It’s a pity that this franchise went down the gurgler because the original Alvin And The Chipmunks movie worked so well, and while Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked is better than the last in the series it still has some serious flaws that really holds it back as a film.
This time around Dave (Jason Lee – TV’S Up All Night & Memphis Beat) decides to take the Chipmunks and the Chipettes on a cruise just before a major music awards ceremony. The cruise gets off to a shaky start with Dave realizing their nemesis Ian (David Cross – TV’S Modern Family & Archer) (you remember him the evil record label boss from the first film) is working on the cruise, and to make matters worse Dave and Alvin (voiced by Justin Long – Ten Year, Alpha & Omega) are arguing over whether Alvin should be given more freedom. Then of course comes the big moment which sees all the chipmunks trapped on a deserted island with the loopy Zoe (Jenny Slate – Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, TV’S Ugly Americans) while Dave and Ian look for them.
Poor Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After, Sky High) certainly can’t be blamed for where this film goes wrong. As far as directing go he gets the animation meets real life stuff pretty spot on, no the problem here is with the writing. See, this is a kid’s film but the moral in the film (‘parents have to decide when their children have to be stopped being treated as children and given some freedom’) is aimed at the adults, as is a lot of the supposed humor… I mean seriously did the screenwriters think that most children have seen the Tom Hanks’ film Castaway? How else are they supposed to get the ‘Wilson’ joke in the film.
Small children will probably find the chipmunks pretty cute but it’s hard to see children over the age of 5 even enjoying this film, I’m pretty sure even they will grown at the over acting of Jenny Slate who really needs to learn that children have brains as well, her performance is woeful when you consider how other actors play their parts in kids films… did she not watch her co-star, Jason Lee at all during the making of the film.
I really pity the poor parents who are dragged along to see Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked as this will be torture for anyone aged over 5 years of age.
Year: 2011
Director: Mike Mitchell
Stars: Jason Lee, David Cross, Justin Long, Jenny Slate
Classification: G
Runtime: 87 mins
Rating: 