- This article is about the film. For other uses, see Alvin and the Chipmunks (disambiguation).
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 live-action / CGI film, based on the popular musical group and animated series Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was directed by Tim Hill, distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, and produced by Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions.
The film has received unfavorable reviews from movie critics / websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes, but has proved to be a huge financial success, making over $215 million to date in North America alone and over $350 million to date in total worldwide receipts, while being made on a budget of just $60 million. Jason Lee and the film won his and its first award at the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Movie. It is also the third and most popular CGI / live-action film by 20th Century Fox.
Official Plot
Dave Seville meets Alvin, Simon, and Theodore for the first time.
Full Plot
The tree that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles to become a Christmas tree in the JETT Records office building. Here, Dave Seville is trying to have his song produced, but is brutally denied by the CEO of JETT Records and his longtime arch-rival, "best friend", and former college roommate Ian Hawke. As a rejected Dave leaves the office building, the Chipmunks quickly escape (after being scared by a barking German Shepherd at one point) by jumping into a basket, which Dave is carrying.
Dave unknowingly takes the Chipmunks home with him, where he throws it into the trash, which prompts a confused Theodore to claim, "Gross! Is this his house?", followed by Simon stating, "No. It's his garbage can." and Theodore replies, "Oh."
While Dave is quietly watching TV, the Chipmunks proceed to freely explore Dave's kitchen and eat a portion of his food, but are discovered by Dave in the process; this prompts a humorous game of hide-and-seek, with Dave as the unwilling participant. However, the game is abruptly ended when a escaping Alvin manages to drop and break a jar on Dave's head and knock him unconscious.
When Dave awakens, he is promptly greeted by Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Dave is initially shocked, but calms down long enough for the Chipmunks to formally introduce themselves. However, he still finds the notion of talking animals "creepy" and "somewhat evil." Quickly, Dave betrays the Chipmunks by trapping and then tossing them outside in the rain.
However, in an attempt to win him over, the Chipmunks sing "Funkytown," much to Dave's surprise. They succeed and a deal is struck, where the Chipmunks can live in his house, as long as they sing his songs. However, Dave quickly finds himself annoyed by the Chipmunks as he isn't used to the erratic behavior that comes from their young age and upon questioning, learns that their parents were hippies and abandoned them early in order to join a commune (if this is true or not is yet to be revealed).
The same night, after tucking the Chipmunks into bed, Dave is unable to sleep. After hearing the Chipmunks snoring, he finally comes up with "The Chipmunk Song" after thinking up some lyrics for the song.
The next morning, Dave tries to show the Chipmunks to an incredulous Ian, assuring him they will be JETT record's next big hit. However, the Chipmunks experience stage fright, which prevents them for singing his song and ends up having Dave ridiculed by Ian. Angry at the failure, Dave drives to his other job (which he is late for) and the Chipmunks ask if they can go with him. Worried that they will also mess up his day at work, Dave refuses and takes them home. Upon arriving at his meeting with his boss Gail, Dave discovers that the Chipmunks have written all over his presentation boards (one showing "the size of Theodore's butt", "how smart Simon thinks he is", and "why Alvin stinks"), and as a result, this gets him fired.
Later that night, Claire is invited to Dave's house for dinner and the Chipmunks are forced to stay in another room. However, Alvin, thinking Dave needs his help to win Claire over, unintentionally sabotages the date. Dave tries to tell a frustrated Claire the reason for his strange behavior, but instead, he further alienates her. In her anger, Claire quickly leaves the dinner. The Chipmunks feel guilty for Alvin's unintentional sabotage. In order to make it up to Dave, they quickly leave to Ian's house that night to show him that Dave was right about their amazing talent.
Meanwhile, Dave decides to return the Chipmunks to their original home and goes as far as writing the note before being overcome by his affection for them and decides against it. At Ian's house, upon seeing their performance, Ian welcomes the Chipmunks to JETT Records and proceeds to quickly circulate the song and make it a big hit in just a few hours, much to Dave's surprise.
Soon, the Chipmunks' career skyrockets and by being managed and promoted by Ian, the Chipmunks continue to be wildly popular. Also, during this time, Dave sews the Chipmunks their sweaters.
Christmas quickly comes and in his excitement, Theodore calls Dave "Dad," which prompts a nervous Dave to dissuade the notion of him being their father, which hurts the Chipmunks.
After showing them their presents (which are savings bonds), Ian arrives and proceeds to shower the Chipmunks with many toys and an invitation to a Christmas night party.
During the party, Dave reconciles with Claire, who apologizes for leaving the dinner and not believing him. Ian also tries to convince Dave to let him work with the Chipmunks, but he refuses. In spite, an angry Ian proceeds to plant false lies to the Chipmunks about Dave.
The following day, Dave arrives home to find the Chipmunks being once again showered by various gifts from JETT Records. Irritated by their behavior, Dave quickly converses with the Chipmunks, telling them that even with their new-found stardom, they do not have the right to be selfish and greedy and do what they want. Equally irritated by Dave, the Chipmunks quickly point out that Ian said they should always be happy while Alvin asks if he thinks of them as his kids or rats, much to Dave's confusion (who doesn't know about the untrue things that Ian has told the Chipmunks). Finally, at the height of his anger, Dave tells them to go live with "Uncle Ian" if they like him so much and not to think he is currently looking out for their best interests, which hurt and surprise the Chipmunks.
That same night, Theodore tries to apologize to Dave, but discovers that he is sleeping. Theodore manages to see the letter that Dave wrote and shows it to Alvin and Simon. Not knowing that Dave has already decided against returning them home, the Chipmunks interpret that Dave wants them gone, and heartbroken, they contact Ian to see if they could live with him from now on.
At first, life with Ian is grand for the Chipmunks as he supplies them with many toys and allows them to do whatever they want. However, things begin to turn when Ian starts to overwork them to the point of exhaustion and also reworks their image. Dave contacts Ian to see how the boys are doing, but is purposely blocked out by Ian, who fears that upon knowing that Dave misses them, the Chipmunks will want to return to him.
As the coast-to-coast tour ends, Ian brings the Chipmunks back to Los Angeles in order to perform their kickoff performance for their highly anticipated world tour. However, due to their exhaustion, the Chipmunks' voices have given out and as a result, they cannot perform their song. Not wanting to postpone the tour and give-out refunds, Ian decides to have the Chipmunks lip sync the song, which Simon considers cheating, but is convinced by Alvin that they have no choice.
Meanwhile, Dave learns that Ian still plans to proceed with the world tour despite the Chipmunks' exhaustion. Angered, he proceeds to the theater to get his boys back, though is blocked by security. He is able to sneak in, with the help of Claire (who claims that he is her assistant). He then proceeds to the performance area, but is once again caught by security, who have been ordered by Ian to keep Dave away from the Chipmunks. However, as he is being escorted away, Dave manages to yell Alvin's name loud enough that he hears. Upon seeing Dave, the three quickly realize that Ian has lied to them and proceeds to reveal they are lip syncing and begin to run amok. After a brief chase, Ian manages to capture the Chipmunks and quickly whisks away the Chipmunks, despite pleas from Dave to let them free.
As Ian is being chauffeured toward the airport, Dave quickly takes chase. As Dave furiously pursues Ian, the Chipmunks reveal themselves to Dave in his car.
Surprised to see them, Dave questions them on their escape, to which Simon replies that breaking out of a cat cage wasn't difficult in the first place. On the other hand, Ian (who was unaware of the Chipmunks' escape) discovers that the Chipmunks have escaped and he proceeds to yell a long "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" in defeat.
A few days later, Claire once again visits Dave house for dinner. However, the dinner once again proceeds disastrously when Alvin manages to spill champagne, which manages to short out the electricity, and prompts a irritated Dave to yell Alvin's name while Alvin replies, "Okay!".
Ian is also shown trying to get three clueless squirrels to sing and, of course, fails at doing so.
Cast
- Jason Lee as David "Dave" Seville, the secondary tritagonist.
- David Cross as Ian Hawke, the main antagonist.
- Cameron Richardson as Claire Wilson, the tertiary tritagonist.
- Jane Lynch as Gail
Voices
- Justin Long as Alvin Seville, the main protagonist.
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. as Alvin Seville (singing)
- Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon Seville, the deuteragonist.
- Steve Vining as Simon Seville (singing)
- Jesse McCartney as Theodore Seville, the tritagonist.
- Janice Karman as Theodore Seville (singing)
Songs
Trivia
- The film is 6 times profitable with $360 million gross revenue on a $60 million dollar budget.
- Dave shouts out Alvin's name 3 times angrily:
- First time when Alvin is running on a tape recorder.
- Second time when he pulled a prank when Dave was sleeping by painting a red A on his forehead.
- Third time when Alvin spilled champagne on the floor, which spills the electrical wires, making the lights go out.
- Spongebob Squarepants on HDTV cameo appeared in this movie.
- The script leading up the Chipmunk Song rehearsal is taken almost word-for-word from the original 1958 recording of the song.
- The final scene of this movie is the only time Alvin has worn a cap on-screen since the reboot.
Errors
- When Dave said it was the worst day of his life, Alvin said that it is still early, then Theodore accidentally hits the message button on the phone and it was Claire and she said she is nervous for dinner, then Dave says that dinner is in 30 minutes. However, dinner is at 7:00 PM and it was very bright outside and it can't get pitch black in 30 minutes.
- In the scene where Theodore knocks Dave out with a glass jar filled with peanuts, the cheese balls they spilled are gone. Furthermore, dropping the glass jar on Dave's head would kill him in real life. As well, the cheese balls aren't there when he wakes up.
- In one scene, Simon mentions, "6 degrees elevation...", but the DVD subtitles state that Theodore said it.
- In the scene where Simon says, "No, it's his garbage can," the subtitles said that Alvin said it.
- In one scene, after the shopping scene, at the music store, the Chipmunks are shown with clothes when Dave hadn't already made the clothes.
Sequels
Main Article: The Squeakquel and Chipwrecked
Two sequels entitled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked were released on December 23, 2009 and December 16, 2011.
References
- http://jetsetstudios.com/portfolio/alvin-and-the-chipmunks/ - Official site for the first film.