Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" is a kids comedy that screams "Direct to DVD."

It doesn't help that it screams that in high, squeaky, three-part harmony.

Whatever slim charms there were in the nostalgic, musically cute and slapstick-friendly first film of chipmunk mania are squished right out of "The Squeakquel" like so much rodent roadkill. The cast is cut rate, and the script needed a serious visit from a serious gag writer.

Apparently, Fox blew the budget on tunes; songs from Beyonce and Katy Perry to the Bee Gees and The Kinks are amusingly covered by competing bands of harmonizing forest fauna.

Alvin, Simon and Theodore take a step back from fame to go to West Eastman High School, where they cope with bullies, girls, budget cuts to the school music program and Alvin's (voiced by Justin Long) egomania. He's all about fitting in with the jocks, ditching his nerdy brothers, slinging the slang: "Boo-yah! It is on like Donkey Kong!"

They do it all without their "Dad," David Seville (Jason Lee, wisely opting to do his few scenes in traction in a hospital room). So Dave's irresponsible, video-game-addict cousin Toby (Zachary Levi) is put in charge.

There must be rules for playing the human straight man or woman in talking-critter movies. Rule one has to be "Don't make the audience feel sorry for you for taking the part." Whatever charms network executives saw in Levi (TV's "Chuck" and "Less Than Perfect"), he hasn't the charisma to fill even a small fraction of the big screen. He doesn't try. He didn't phone this in. He texted.

A Destiny's Child-inspired countergroup, The Chipettes -- managed by the Chipmunks' old agent-nemesis, Ian (David Cross) -- show up to shake their moneymakers, tempt the boys and sing "(Single Ladies) Put a Ring on It" and other recent girl-group hits. The film credits Anna Faris, Amy Poehler and Christina Applegate with doing their voices, but who can verify that?

The script -- Jon Vitti, Jonathan Abel and Glenn Berger will be deleting this from their resumes -- has one laugh in it. One. If you don't know what "Dutch oven!" means in relation to flatulence, ask your kids.

 

     RSS

 

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" Movie Trailer

 

Recent Movie Reviews - Films in Theaters

 

It's Complicated

It's Complicated
Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated

It's Complicated isn't: It's pretty simple. It's simply a good time, a relatively adult and easygoing conveyance for three ace performers of a certain age...

 

Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law

Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes

Guy Ritchie gives us "Sherlock Holmes," and I'm sorry, but I like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters. It's a drag to see how Ritchie has turned Holmes and Dr. Watson into thugs even though casting seems so right ...

 

Nine's Star-Studded Cast

Nine
Daniel Day-Lewis & Marion Cotillard in Nine

Based on Fellini's 8 1/2, this film is a mixed bag, but the cast ... wow! Director Rob Marshall has conceived Nine in almost precisely the same way he approached Chicago. Each number is imagined by its protagonist, in this case the illustrious film director in crisis, Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis). The movie illustrates scenes from Contini's tangled relationships with ...

 

Colin Firth & Julianne Moore

A Single Man
Colin Firth & Julianne Moore in A Single Man

Some films aren't revelations, exactly, but they burrow so deeply into old truths about love and loss and the mess and thrill of life, they seem new anyway. This is one such film, one of the best of 2009 ...

 

Jeff Bridges & Maggie Gyllenhaal

Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges & Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

There's a powerful symmetry at work in Crazy Heart. It's a parallel between protagonist Bad Blake, a country singer at a nadir of disintegration, and star Jeff Bridges, whose exceptional film choices have put him at the height of his powers ...

 

Police, Adjective

Police, Adjective
Dragos Bucur & Vlad Ivanov in Police, Adjective

This exquisitely dry film comes from Romanian writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu. It's not for all tastes; it requires some patience. However, the more your own job involves absurd, time-consuming bits of minutiae, ...

 

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman is a grand dean of documentary filmmakers, a skilled observer whose patient, incessant, journalistic omniscience explores, exposes and dissects the folly of institutional life. La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet boasts Wiseman's detached, matter-of-fact cinematic observation

 

 

MPAA rating: PG (for some mild rude humor).

Running time: 1:28.

Cast: Jason Lee (David Seville); Zachary Levi (Toby); David Cross (Ian); voices of Justin Long, Anna Faris, Amy Poehler and Christina Applegate

Credits: Directed by Betty Thomas; written by Jon Vitti, Jonathan Abel and Glenn Berger; produced by 20th Century Fox.