Movie Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

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While out shopping this weekend I took my two little dudes to see the third adventure of everyone’s favorite rodent trio, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

Per the title, while the Chipmunks and Chipettes are causing mayhem aboard an Ocean Cruise Liner, they all get shipwrecked on some remote island.

References are made to, of course, Lost — even the “Others”; in addition, a castaway, ala Castaway, is found to have been lost on the island for ten years. She even has “friends” consisting of various globular sports objects that she converses with, and in turn converse with her.

I’ll say the movie started off very fast and entertaining. All the Chipmunks went into song after song after song. There was a Salsa dance contest, party on the deck etc. However, once they all got lost at sea and ended up on the island, it became a real snooze fest. Honestly, I found myself dozing off at times, and the laughter from the children in the audience all but ceased.

Regarding the plot, basically what happens is Alvin and Simon switch positions, with each learning a little bit about themselves and how others feel toward them. Alvin becomes the responsible one, with Simon, after being bitten by a Spider, becomes the mysterious French romantic daredevil adventurer, Simone. Throw in some missing treasure and there you have it.

I’m betting this was made with a lower budget than the previous two, as it is rated G. It’s definitely aimed at the youngsters. While the “Lost” and “Castaway” jokes would be lost on the kiddies, the studio should remember that it’s the parents that take the kids – and pay for them! Yeah, overall it was real lame. In addition, a majority of the movie really consisted of three characters, Jason Lee, David Cross and newcomer Jenny Slate, who plays the nutty castaway Zoe, which I found to be quite annoying. 

I felt the best part of the movie to be the soundtrack, though I was disappointed with the ending song and dance routine as it all sounded the same and was completely rushed. The movie just seemed to “end.” I will say I am a fan of David Cross’ character, “Uncle” Ian, as Cross brings a more grown up comedic routine with this character that I appreciated.

All in all this felt more like a made for TV toon; it was less than an hour and a half, and filled with lazy writing. Save your bucks for Christmas presents, and catch this through RedBox.

However, the real question is whether the youngsters liked it. Well, my seven year old said he loved it. 

There ya have it.