ألفين والسناجب

I'm not a chipmunk fan. I was watching this to see what they'd do with it. I am a fan of Jason Lee's "My Name Is Earl" and this is so far from that its unreal. The films problems start right away. If Dave is late, why is he stopping to talk to his ex? And if he's late why is he waiting in the reception of the building? I assume we're supposed to empathise with Dave and feel sorry for him? Not happening. Especially after hearing those song lyrics. Right then, to those chipmunks. I'm supposed to suspend disbelief a huge amount and accept they can talk. But forest creatures that know what a building is? Or a muffin? I think not, hardly forest type things really. I don't get why he was throwing all his music stuff out, you could sell all that. Smashing it up is pointless. Oh, and the chipmunks in the moving bowls getting picked up? Oldest most predictable joke in the world. A good question would be how can chipmunks who don't live very long know a song from the 1970's? An even better one would be how is a song writer unable to sing his own song in tune (when he's pitching the Xmas song and the chipmunks won't sing). We're also supposed to happily accept that these chipmunks can read and write as well. Sorry, got to stop you there. NO! Sadly the ending was rather predictable once we saw the talking doll near the cage, I'd rather not have been lead by the nose to the ending like that? The trouble is Ian knows exactly where Dave lives and can get the chipmunks back easily (a tiny fact they seemed to overlook?). Its a feel good ending with Dave getting the chipmunks back & seeming to be getting on with Clare. It's just a little bit too sweet for my taste though.

You know the old saw about a train wreck? The one about how you can't look away? This movie isn't that good. The only reason you're still there is because you brought your kids and you can't leave them alone in the theater. You might catch a nap. Tim Hill should never work in film again after delivering this awful piece of junk. He manages to take a decent comic actor in Jason Lee and turn him into a robotic, unsure actor in this production. I didn't have much hope for this movie in the first place, I admit. If it weren't basically the only family film I could take my son to around Christmas, my wife and I wouldn't have gone. God, I wish we could go back in time and stop ourselves. I leaned over to my wife about 10 minutes in to tell her what a stinker I thought it was, but she beat me to the punch. I'm not kidding. It's putrid. Only David Cross's terrific-as-usual work saves this review from being only 1 star. The story is cloying, insulting and stupid, as might be expected for a movie in this genre (although the recent "Curious George" was blissfully intelligent and enjoyable). The acting is mostly poor. The decision to "update" the Chipmunks songs for today's audience was inadvisable at best and boneheaded at worst. It does not work. The chipmunks of old were clever, mischievous and sly. These chipmunks are dumb, somewhat mean-spirited, obnoxious, and in a surprise, needy to the point of uselessness. Either as a retrospect, a tribute, or as a completely new production, this film totally fails. The final straw? My son couldn't wait to leave. Spend your money renting Curious George instead.