DTV Wonders: Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet The Wolfman

The second one from Universal Animation Studios. Unlike the previous one I have no nostalgia for it, and I have no experience with the franchise outside of these two movies. I am not one of the hordes of animation fanatics who hate this franchise due to “The Hipmunk” films beating the The Princess and the Frog at the box office and dooming 2d animation (its days ruling theatrical films was long over anyway, and it was not making a comeback.)

It came out in 2000 with the same team from last movie. I am happy to see John Loy is back. To what I can tell this got good reviews, so hopefully that is a good sign.

It opens with Alvin having a nightmare about a werewolf. On paper the opening is good, but I think it is too rushed. It is still decent. He blames it on their neighbor, Talbot. They are in a school play for Jekyll and Hyde, and I think this school setting is a big downgrade from last film’s theme park setting. I just do not find it that interesting. Why does a Jekyll and Hyde play have women in it? Did they not read the book and… Apparently this is adapting some adaptation instead of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classis.

I think the moral is about the balance of confidence vs humility. Alvin ( too proud) vs Theodore (too meek) with Simon having not much of a role. Alvin messes with production and blows up the theater. I feel bad for Dave. He sees the giant mushroom cloud, and he knows it will be Alvin’s fault.

Unlike last film “The Chipettes” have a role, and I do not like that, as I do not like their designs. The brothers look like stylized chipmunks. These look like small humans with weird noses. I think it is the hair.

Talbot’s introduction is good on paper, but it drags. Very obvious he is werewolf, and I think that is intentional. He is not happy with Alvin snooping around, as he does not want to accidently kill or infect them in werewolf form like he later does to Theodore.

Like last movie I like the small scenes, and that is important for a movie with this slow of a pace. It gradually builds tension through small character driven scenes. I like the three brothers, but Dave is a little frustrating, as he cannot see he is in a fantasy. It is another downgrade from last movie. Alvin is fired from the lead role, and Dave makes him go cold turkey on monster mania. I cannot blame the director for screaming in pain. Losing the star of a dual role is huge.

Why is Lampy in their room?

The first song is “Munks on a Mission.” It is too repetitive, and that is how I describe all the songs. They repeat the lyrics too much and sound the same. Simon is really inconsistent this movie. Sometimes he is gung ho on making Alvin go cold turkey and other times he supports his obsession. Also why does he have a sample of Talbot’s blood?

Theodore becomes a “werepuppy/werechipmunk.” Neither term is correct. “Were” means human. Those terms mean he is a human puppy or a human chipmunk. At least at first it does not make Theodore mean or anything like that. He is super fast and happy with that, and a meaner side only comes later.

One highlight is the werewolf reveal when Dave talks with Talbot. I like the werewolf face reveal. Sure it is a disappointing design, but the directing helps. It happens when Dave calls him “A civilized guy,” and the back is shown first. It builds up suspense slowly. Is running to the school the best idea? Well he is panicked.

It is a really underwhelming climax especially how one werewolf bites heals the other one for both. I like the falling action where Dave gets ready to beat Talbot (the new principal), and Alvin has to stop him. Then Talbot thanks Theodore for curing him. If they made a third one was Simon going to become the monster this time?

This is pretty good. It has no appeal to me as a 29 year old man, but I feel safe saying child me would have liked it, I just think the predecessor is its superior in every way. Three Tree stars.

Next time-

Abominable

DTV Wonders: Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein

Sometimes when reviewing movies meant for young children it is hard to review them. Other times like this it is easy. It fits all the things that should be expected to entertain the kiddies in a solid movie.

This was my introduction (and currently only thing of theirs I have seen) to the Chipmunks, and my introduction to Frankenstein. I borrowed it from Blockbuster at some point when I was young just knowing they were in a movie called The Chipmunk Adventures thanks to the previews from The Land Before Time 5. I am not going to pretend I am an expert on them. For Frankenstein I read the book multiple times for school back in 9th or 10th grade (I remember really liking Victor Frankenstein) and I saw the film starring Boris Karloff the same year for the only time.

I did not expect this, but I enjoy most of the slice of life scenes. A lot of the comedy and characterization is in the relatively normal scenes like making meals, doing work, or just talking. For a movie about a bunch of chipmunks who happen to be stars befriending an undead corpse it is surprisingly realistic, and that is part of the joke. They will discuss the absurdity of their situations in very matter of state manners like how Simon just found glasses in his needed prescription, or the photo album being full of messes Alvin made.

It starts with the monster running away from an angry mob making it clear this is based off the movie and not the book. They chase him to the castle, and “Doktor Frankenstein” chastises them and asks if they think he dug up all these body parts form the grave and reanimated them into a monster. This makes the genre blind mob leave. That is a nice way of getting the origin story past the censors. Doktor chastises the monster (late named “Frankie” so I will call him that from now on) and takes him apart as they move to an easier place to hide, Hollywood. Sounds like shockingly sound logic.

After this the Hollywood studio is shown where a guy dressed as Frankenstein’s monster is lambasted by a parent for not scaring her kid. Wait, Frankenstein’s monster was just made and is not famous. Why are people dressed like him, and why are there toys of him? The Chipmunks sing a song (one of three), and I do not like the singing in this movie. Contrarily I think their voices are perfectly fine when they just talk. They emote way better than I thought they would and sound different enough to be believable characters. It helps the comedy and character interactions are way better than I hoped. Remember how a parent was mad the place did not scare her child. When Alvin does just that she is hypocritically furious.

Even the Chipmunk’s interactions with each other feels actually like brothers. When Alvin fell over Simon said he tripped over his own ego. Their fighting is never over the top, it feels like actual siblings disagreeing and playing with each other, and they clearly love each other. With how much Theodore and Alvin fight a key detail is when Alvin gives him a sincere apology. I see why these three are a cash cow franchise.

In between shows Alvin convinces the others to try go to a scary roller coaster to Theodore’s fear, but the others end up following. On the way they hijack a bus. It is really not important to the plot, but it is an enjoyable scene, mostly due the driver. In this Disneyworld parody he is an aspiring and bitter actor who takes it out on his tour group the second he finds out none of them are talent scouts, so Alvin takes over driving and just gets them in that general direction. He really sucks at driving, as they get hopelessly lost way past closing time (who is in charge of the security cameras?).

They see The Doktor has a light on and go there just to see him working on all his experiments. Yesman (The guy in charge of setting everything up is literally named Ted Yesman, and he lives up to his name and is taking it out on the lower guys) hired him to be their new scary attraction, and he plays everything off as props. He finds them when Alvin goes to save Theodore’s teddy bear. I am wondering if he went back out of altruism for his brother or to cover their tracks. The Doktor sends the monster to chase them… You are faster than the slow monster. Chasing rodents is not the right time to use him. After a decent chase scene the Chipmunks lose him, but he finds Theodore’s bear.

Most of the comedy in the movie is fine, but this part has some good black comedy. Dave goes looking for them, and after a while says “As Soon as I know they’re okay I’m gonna Kill Them!” Later The Doktor asks him if he is an organ donor, and he says he is a cannibal. It fits well with the comedy style, slice of life of all these colorful characters with many fourth wall jokes aimed at the film industry.

I did not expect this, but I enjoy the slice of life scenes like the photo album scene. It really helps feel like these people are a family, and that is how they later connect with Frankie as effectively a younger brother to them.

Frankie shows up to return Theodore’s bear, and they bond with him. I presume this is reversing the usual roles with the Chipmunks now being the Dave to Frankie. Again I enjoy the small things like Alvin cooking. They are short and sweet scenes that happily fill most of the remaining runtime. It helps that Frankie’s expressions are very good at conveying things like pain and guilt. A nice detail is when he cuts his hands. It establishes Frankie feels pain, and shows his childlike actions.

The Doktor takes back over the plot, and I think this is a problem. He gets noticeably less intimidating as the film goes on, and I think best needed a serious villain. His plan is actually good, turn Alvin into his new monster, a Tex Avery based monster. The problem is he does not really control him, and Alvin’s antics get old after a while. In fact other than breaking a door for them Frankie does not really help making this feel disjointed from the earlier scenes. I do not think the climax is good except for this guy named Bud Wily, an action star who gets stuck as the comic relief in everything and has to pretend it was all an act. There is just something funny about seeing these little rodents completely outperform this big hunking man.

It ends with a decent call back to the bus scene, as Frankie is now the bus driver giving tours, which are now given by somebody who cares about the job, and it means Frankie is in control of himself (like he is with the bus) and can live a proper life.

I am not going to pretend this is a must see masterpiece, but I am giving it four Tree Stars. I am not really a big Frankenstein fan (I never cared for the horror genre), and I never watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yet I enjoyed this for both parts. I know it can be a good introduction for both since it was for me at the target age. The jokes are good and other than the end it has a surprisingly fluid, natural, and easy to follow plot. I think it is a very good children’s movie.

Next time is The Scooby-Doo Project.

Yes, it is real.