Chipwrecked Hits too Many False Notes
The best part of Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked is its title. Other than that? In all honesty I can’t think of all that much to say. The opening 20 minutes or so play like nothing more than a widescreen Carnival Cruise commercial, everything so glossy and superficial you can almost feel the spray tan ooze down your arm. After that, the next 60 minutes go more or less nowhere, the sight of Alvin, Simon, Theodore and company trapped on a deserted island more apropos for a half-hour Disney Channel sitcom that is a feature-length motion picture. Nothing of interest happens here, nothing at all, and while that will be just fine for the majority of six to seven-year-olds in the audience everyone else will likely be bored to tears.
Alvin and company return in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
© 20th Century Fox
I seriously don’t have a lot more to say. Jason Lee is back stumbling around as Dave, somehow David Cross gets shoehorned back into the action as the formerly evil record executive Ian, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney return to voice Alvin and company while Amy Poehler, Christina Applegate and Anna Faris are once more the voices behind the Chipettes. Newcomer Jenny Slate joins to action as a woman stuck on the same island as her new fury playmates, while Alan Tudyk makes a vocal appearance portraying Simon’s French alter ego Simone (don’t ask).
Look, if Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked is for you than by all means give it a look. It’s hardly as painful as the first movie was and I certainly can’t say I ever wanted to shoot myself in the head sitting in the theatre while trying to watch it. At the same time, there really is no excuse for haphazard and lazy the majority of this third chapter in the musical rodent chapter is, and by and large the fact that it feels so slapped together and rudimentary is a trait I don’t think was lost on a single viewer – no matter how young – in my preview audience. It hits way to many sour notes and refuses to find a melodic key that could make things even slightly palpable, and as hit records go here’s one I’m hoping falls out of the rotation sooner rather than later.
Film Rating: ê1/2 (out of 4)
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