Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson

In a tree farm, three musically inclined chipmunks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, find their tree cut down and sent to Los Angeles. Once there, they meet the frustrated songwriter David Seville, and desp...( read more  read more... )ite a poor house wrecking first impression, they impress him with their singing talent. Seeing the opportunity for success, both human and chipmunks make a pact for them to sing his songs. While that ambition proves a frustrating struggle with the difficult trio, the dream does come true after all. However, that success presents its own trials as their unscrupulous record executive, Ian Hawke, plans to break up this family to exploit the boys. Can Dave and the Chipmunks discover what they really value amid the superficial glamor around them?

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73% liked it

97,665 ratings

PG, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Tim Hill

Release Date: December 14, 2007

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DVD Release Date: April 1, 2008

Stats: 25,872 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (25,872)


  • October 8, 2009
    sh**
  • January 27, 2009
    "Here comes trouble."

    Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are back in director Tim Hill's computer-animation/live-action hybrid following the further adventures of the world's most adorable singing trio. Songwriter Dave Seville (Jason Lee) has been struggling to gain recognition i...( read more)n the music industry for some time, and despite the fact that his former college roommate (David Cross) is now a high-profile powerbroker at Jett Records, Dave still can't manage to get a break. Things soon start to look up, however, when Dave discovers three singing chipmunks hiding out in the branches of a Christmas tree in Jett Records' world headquarters. Realizing that these woodland crooners cold prove to be his ticket to the big time, Dave does his best to transform Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) into the next great pop sensation. As adorable and talented as they may be, though, these bouncy little critters aren't quite domesticated just yet; they still have a wild streak in them a mile wide, and it isn't long before Dave's life, home, and career are in utter chaos. But staying mad at such lovable little creatures is next to impossible, no matter what kind of mischief they might get into.

    Review
    There are films that inspire and there are miserable attempts of folly. Alvin and the Chipmunks falls into the latter category. Here was an 80's series that had it all: snappy beats; great humour and fantastic stories. Take that perfect vision and translate it into a full-length feature film and your idea would look a little different than the gruel Tim Hill came up with. Perhaps he never saw the series? We have Dave, a lonely, bungling artist in a world that's hard on soft bachelors. One day he happens to meet a group of talking Chipmunks. It's that simple. These are no ordinary little animated characters however ? they sing and they talk. So our intrepid musician writes their songs and gives them shelter. The Chipmunks are a huge hit ? America loves them. But can Dave protect them from being exploited by ruthless, greedy men? I advise kids ? and only very young kids ? to see this with their parents. This is not a film worthy of being considered for adult or post-kindergarten entertainment.
  • January 7, 2009
    ''We're talking chipmunks, Dave. We can get out of a cat carrier. Not even hard to do.''

    A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville finds success when he comes across a trio of singing chipmunks: mischievous leader Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby, impressionable Theodore

    ...( read more).

    Jason Lee: Dave

    When I finally got around to seeing this film recently, it turned out to be exactly what I predicted... yet another Hollywood CG/live-action rehash of an established cartoon franchise. Nothing special or memorable whatsoever. Designed in every way possible to appeal to very young children and very immature adults, making heavy use of comedic devices such as farts, poo-eating, and the size of Theodore's butt.

    Alvin and the Chipmunks would bother me a lot less if it weren't such an obvious step down for the cartoon series. Even their characters I found were drastically altered, for the negatively oppressed, for this story. While history has denoted, each one of the three, have had a very distinct personality.
    In this film version, they all behaved like immature, smart-alecky children with too much energy, constantly bouncing erratically off the walls. It especially bothered me to see Simon portrayed in this way... He's supposedly the smart one of the trio, a serious nerd who acts as the "straight man" to Alvin's crazy antics. But here he's pretty much a clone of the other two. One joke in the film even implies that Simon only thinks he's intelligent, but really isn't... and honestly if I had never heard of the Chipmunks before seeing this film, I would have agreed.

    One of the other irritations that Alvin & the Chipmunks continues to give us, is the money obsessed manager, played by David Cross. Uncle Ian, is the obvious villain of the piece, the temptation aspect of the whole affair. When Dave falls out with the Chipmunks, its rich Ian whom looks after the trio. For a start his whiny voice and whimsical philosophy on fame and commercialized success in pop, also proves sickening as well as annoying. He uses the Chipmunks to make big bucks, although how any one can actually consider Chipmunk singing music is beyond my reasoning. Despite all these whispering jaunts, his villainy proves to be one of the most energized things in the film. Ian and some squirrels was amusing, to say the least, in the credits.

    In my opinion, this whole affair, is just another obvious cash makind device, like Garfield was, and I'm more than a little disappointed, the cartoons being far superior to any CGI creation. The fact that it's a children orientated movie doesn't excuse its many flaws... To excuse a stupid movie that degrades a classic franchise, just because it's for children is insulting to children and adults alike, in equal measure.
    Any child would deserve something more intelligent than this offering.

  • September 17, 2008
    I understand that this is a kids movie, but its a shitty kids movie.
  • August 24, 2008
    This could've easily been called "Earl Hickey goes suburban and gets annoyed by Alvin and his posse".

    I usually don't watch films with subtitles but now I had to cuz I couldn't understand a single fuckin' thing the 'munks said. A word here and there but...

    It's goddamn cut...( read more)e to watch poorly animated chips' with cute eyes and so on and so forth, but it simply wasn't my thing.

    Bonus star for the raisin scene.
  • November 7, 2009
    A realy good movie for the whole family
  • November 5, 2009
    Lololol being blazed and watching chipmunks talk?
    Classic.
  • October 29, 2009
    Funny family film....
  • October 27, 2009
    brilliant who'd of thought little animated chipmonks would be so entertaining !
    Funny cute and a really good movie!
  • October 26, 2009
    alvin, simon and theodore..

Comments


  • miltaryguy
    September 21, 2008
    it is funny
  • dddancer14
    August 19, 2008
    yea this movie is so cute i love it!!
    :)
  • MovieLover57
    July 30, 2008
    Yeah For Some Weird Reason I Thought The Chipmunks Thay Used In This Movie Looked Like Chip 'N Dale...Which By The Way....Didn't Ross Bagdasssian JR. Play The Voice Of Chip or Dale in Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers?
  • Kingbilli
    July 26, 2008
    Does anyone else think that the chipmunks look like Chip and Dale in this movie?
  • sportboy
    July 19, 2008
    well I would disagree of it being the best because I enjoyed loads of movies last year Starter for ten is one Hidalgo is another and Ratatouille was another but it is a very good movie and very funny but I just had to disagree of it being the best.
  • MollieSCREAM
    June 11, 2008
    its sooo cute!! why is it so damn cute! i dont like cute! i LOVE it!
  • MovieLover57
    June 8, 2008
    Alvin And The Chipmunks Is The Greatest Movie Of 2007!
  • englishkatewinslet
    April 24, 2008
    This movie I thought would be alright, I didn't think it would be or could be any where close to the actual Alvin and the Chimpmucks but I was greatly suprised. This movie is wonderful and wonderfully put together. I love it, and would love to see it again.
  • thedoctor2k7
    April 18, 2008
    i luved this movie there so cute
  • WiseChild1
    April 17, 2008
    This is a great movie, because it brings back memories of how good the chipmunks were back in day and how good they still are today for the next generation to see.

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Alvin and the Chipmunks Trivia


  • The uncredited soldier singing at the Christmas Party in Stalag 17 (1953) is Ross Bagdasarian, also known as 'Dave Seville', the leader/creator/voice of 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'.  Answer »
  • Tim Hill directed Alvin and the Chipmunks, but he's also one of the writers of a very spongy movie. What is the name of that movie?  Answer »
  • In the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" what was the chipmunk waiting for from the dishwasher?  Answer »
  • What is the name of the 3 Chipmunks in Alvin and the Chipmunks?  Answer »

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