Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 American live action/computer animated musical comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on David Seville's music label and the characters of the same name created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., the film stars Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney, with Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, and Jane Lynch in supporting roles. Alvin and the Chipmunks is the first live action/animated film starring Alvin and the Chipmunks since Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks was released in 2003, as that film features puppetry used for the Chipmunks and this film features computer animation used for them. It was released worldwide on December 14, 2007, by 20th Century Fox and produced by Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises. A second film titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was released on December 23, 2009.

Plot
After the tree they called home is cut down and shipped to Los Angeles, talking chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore find a new home with songwriter Dave Seville (Jason Lee). Despite a rocky start to this new arrangement, Dave eventually discovers that the spunky critters have rare singing talent. When the three perform in front of record executive Ian Hawke (David Cross), he immediately signs them. Although the infectious group rapidly gains in popularity, their loyalty is soon tested.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The main problem with this movie is that it has lots of disgusting toilet humor and moments that are not even appropriate for children:
 * 2) * In one scene, Simon (Alvin in the teaser trailer) was forced to eat Theodore's feces by Dave to prove to him it was a raisin, eating fecal matter is considered coprophilia.
 * 3) * When Dave traps Alvin under a hat, Alvin peeks his tail and backsides out to release a blast of flatulence in Dave's face.
 * 4) * The film even relies on some inappropriate jokes, such as the one in the film's climax when once Alvin and his brothers hear Dave calling for them, they tear off their outfits and leave themselves naked, which is very disturbing for younger viewers and even adults.
 * 5) It has its fair share of pop-culture references which feel out of place and are completely unnecessary, including a reference to The Matrix in one scene.
 * 6) Mediocre grasp of the source material, depending on your view. Although it isn't completely unfaithful like most live-action adaptions are, it barely feels like the original Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons despite the characters still being the same.
 * 7) It also has many product placements, these include Xbox 360, SpongeBob SquarePants (which director Tim Hill was also involved in), VTech, Puma, DHL, Lucky Charms, Utz, Spider-Man, Van's Foods, Apple and Samsung products, Campbell's, Pepperidge Farm, Crayola, Quaker Oats, Snyder's, Barilla, etc.
 * 8) While the CGI for the Chipmunks isn't too bad, the other uses of special effects look rather outdated and uncanny.
 * 9) * While The Chipmunks' outfits are faithful to their original ones as they still wear their trademark clothing, Alvin's design is wrong: he never wears a cap like he did in the 1980s show, until the end of the film. They also wear poorly made sequin outfits that are just nothing but sequins with the initial letters of their names emblazoned on them and that's it.
 * 10) Most of the acting is rather poor, particularly from Jason Lee as the chipmunks' guardian, David Seville, as he sounds very monotone and sounds like he doesn't want to be in the film. One good example is that his famous yell "ALVINNN!!!!" sounds phoned in and not angry enough compared to Ross Bagdasarian Sr and Jr's yells.
 * 11) Claire Wilson, while sweet and likable, is seen as a pointless and unnecessary love interest, due to her never seen again nor even mentioned in any of the sequels that followed (to be fair, Cameron Richardson, who portrayed her character, didn't like her experience in the film, explaining her absence from the other installments).
 * 12) The Chipmunks' redesigns, while not flat-out bad by any means, are not that great. Not only do they look smaller, but they look closer to rats than actual chipmunks, earning them the nickname "CGI Rats".
 * 13) A few of the characters aren't portrayed all that good compared to the source material, like Dave for being portrayed as rather unlikable, and Alvin not having much of a personality other than being a troublemaker which is ironic because in the original, Alvin had the most personality.
 * 14) The Chipmunks' high-pitched voices can become irritating to listen to from time to time. Now, the voice acting is coming from known adult actors (Alvin is Justin Long, Simon is Matthew Gray Gubler and Theodore is Jesse McCartney), however it's hard to tell who is even voicing them due to them being pitched up, making this pointless as Fox could have used anyone (including Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman, who even recorded all their lines, some of which were used in trailers) for the roles and speed up their recordings and the result would still be the same. The recasting was done due to marketing reasons.
 * 15) * This is how it would've sounded without the pitched-up effect.
 * 16) The musical score by Christopher Lennertz, while not terrible, sounds rather lackluster and generic.
 * 17) * The Chipmunks mostly sing covers rather than original songs ("Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. and "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter) which seem more like rip-offs rather than using original songs in the film.
 * 18) ** While their trademark theme song known as "Witch Doctor" is featured, it doesn't sound anything like the original and sounds more like a rap version, which is a poor attempt at being hip and cool.
 * 19) Despite Simon being the smart one in the group, he doesn't seem to know much about the animal kingdom, even though he's one himself. When Dave asks whether all animals talk, Simon replies back saying "Well, I believe that fish have some sort of sign language". Not realizing that apes are the only animals to evolve and learn such a skill.
 * 20) Mediocre direction from Tim Hill.
 * 21) False advertising: Simon and Theodore have hats and sunglasses in the poster, not once in the film are they seen wearing those.
 * 22) Plot hole: Alvin and his brothers were excited when Dave mentions Christmas, but The Chipmunks have been living in the woods their entire life, so it's impossible that they know what the holiday is that quickly in the film's plot. There's even a scene early on in the film that shows Theodore questioning what the "shiny things" on the tree were.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Unlike the 60s, 80s and 90s cartoon, the movie has an interesting concept and premise about giving a origin story about how The Chipmunks and Dave Seville first met each other, despite the execution being mediocre.
 * 2) It tries to stay true to the cartoons, though it doesn't succeed the best.
 * 3) It shows good morals such as family always comes first before fame.
 * 4) The movie has its fair share of cute and heartwarming moments, and some good jokes too.
 * 5) Surprisingly, there is a low number of pop-culture references compared to its three sequels.
 * 6) As mentioned before, the chipmunks' clothing is faithful to their original designs, with the slight exception of Alvin's design not having his iconic hat.
 * 7) * Not to mention, the cartoon's main issue, the Chipmunks' meerkat/human hybrid like appearances, is fixed here.
 * 8) As mentioned above, the CGI for the Chipmunks is pretty decent, despite the poor redesigns.
 * 9) Some fan-service is included, one of which is in the form of the original song that started Alvin and the Chipmunks, "Christmas Don't Be Late", being featured.
 * 10) The rock version of "Christmas Don't Be Late", though modernized, is admittedly pretty catchy. The soundtrack also features three versions (1958 Original, 2007 Original, and 2007 Rock)
 * 11) Besides remixes of "Christmas Don't Be Late" and "Witch Doctor", plus covers of "Bad Day", "Only You", and "FunkyTown", most songs are entirely original.
 * 12) David Cross's performance as Ian Hawke is one of the most hilarious and enjoyable parts.
 * 13) Unlike most live-action films, this film actually reveals what happened to the Chipmunks' parents.
 * 14) The tribute to Ross Bagdasarian Sr at the end was an excellent touch.

Reception
Alvin and the Chipmunks was met with mixed to negative reviews from critics, audiences and fans, for its script, toilet humor, and characters, though David Cross's performance received some praise. On Rotten Tomatoes the film had an approval rating of 28% based on 109 reviews, with an average score of 4.52/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Though cutely rendered, Alvin and the Chipmunks suffers from bland potty humor and a rehashed kids' movie formula.". On Metacritic the film had a weighted average score of 39 out 100 based on reviews from 23 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it grade A, on a scale of A+ to F. On IMDb, the film scored a 5.2/10.

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a two out of four and stated, "Jason Lee and David Cross manfully play roles that require them, as actors, to relate with empty space that would later be filled with CGI."

Box Office
The film opened up at #2 on its opening weekend grossing $44.3 million domestically. It would later make a total domestic gross of $217.3 million. It grossed $144 million in overseas territories. Overall, the film made a worldwide gross of $361.3 million against its $60 million budget, making it box office success, despite the negative reviews. The film was the seventh-best-selling DVD of 2008.

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Trivia

 * Development on a Alvin & the Chipmunks film adaptation started in the mid 1990s when Universal Pictures made an announcement that they talked about the idea of a live-action Alvin & the Chipmunks with Robert Zemeckis, (The same director behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Back to the Future trilogy and Forrest Gump) who was chosen to direct, but then it was scrapped in 2000 due to the characters creator's son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr, filing a class-action lawsuit against Universal Studios.
 * Ross Bagdasarian Jr was to reprise his original role as Dave Seville, but due to his age, Jason Lee was chosen. Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, John Travolta, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were also offered, but all turned it down.
 * The original voice actors Ross Bagdasarian Jr & Janice Karman were to also reprise their roles as the chipmunks but were rejected for promotional reasons. However, Janice Karman's singing was still kept in the film.
 * Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt and Tom Cruise were all considered for Ian Hawk.
 * Drew Barrymore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Hayek and Jennifer Love Hewitt were also considered for Claire Wilson.
 * David Cross regretted being a part of the franchise.
 * Movie released same day of very first Alvin and the Chipmunks song, Christmas Don't Be Late.
 * It managed to have it's own tie-in game on the Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows.
 * The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Have You Seen This Snail" is used in the scene where Simon and Theodore were watching TV.