REVIEW: ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel’

I’m just gonna be frank: I’m dead terrified of talking chipmunks. So, when I went in to see “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeak-quel,” you can imagine my feelings. However, I sat through it and actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would. Justin Long as Alvin, Jesse McCartney as Theodore, and Matthew Grey Gubler as Simon reprise their roles as the Chipmunks for this “Squeak-quel,” and it also features Amy Poehler from “Shrek The Third,” Anna Faris from “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and Christina Applegate from “Married… with Children” as the “Chippettes”. It is directed by Betty Thomas, who also directed “John Tucker Must Die,” and written by Jon Vitti (“The Simpsons Movie”) and Jonathon Aibel (“Kung-Fu Panda”).

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” Rated PG • 88 minutes Starring Zachary Levi, David Cross, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler Directed by: Betty Thomas Written By: Jon Vitti and Jonathan Aibel RCC Rating: Worth Watching On DVD

It was a very cute movie. I haven’t seen the first movie, but I’m guessing there’s a guy named Dave in it. So, in this movie, Dave (Jason Lee) is injured during a concert, and Alvin, Theodore, and Simon are left with his Aunt Jackie (Katherine Joosten). Then, she gets injured, and they are left with a hard-core video-gamer, Toby (Zachary Levi). Somehow they end up going to (shudder) high school, where they meet the usual “first-day horrors” that you see in this kind of movie. Meanwhile, someone who I’m guessing is the bad guy from the first movie, Ian (David Cross) has found yet another group of singing chipmunks, but this time… they’re chicks. Now, because I am a bit of a feminist, I think this is wonderful.

I am a big musical fan, so I really liked all of the musical numbers throughout the movie. They were really dancey songs, and I really had to resist the urge to get up and dance and sing. Plus, the songs were songs that I enjoy anyway! Also, I think the entries in the scene with the sing-off are great as well. The chipmunks are adorable, and they all sound like one of my best friends (who happens to adore Alvin and the Chipmunks)… and I’m not kidding… they sound JUST LIKE HER. I think the theme of family and brotherhood was actually played quite well, though it seemed to be a bit forced and inflated at parts.

Now to the part where I crucify the movie: Their representation of high school is just as messed up as every other movie that’s aimed at high school these days is. While I appreciate that there are bullies, jocks, and pranks… they’re talking CHIPMUNKS, for Pete’s sake! To me, that high school seems awfully accepting of that fact, just like the whole world seems to accept that their newest rock stars are animals that they would usually shout “YOUFILTHYRODENTGETAWAYFROMME!!” Now, for me, if three… no, six talking singing dancing chipmunks (three of them in miniskirts) showed up at my school as students, I’d stop eating whatever it was they put in the cafeteria pudding. Also, the bullies’ antics seem childish, stupid and immature, even more than real bullies.

What I really want to know is… why doesn’t the bad guy get stopped?! All they really do is drive a remote control motorcycle into him. Why doesn’t he get arrested?! The guy breaks, like, every animal cruelty law ever invented in just fifteen minutes! If what they say is true, he did the same things to the Chipmunks in the first movie, so… instead of being arrested, he just gets fired and is living in a garbage bin?! Now, I know this is supposedly a kid movie (at least, I hope so), but still!!

Now, this movie might be enjoyable if you have a kid with you. (Don’t ask why, I’m not really sure either. Without the kids in the theatre, though, I probably would have stabbed myself with my soda straw). I think the first time will be the most traumatic, because now that I’ve seen it all the way through the first time, I could probably watch it again, and be much more gentle and understanding. This time, though… not gonna happen. Gentleness is out the window, and understanding will come in tiny, tiny amounts, if at all.

So, the wrongness that is talking chipmunks aside, this movie was very enjoyable and cute (as I have now said… at least three times… there really aren’t any other words I can come up with that describe it), and it’s something I wouldn’t really pay full price for, but I’d watch it several times at a dollar theatre, then buy it on DVD.