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Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 American live-action/computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film based on the characters of the same name created by Ross Bagdasarian. Directed by Tim Hill from a screenplay by Jon Vitti and Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, and a story by Vitti, it is the first live-action adaptation of Alvin and the Chipmunks since the direct-to-video film Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks. It stars Jason Lee, David Cross and Cameron Richardson, and stars the voices of Justin Long as Alvin, Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon, and Jesse McCartney. In the film, struggling songwriter Dave Seville (Lee) teams up with three musically-inclined chipmunks - Alvin, Simon, and Theodore (Long, Gubler and McCartney) - in order to make a mark in the industry after previously discovering they have rare singing talent. However, the greedy record producer and CEO of JETT Records Ian Hawke (Cross) tries to split the group and exploit the chipmunks for his own personal gain. Production began in September 2004, after 20th Century Fox announced they would be producing a live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film. Jon Vitti was brought on to write the film in 2005, and Tim Hill was brought on to direct the film in 2007.
Produced by 20th Century Fox Animation[a], Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Dune Entertainment and Bagdasarian Productions, with the visual effects and imagery produced by Rhythm & Hues Studios, the film was released on December 14, 2007 in the United States by 20th Century Fox. It received generally negative reviews from critics, with criticism derived toward the humor and depiction of the chipmunks, though the score and Cross' performance were praised. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus labeled the film as "rehashed kids' movie formula". Despite the negative reviews, Alvin and the Chipmunks was a success at the box office, grossing $361.3 million worldwide on its budget of $60 million. It was the seventh-best-selling DVD in the United States in 2008.
In the years after the film's release, it has garnered a cult following. Three sequels followed: The Squeakquel in 2009; Chipwrecked in 2011; and The Road Chip in 2015.
Plot[]
Three talking chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore reside in a fir tree alone, after their parents left them to fend for themselves. The tree is cut down and driven to Los Angeles after JETT Records purchases it as a Christmas tree. Meanwhile, struggling songwriter/composer Dave Seville has his latest demo rejected by their chief executive, Ian Hawke who was his college roommate, and suggests that Dave quit writing songs. The Chipmunks hop into a basket of muffins that Dave stole from one of Ian's co-workers and follow Dave home.
Dave discovers the Chipmunks in his home. He forces them to leave, but then he hears them sing "Only You (And You Alone)" and "Funkytown". This leads to him making a deal with the Chipmunks to sing songs that he writes in exchange for shelter. The next day, Dave and the Chipmunks start practicing singing, however, when Dave tries to present the Chipmunks to Ian, they fail to sing because of stage fright. The day worsens as Dave is dismissed from his advertising job due to the Chipmunks having unknowingly ruined his presentation boards by drawing and writing on them. While hosting dinner with former girlfriend Claire, Dave struggles to hide the Chipmunks after Alvin attempts to create a romantic atmosphere, making Claire uncomfortable and causing her to leave. As an apology to Dave, the Chipmunks go to Ian's lavish mansion, where they sing Dave's song, prompting Ian to sign a record deal and give Dave his job back as a songwriter for JETT.
The Chipmunks quickly become an international success. Dave, concerned for their well-being, insists that the Chipmunks are too young to handle fame, but Ian convinces them that Dave is reducing their success. After a misunderstanding and after reading a letter Dave wrote about them going back to the forest, the Chipmunks choose to live with Ian, whose only interest is profiting off the Chipmunks' success as they set off on a nationwide cross-country tour. He also exploits their naïveté by overworking them constantly. When Ian's plan to take the Chipmunks on a twelve-month international tour is revealed on the news, Dave decides to infiltrate their concert at the Orpheum Theatre to retrieve them.
Before their tour can begin, a veterinarian explains to Ian that the Chipmunks' voices have been worn out due to exhaustion and suggests that they take a long rest. Unwilling to cancel the concert and issue refunds, Ian advises the Chipmunks to lip-sync. Dave sneaks into the concert with help from Claire; the Chipmunks hear Dave calling and realizing that Ian has tricked them, they decide to sabotage the show by causing chaos onstage. Dave is stopped by security, and Ian catches the Chipmunks, locks them in a cage, and prepares to take them on their world tour. Dave tries to convince Ian to let the Chipmunks go by saying they need a real life but Ian refuses. He then escapes in his limousine with Dave in pursuit. When he loses Ian, the Chipmunks unexpectedly show up in his car. As Dave and the Chipmunks reconcile, Ian uncovers the escape, which costs him both his career and his fortune.
Cast[]
- Jason Lee as David "Dave" Seville, a struggling songwriter and adoptive father figure to Alvin, Simon and Theodore
- David Cross as Ian Hawke, the CEO of JETT Records
- Cameron Richardson as Claire Wilson, a photographer and Dave's ex-girlfriend
- Justin Long as Alvin
- Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as Alvin's singing voice
- Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon
- Steve Vining as Simon's singing voice
- Jesse McCartney as Theodore
- Janice Karman as Theodore's singing voice
- Jane Lynch as Gail, an advertising executive and Dave's former boss
- Kevin Symons as Ted, Dave's former co-worker
- Frank Maharajh as Barry, Dave's former co-worker
- Veronica Alicino as Amy, Dave's former co-worker
SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Mr. Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown) from SpongeBob SquarePants appear on Dave's television when the Chipmunks watch the episode "Have You Seen This Snail?".
Production[]
Development[]
Ross Bagdasarian Jr., the son of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian Sr. who revived the franchise after his father's death in 1972, dreamed of making a live-action Alvin film since 1997, "and the dream has had many nightmare moments." in June, 1997, Robert Zemeckis was attached to direct a live action adaptation of Alvin and the Chipmunks with Steven Spielberg producing with Universal Pictures, but it was shelved after the estate of Ross Bagdasarian Sr. filed suit against Universal in September, 2000. On September 17, 2004, Fox 2000 Pictures, 20th Century Fox Animation and Bagdasarian Productions announced they would collaborate to create a live-action computer-generated film starring Alvin and the Chipmunks. On April 17, 2005, Jon Vitti, writer of The Simpsons, was revealed to be writing the screenplay. On January 24, 2007, it was announced Tim Hill, former writer of Rocko's Modern Life and SpongeBob SquarePants was in talks with Fox to direct the film, having previously directed Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.
Casting[]
Chevy Chase, Jim Carrey, Tim Allen, John Travolta, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Bill Murray were originally considered for the role of David Seville. On March 7, 2007, Jason Lee joined the project to play David Seville, and Cameron Richardson signed on March 21. David was a more clean-cut character for Lee than his past roles, which he appreciated. Patton Oswalt, Tom Cruise and Brian Posehn were approached to play Ian Hawke but all declined.
Bagdasarian and his wife, Janice Karman, had always voiced the chipmunks since they revived the franchise; however, for the film, they were replaced by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney for marketing reasons, despite the fact that for the first trailer of the film, Bagdasarian and Karman voiced the chipmunks.
For recording, the chipmunk voice actors spoke their lines slowly to be sped up to normal speed in post-production; McCartney described it as a "tedious process", where "it could take 40 takes for one line." He was such an Alvin and the Chipmunks fan that he even owned the album Chipmunk Punk (1980), and studied 1980s Alvin cartoons for his role in the film.
Filming[]
Principal photography began on March 28, 2007, making it the first film to be produced under the leadership of Fox Animation president Vanessa Morrison. Seville's house was built on Sunset Gower Studios and contains references to Bagdasarian Sr.'s life. The set pieces included an upright piano he used to write his songs and a flower visual he painted; the house's address number includes 1958, the year he created the chipmunk characters; and the house design is based on a cottage built in 1919, the year Bagdasarian Sr. was born. In shots where Lee interacted with the chipmunks, the actor rehearsed with small stuffed animals indicating where the chipmunks would be; the animals were then removed when it was time to shoot, and he used his memory of where the animals were.
Visual effects[]
The Chipmunks were animated by Rhythm & Hues Studios, a company that previously animated creatures for projects such as Mouse Hunt (1997); Scooby-Doo (2002); The Cat in the Hat (2003); The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005); and Babe (1995), the latter of which garnered Rhythm & Hues an Academy Award. As with all of its past projects, Rhythm & Hues used its own software for animating Alvin and the Chipmunks, such as Voodoo and Icy, which was used for placing the CGI into live-action shots; although Autodesk programs like Flame and Maya were used.
According to Bagdasarian Jr., getting the look of the chipmunks suited for a live-action setting while maintaining the essence of the cartoon designs was challenging, and it took until September 10, 2006, for the artists to get it right. Hill instructed the artists to make the chipmunks look realistic, but not entirely like chipmunks. In addition to observing real chipmunks offered by Universal Studios, Rhythm and Hues studied all versions of the chipmunk characters from past Alvin media for conceiving, fur-texturing, and animating designs for the film. Human dancers were referenced for animating the dance movements of the chipmunks, and YouTube videos of famous guitarists playing the guitar influenced how Alvin's guitar-playing was animated. High-dynamic-range images of sets were also used for lighting the chipmunks to fit the live-action shots. The most difficult part of integrating the CGI critters in the live-action shots was match moving for instances when they climb on Seville's head. For scenes where the chipmunks interacted with props, some of them were live-action props while others, such as a paper airplane, were produced and animated with computers.
Music[]
- Main articles: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Score from the Motion Picture
Release[]
Marketing[]
The first poster for Alvin and the Chipmunks was revealed online on July 4, 2007. Later that month, Fox launched the official website for Alvin and the Chipmunks with only a trailer and synopsis; Several games were added later on. In an August 2007 survey of 750 American teens ran by eCRUSH and OTX, Alvin and the Chipmunks, alongside Saw IV, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Mama's Boy, Fred Claus, I Am Legend, and Enchanted, were the most anticipated films of the 2007 fall and winter seasons in the group.
Theatrical[]
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on December 14, 2007 in the United States by 20th Century Fox. The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some mild rude humor".
Home media[]
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 1, 2008 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Video game[]
A video game based on the film was released on December 4, 2007 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and the PC. It was written and produced by DeeTown Entertainment.
Reception[]
Pre-release predictions[]
Months before its release, bloggers predicted Alvin and the Chipmunks to be terrible because of the involvement of the director of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006); the writers of Snow Day (2000), the Ice Age films, Robots (2005) and Big Momma's House 2 (2006); and the poor quality of previous live-action adaptations of old cartoons.
Box office[]
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released in North America on December 14, 2007. The film grossed $44.3 million in 3,475 theaters its opening weekend averaging to about $12,750 per venue, and placing second at the box office behind I Am Legend. Its second weekend was $28.2 million, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets and I Am Legend. On its third weekend, it surpassed I Am Legend for number 2 at the box office, but still ranked behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film closed on Thursday June 5, 2008, making $217.3 million in the US and $144 million overseas for a total of $361.3 million worldwide. The sustained box-office success surprised the studio; Elizabeth Gabler of Fox 2000 told the Los Angeles Times, "I look at the numbers every day, and we just laugh". Given its $60 million budget, Alvin was far more profitable than either I Am Legend or National Treasure: Book of Secrets. According to MTV, it also became the highest-grossing talking animal/cartoon adaptation until its sequel. It is also 20th Century Fox's highest-grossing film in the US to be released in 2007.
Critical response[]
Based on 108 professional critic reviews, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 29% of those reviews were positive, with an average rating of 4.5/10. On the website, the critics' consensus reads, "Though cutely rendered, Alvin and the Chipmunks suffers from bland potty humor and a rehashed kids' movie formula." The website reported that "critics say this may be the weakest vehicle for the helium-voiced rodents yet," elaborating, "the pundits say despite a few laughs, this is pretty bland stuff: dated, weakly constructed, and lacking in three-dimensional characters of the human or CGI variety." Using a weighted average calculator, Metacritic assigned the film a score of 39 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade "A" on a scale of A+ to F.
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe said, "the script leans heavily on the pranks and big-eyed cuteness of the li'l guys and leaves the live actors with unfunny dialogue and nothing to do." According to The New York Times, "its animated protagonists are egregiously eclipsed by the live-action characters." Chicago Reader criticized the "cardboard" characters of David Seville and Ian Hawke. The most common censure was the film's satire on commercialism, which was hypocritical due to being bombarded with popular brands, including the chipmunks themselves. Explained Burr, the film's message "is torn between the glitz that sells and the homilies that endure."
Some critics disliked Lee's under-acting, particularly his underwhelming yelling of the word "Alvin!" In Premiere's view, "Jason Lee makes for a sympathetic Dave, yet there's an almost somnambulistic quality to his performance," and Vice wrote that Lee's "rather 'cartoony' acting style here leaves a lot to be desired." However, Lee's acting did have some supporters for working as a likable protagonist, such as Time Out, a source that thought his "wry approach lends an edge to some of the script's wittier moments." Some reviewers praised Cross' performance, such as Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic who called the villain the highlight of the film: "Cross is hilarious in everything he does, but he's surprisingly effective in a kids comedy. His villainy is so broad that it's never really scary, and he's so funny that you never tire of seeing him on-screen." However, one reviewer, Tim Robey, admitted to being annoyed by Cross in the film. Premiere called Richardson "sufficiently adorable and winsome, though the film's purity makes it difficult to imagine any sort of romantic entanglement." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Jason Lee and David Cross manfully play roles that require them, as actors, to relate with empty space that would later be filled with CGI."
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "the values and the CGI are good." Some critics praised the chipmunk protagonists; with Vice writing they were "integrated pretty well into the live-action elements." The A.V. Club wrote, "the manic Chipmunks wear out their welcome pretty quickly." The Globe and Mail also commented on the shot composition: "you've got regulation-height dancers and musicians backing a singing group the size of kids' mittens." "As rendered here by the average-looking CGI effects, the characters are underwhelming in their appeal, lacking the charm of their previous animated incarnations," summarized The Hollywood Reporter. Some reviewers, including Ebert, also panned the lack of distinction between the chipmunks. However, Variety thought there was a "persuasive interaction of human and digital co-stars."
Response towards Cross[]
Cross' appearance in Alvin and the Chipmunks was negatively received by fans of the comedian, The New York Observer reporting blog comments that called him a "smug, condescending asshole" and "a huge prick". On December 10, 2007, comedian Patton Oswalt published a writing on his MySpace blog titled "Godawful/Thank God", where he revealed he and Brian Posehn were approached for the part of Ian for Alvin and the Chipmunks; he made the following remark in the post: "We both threw the script across the room in disgust. David Cross caught it."
All of this prompted Cross to publicly discuss his involvement with the film on his website The Bob and Davider on December 31, 2007. He explained that he actually was offered the role before the casting team approached Oswalt and Posehn, but rejected. He got the offer again after six months of failing to find acting work and having a down payment on a cottage in the middle of Sullivan County, New York due; this time, he accepted the role out of desperation. He also admitted in the post he never saw the film, and hoped that his post "hopefully lessens some of the sense that I'm some kind of whore sell-out who doesn't care about anything but making money." The post only garnered more bad comments on blog stories about it: a Defamer reader commented that it was "the shittiest fucking defense since the Nuremberg trials," an A.V. Club user stated that "he's digging his own grave, professionally," and a Stereogum reader thought he "wouldn't mind if [Cross] dies."
Oswalt responded to the post via The A.V. Club on January 2, 2008. He revealed that the comment towards Cross was nothing more than a "snide, private in-joke between us" that referenced a comment Cross made at a party in New York in March 2006; Cross had just received the script for Failure to Launch and stated, "Man, they sent me that script, and I read ten pages and threw it across the room." He called blog comments that responded to Cross' writing "very entertaining", but also concluded, "I don't care what any of my friends – or, for that matter, enemies – does to pay the bills. I think my role in this is finished, so it's up to someone else to mention your massive cash donations to Operation Rescue, or your upcoming tour with Toby Keith."
When it came to responses from professional writers towards Cross' behavior in the debacle, Jeff Bergstrom of BrooklynVegan opined that "no explanation was needed; a person needs work. And to be honest, I found his 5 part response to be a mega-invaluable resource for learning what Cross has been up to these days." Gawker stated the post "will effectively quash any burgeoning feud between two of our favorite comedians—especially since Cross demonstrated the above-referenced respect for his Pixar-blessed peer by not noting Oswalt's longtime involvement in King of Queens." C. Robert Cargill, on the other hand, thought that while Cross gave "pretty good reasons" in his post, "he forgot that he could drop some really biting sarcasm in the place of a 1000-word diatribe" and "lost" in responding to Oswalt.
Playlist was very harsh, calling Cross' post an "extremely lengthy and tedious defense" and that "at least Jason Lee had the good sense to take the pay check and shut the fuck up." Writing for The A.V. Club, Steve Hyden called Cross' blog post a "snide, dishonest, and largely unsuccessful attempt" to deflect the harsh responses thrown at him. He cited similar public statements Cross made when involved in previous projects, such as when he discussed being in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Bombshell" with Time Out Chicago; he elaborated, "Even at his funniest Cross is distant, cold, untouchable; he either can't admit to the occasional lame moment in his own life or he honestly believes he's above the foibles the rest of us idiots are guilty of every day."
A week after Cross-published on his blog, The New York Observer interviewed him and reported that he "seemed genuinely hurt by the criticism he was being subjected to online." Cross stated while being interviewed:
There's no small part of people wanting to call you on your shit. And I think some of It's deserved on my part, but I also think a lot of it isn't. I think a lot of it is lazy and not really thoughtful. Look, do I really think that Lobsterboy103 thinks that I'm 'evil'? Of course not … But It's just the Internet, you know. It's tippity-tappity-tippity-tap … [here he mimics simian typing] … Done. Hit send.
In 2014, Flavorwire named Oswalt's snide remark in the MySpace blog the 30th harshest comedian-on-comedian insult of all time.
Accolades[]
Fox submitted Alvin and the Chipmunks to the Academy Awards for the Best Animated Feature Award before the film had a theatrical run required for the award; it wasn't nominated. Upon the announcement of the submitted films, Brad Brevet of ComingSoon.net questioned the submission of a live-action/animated film like Alvin: "I mean, why wouldn't Transformers then be considered animated?" While the Movieguide Awards named Alvin and the Chipmunks the third best family film of 2007, PopMatters called it the second worst film of the year. It was also named one of 2007's worst pictures by science fiction writer John Varley. In 2011, Entertainment Weekly ranked Alvin and the Chipmunks the third worst live-action/animation hybrid film of all-time. In terms of lists regarding the worst talking animal films of all time, both Complex and Screen Rant named it eleventh worst. In 2013, it was ranked by GamesRadar the 48th worst Christmas movie ever. In 2016, Box Office Prophets ranked it the fifth worst live-action film based on a cartoon. The film also won a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie, a BMI Film & TV Award for Film Music, and was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Family Feature Film (Fantasy or Musical).
Sequels[]
- Main articles: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
A sequel, titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, was released on December 23, 2009. Zachary Levi joined the cast to replace Jason Lee due to his small role and because of his role on My Name Is Earl; the main cast members reprised their roles for the sequel and the film also re-introduced the Chipettes. A third film, titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, was released on December 16, 2011. A fourth and final film, titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, was released on December 18, 2015.