It is a performances centric movie

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" is the first film from a movie franchise that is still running almost 10 years later. Unfortunately, quality is not the reason for that. I can't even be too mad at director Tim Hill here as the ones who are really to blame for this first film being mostly a failure are the three writers. It always baffles me how all of them can be so bad that they do not realize the mistakes of the others. At least, Ross Bagdasarian does not have to see this anymore. First of all, a few general notes about the film. It clearly aimed at younger audiences. There is no violence, no sexuality and basically nothing else that could scare them away from the film. The main villain is also not really evil in a psychological sense, just greedy and ruthless.One problem here is that there are no shades in the characters. they are either 100% good or bad and this always hurts a film. The movie relies a lot on the cuteness of the Chipmunks and even if they are cute, to me their unbearable voices made this almost painful to watch from time to time. And let us not forget: The core plot here is about the trio being great singers. But they are not. Not at all. I wish I could say there is a critical message about musicians having big careers with little talent because of their star factor, but nope. The Chipmunks are supposed to be seen as truly talented here.The good thing is that this weak film runs for under 90 minutes, so it is really not that long. The bad thing is that it still drags. For example, the romance story involving Cameron Richardson was so generic and not working at all. Badly written and the actress' lack of range is certainly not helping either, but in her favor admittedly not even Kate Winslet would have made this character work. I feel kinda sorry for her because it really destroyed her career. Lee as the title character is so-so, certainly has proved in the past that he is talented, but here he can not really show it. Same goes for David Cross. At least the character is somewhat fun in his over-the-top-ness.And finally a couple words about the title characters. It always confuses me that Alvin is one of the Chipmunks himself, so to me this is really "dave and the Chipmunks", but anyway.. the film did not have enough funny scenes for me to let me recommend it. The only one I found pretty entertaining was when the trio drank all that caffeine and they were jumping around like bounce balls afterward. But this is not an entertaining movie for 85 minutes and from a dramatic and emotional perspective in terms of the message on friendship for example, I cannot take it seriously at all. Not a good watch. Stay away.

I don't know why this movie has such a low rating!!! It's a KIDS MOVIE PEOPLE!!! It has fun music, NO VIOLENCE, and talking animals! The acting is for children as well, so is it a Grammy Award Winner, NO, but, still a fun and loving story! My son is 4.5yrs old and he absolutely loved it!! He was laughing, and jumping around, and totally thrilled about the movie! It doesn't have to have superheros, and violence to be a good enjoyable film for kids to be interested in! The chipmunks are fun, mischievous, and teach Dave a lesson he will not soon forget! :) Watch it with your kids and ENJOY!!! :) My son can't get enough! lol!

I wasn't that aware of the Chipmunks, but they do seem to have a following. And you can see their appeal to a younger (=kids) audience. They are cute and they can talk. What else do you need for a successful kids movie? Of course the story as it is, is not anything new or great or anything else.As an adult you have to make sure, to try to think as little as possible. A world where Chipmunks exists (an adult world that is) wouldn't look anything like this kids version of it. But you can't blame the movie for that. It's our cynical (realistic?) view that might spoil it for us. Still not the best kids entertainment, it will occupy and satisfy every need the little ones have.

Alvin and the Chipmunks are way older than me, but I remember growing up with the cartoon in my childhood, and how much of a love/hate relationship I had with it. My first thoughts upon hearing about a Chipmunks movie was "Oh please god, let this be a joke." After sitting in front of my TV screen, I realized it's not a terrible family movie, but it has its problems.Yes, the chipmunks are CGI. I normally hate CGI, but I ignore it because it was the only way to make this movie work. The other thing I noticed was a bit of a social commentary on how big executives will try their hardest to milk a big star. Unfortunately, this is all ruined by too much in the way of pop culture references. POP CULTURE REFERENCES ARE NOT COMEDY!! The other problem with the humor is it's at times too crude.All problems aside, Alvin and the Chipmunks wasn't the worst thing I've ever sat through. There is much worse out there... MUCH worse...