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MOVIE REVIEW: Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip

 

 
Overview
 

Directed by: Walter Becker
 
Produced by: Ross Bagdasarian Jr. & Janice Karman
 
Written By: Randy Mayem Singer & Adam Sztykiel
 
Starring: Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Jason Lee, Josh Green, Tom Hale, Kimberly Williams-Paisley
 
MTRCB Rating: G
 
Genre: ,
 
FG RATING
3.0
3.0/ 10


User Rating
1 total rating

 

Raves


Some catchy covers, a committed cast even though they look like they don’t want to be there.

Rants


Generic story, lifeless jokes, confused pop culture references, moments that make you question the movie’s existence.


In the end, despite the movie having its moments it is overshadowed by corporate tie-ins and awkward direction. I understand that I am not the target demographic of this movie and therefore I shouldn’t look into it that much but I believe kids deserve better than having a lazily stitched together collection of scenes of cheap laughs just to pass the time.

0
Posted January 17, 2016 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

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It’s astonishingly depressing to know that at this point in time we would get this many Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. I mean really…. FOUR movies (let that thought sink in for a minute). Regardless of the fact that the past three movies were critically panned, the movies did make a lot of money but one would question if Alvin and the Chipmunks movie be even worth seeing anymore?

Plot Summary:  

In the Chipmunks’ latest adventure; Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were led to believe that their father Dave (Jason Lee) is going to propose to his new girlfriend, Samantha (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) in Miami and dump them. They have 3 days before he could pop the big question and the trio along with Samantha’s son, Miles must save themselves from being under the same roof as each other by stopping this proposal.

Review:

NEMh1yel2UKmPR_1_bRight on its first scene, the movie was already confused at what it wants to be; the movie felt like it had two writers making two different movies. The one writer having this idea of getting the kids back to their normal life since the Chipmunks are no longer the famous icons they once were while the other is that dude who has been writing the Chipmunks since day one. And by that I mean, that guy who writes an episode for a Nickelodeon sitcom. They never really took the time to expand that sub plot it just happens in the flow of the narrative. It would’ve been interesting to see them make a comeback while also improving their characters (these “kids” never grew up no matter how many times they learned their lesson for the past 3 movies). But NO! Instead we have this generic road trip that we have seen a thousand times already.

Even the pop culture references were confused towards its target demographic. It was like watching your aging uncle trying to be “hip” to you by referencing LMFAO -y’know that hippity hop band you like 5 years ago– and have stuff that he liked in his time like John Waters be shoe horned out of nowhere (because when I go into a Chipmunks movie, I wanted to see a celebrity cameo in the same level as the guy who made Pink Flamingos). It gets more cringe inducing that that same uncle would even make an effort into spewing out outdated slangs like “jizam”, and singing Eminem’s “Baby got Back” just for you to love him, but in reality you just wonder why you have to sit through the entire show. Believe me, it gets worse… Because there’s more where that came from.

Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks-The-Road-ChipGranted, the movie is harmless; sure there are some juvenile things (and a lot of product placement for your little ones to pull you into) you have to go through but I have to admit even with the formulaic shit they pulled in this movie there were a few heartfelt moments in this movie. Crucify me for referencing this next to Chipmunks, but it felt like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in those said heartfelt moments where you see the kids bond with some of its human characters. Also,. ¼ of the musical number sequences felt inspired and enjoyable, while the rest were forced (I wasn’t kidding about that Baby got Back thing by the way). And in those said inspired scenes were the kids in my screening legitimately looking like they’re having a good time with this movie.

The characters in this movie were just cookie cutter characters; Texas folks talking like they’re Yosemite Sam in a Jessica Simpson music video, Josh Green acts like a rejected John Hughes character, Kimberly Williams-Paisley carrying a stethoscope around just for the audience to be aware that she is a doctor, and Tony Hale as an air marshal acting like he just popped out of a Looney Tunes cartoon (which is fitting actually). 100% of the cast felt like they didn’t want to be here (it’s more evident for the tired looking Jason Lee) and how interchangeable the Chipmunk voices are since they’re all just sped up voices of famous people, but I still can’t get it out of them that they were still committed to the material they have despite the fact that they are walking stereotypes.

Conclusion:

In the end, despite the movie having its moments it is overshadowed by corporate tie-ins and awkward direction. I understand that I am not the target demographic of this movie and therefore I shouldn’t look into it that much but I believe kids deserve better than having a lazily stitched together collection of scenes of cheap laughs just to pass the time. Why did we as a society let them make 4 Alvin and the Chipmunks movies?!


GP Manalo

 
G.P. Manalo is a student by day, and a resident tortured writer by night. Writing to keep him sane from all the Business School papers and presentations piling up each week.


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