Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked | Review
Sometimes I don’t understand the world, such as why there’s a third installment to the ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ film series. Okay, I lie. I kind of understand why – to entertain the younger audiences in the cheapest way affordable, while maintaining the most profit. There’s no excuse why movies like these can’t appeal to children, while still being good to older audiences as well. Many other movies have been able to accomplish this task, which is why ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’ is such a disaster; it’s truly only for the youngest audiences possible and no one else.
There’s no denying that the Chipmunks and Chipettes are adorable. Their insanely squeaky voices are fun and cute, and their musical renditions of popular songs are entertaining. But neither the songs nor the dancing in this movie are memorable, which is a bad sign considering the singing and dancing are the only redeeming qualities of this movie, other than Theodore (the chubby one in green).
‘Chipwrecked’ features a plot where our main characters go on a cruise, and through a mishap end up on a stranded island in the middle of the ocean. The odd part is their cruise ship didn’t even stop or look for them when the characters fell into the ocean. Isn’t there some kind of protocol to save those who fall off cruise ships? Did none of the dozens of witnesses report this? It doesn’t surprise me that there’s such a major logical gap in this movie’s plot, or lack thereof.
The stranded-on-a-deserted-island aspect of this movie features not one, but two “nut” jokes. It also has some ‘Castaway’ jokes, which none of the targeted demographic will understand, and unfortunately not funny to those older audiences who do understand the reference.
There are three major live actors in this movie, which includes returning stars Jason Lee and David Cross. The newest addition is Jenny Slate (‘SNL’), in which she plays a crazy Fedex employee who has been stranded on the island for almost ten years (Yep.). Poor David Cross, who had to act in a big pelican costume during the entire duration of the movie.
In case this wasn’t made clear yet, ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’ is a movie that’s really only entertaining for the reeeeeally young. The animated characters are cute and their singing is entertaining, but that’s all there is to this movie. With a terrible plot, poor character development, and mostly unfunny jokes, this movie fails, and hopefully it’s the last of the series.
