of the song features Jason Lee as the voice of Dave.
Video game
The video game for this film was released December 4, 2007 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and the PC, just ten days before the film was released. It was written and produced by DeeTown Entertainment.
Sequel
A sequel will be released on December 23, 2009.
References
External links
