You know when you are scrambling to find your keys, rangle your kids, get out the door and you just want to scream? Well, that’s where we start off in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked! It couldn’t have been more perfect to see Jason Lee reprising his role as Dave Seville and yelling… ALVIN! while boarding a ship for vacation. How many times have you wanted to scream out your child’s name in frustration?
In this 3rd film of the series Dave Seville (Jason Lee) and the Chipmunks are off sailing on a family getaway and Alvin, Simon & Theodore are joined by their adopted female counterparts, the Chippettes. Just when Dave is trying to get some much needed vacation shut eye, Alvin decides that a boring game of shuffle board just won’t do so he bribes a kid for his kite and as always the original plan get out of control. The wind picks up dragging the kite and all the chipmunks to a deserted island. They run in to crazy lady (Jenny Slate) who we think is also marooned (think Tom Hanks in Castaway) but come to find out (sorry! Spoiler alert for those parents who like to be surprised) is really searching for gold treasure.
While on the Island, the chipmunks have to work together to survive and you find a real swapping of personalities since Alvin is always the trouble maker, Simon is usually level headed and Theodore fills the “baby” of the family role so well that with his sweet big eyes get you and he makes an adorable pasta necklace that Dave can’t refuse to wear. Simon is bitten by a spider and is turned into his adventurous alter ego (a real ladies man) and Alvin is left to keep everyone safe and under shelter. The Chippettes provide the “girl power” which my daughters loved. They show you that even though you may take on the role as the pretty one in the family doesn’t mean that you don’t have brains behind that beautiful face. As a watching the film, I found the film interesting and I was a little embarrased to admit but I am that mom who often doesn’t give my children space to fail on their own which is something they touch on in this movie. My kids are probably capable of doing more things and probably so am I when forced to.
Wow, that was deep, on to the rest of this review. My daughters loved it and I thought the timing of the movie moved perfectly. How many times have you sat in a kids movie and thought, “They could have cut that scene.” We loved all the singing and dancing and the humor. There are very funny pop culture references for the adults that include Charlie Sheen and Lady GaGa that had me laughing out loud (and luckily my kids didn’t understand them). The music also helped move the film along and was used seamlessly that I lost my slef a few times and thought they were actually singing. From Beyonce, to the Go Go’s, to the mash up of 3 songs in the finale, the music fit the film and made me want to run out to get the soundtrack. With Jason Lee as the solid adopted dad, David Cross as the erst villian, the amazing voice work of Justin Long (as Alvin), and the message about giving kids responsibilty – this is the best of all of the Chipmunk movies!
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is rated G and in theaters on December 16th… and the soundtrack is available too!
Role Mommy 3.0