BEFORE: The connection here is, in theory, that both the Cat in the Hat and the Chipmunks are notorious home-wreckers. The most memorable bits of the first Chipmunks film involved the little CGI critters tearing up Dave's living room, or making a mess in the kitchen.
I've taken some heat for scheduling this one, since I work in an animation studio where films like this are generally regarded as crap among my co-workers, who can't believe I'm not watching the best of Japanese anime instead. Not my scene, guys and gals. Plus, there is a big-picture plan here - more on that tomorrow.
This is a good time to mention this blog will shut down for 2 weeks in April, for our first proper vacation in years. We've gone on little road trips from time to time, but this year we've booked a cruise, so I'll just have to fall behind in the count and make it up later in the year.
Linking from "The Cat in the Hat", Mike Myers was also in "View From the Top" with Christina Applegate (last heard in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"), who voices one of the girl chipmunks.
THE PLOT: Playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks and Chipettes accidentally go overboard and end up marooned in a tropical paradise.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Alvin and the Chipmunks" (Movie #113) and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" (Movie #816)
AFTER: Ah, it's a tough life being a filmmaker, or an actor for that matter. But if you put in the time and make it past the first few years of a series, or the first couple films in a franchise, you probably deserve a vacation, even if it's a working vacation. Clearly somebody here felt that they were owed a tropical cruise, plus an extended stay in Hawaii, to make this film. Happy Days, The Brady Bunch, they all put in their time and then got to do some episodes in Hawaii.
But unfortunately it's all about diminishing returns here. While it's nice to see Jason Lee come back, after being largely absent from the 2nd film (I think his character was in a body-cast - lucky!), this seems like just an excuse to get the Chipmunks and Chipettes to sing some new-ish tunes like "Born This Way", "Party Rock" and "Firework" (along with some oldies like the Go-Go's "Vacation", Destiny Child's "Survivor" and the dreaded "Kumbaya")
Even though this is mostly crap (everything the filmmakers needed to know about being marooned, they seem to have learned from "Gilligan's Island"), there's a nice tie-in with last night's lessons, such as they were. Alvin, the free-wheeling chipmunk, learns to take on responsibility, and Simon, the conservative, learns to cut loose and show some emotion, even if it's due to a spider bite. Spider bites have been known to bring out people's alter egos, right? Nope, didn't think so.
The real crime is spending $75 million to make a film that's essentially a giant Carnival Cruise commercial for the first half. Think of all the charities that could have been helped with that money - you could maybe wipe out a disease or something. Proof that our priorities are way out of whack in this country. Given the choice between a third Chipmunk movie and eliminating, say, malaria, I'd hope that most people would make the sensible choice. But we citizens aren't really given that choice, are we?
Movie shout-out references tonight to "Cast Away" and "Titanic", as is to be expected, but also "Casablanca", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Lord of the Rings", and even "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"!
Starring Jason Lee (last seen in "Cop Out"), David Cross (last heard in "Kung Fu Panda 2"), Jenny Slate, and the voices of Justin Long (last seen in "Youth in Revolt"), Amy Poehler (last heard in "Hoodwinked Too!"), Anna Faris (last seen in "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel"), Jesse McCartney, Matthew Gray Gubler, Alan Tudyk.
RATING: 3 out of 10 deckchairs
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