Day 114 - 4/24/09 - Movie #113
BEFORE: OK, so they're not mice, but they are talking (and singing) rodents. I never really liked Jason Lee in films, but he is great on "My Name Is Earl".
THE PLOT: A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville finds success when he comes across a trio of singing chipmunks: mischievous Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby Theodore.
AFTER: Well, Jason Lee essentially is playing Earl Hickey here, as he spends the whole movie as a songwriter trying to make up for his mistakes, some of which occured before the film started, and some during. He gets upstaged and outshined, however, by David Cross as a slick record company executive.
Still, it's hard to justify this movie. Just because you CAN animate the chipmunks in CGI doesn't mean that it's a good idea. My proof is that, beyond their Christmas song and "Witch Doctor" (which isn't even an official Chipmunks song, it predated their creation), the munks are just a sped-up cover band. And you can't modernize "Witch Doctor", no matter how many hip-hop dancers and DJs you add to the performance. The chipmunks' rise to fame is unbelievable, even for a movie - do songs really chart via satellite radio in 1 day? - with some muddled lessons about the dark side of fame. The rodents get jazzed on caffeine in the recording studio - this is a kids movie, after all. But they just forgot to add the FUN.
RATING: 5 out of 10 acorns
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