As the year comes to a close and people jet off to vacation, so do the singing chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Filled with new renditions of popular songs, the characters return to theaters in the third movie of the franchise: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked.
With a much-overused reference to the Tom Hanks film Cast Away, Chip-Wrecked shows Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler), Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney), and the female chipmunks—the Chipettes—enjoying a family vacation aboard a cruise ship with their human father Dave, played by Jason Lee.
Whisked off by a kite after disobeying Dave, Alvin and his brothers along with the Chipettes become stranded on a beautiful island while being exposed to the dangers of the wild. Alvin, always the irresponsible one, finds himself having to step up and make sure the chipmunks can find food and shelter.
While trying to find a way to leave the island and survive, the chipmunks encounter Zoe (Jenny Slate), a woman who has been stranded on that island for 10 years and managed to survive. Meanwhile, Dave and nemesis Ian (David Cross) have teamed up to find the chipmunks after also being accidently cast away on the same island.
Although embellished with an impressive cast list, Alvin and the Chipmunks fails to offer anything original except constantly milking the cuteness factor of the franchise to its audience. It follows a classic children’s film formula with silly jokes and holds a moral lesson for young children to follow the rules.
Chip-Wrecked provides a good balance between CGI and human screen time, but it doesn’t paint a realistic storyline. It was difficult to watch the pop culture references that the scriptwriters chose to deliver through the chipmunks, from singing Lady Gaga tunes to quoting Charlie Sheen’s “Winning!” when most of their target audience shouldn’t be familiar with such references in the first place.
The film’s attempts to please an older audience miss every mark. It would have been a smarter choice to focus jokes and references solely on subjects that children would understand and find comical. The finished product won’t make too lasting an impression on either audience.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked
Director: Mike Mitchell
Cast: Jason Lee, Justin Long, Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, David Cross, Jesse McCartney, Anna Faris
Running Time: 87 minutes
Rating: G
[etRating value=“ 2”]
