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==Sequel== |
==Sequel== |
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A sequel to ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' (introducing [[the Chipettes]]) was confirmed. |
A sequel to ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' (introducing [[the Chipettes]]) was confirmed. It is set to be released on Christmas Day 2009 and is named ''Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakuel''.<ref name="chipmunks mtv"/> On July 28, it was confirmed that [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]] will return as Dave Seville and [[Justin Long]], [[Matthew Gray Gubler]], and [[Jesse McCartney]] will return as the voices of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore<ref name="JLChipmunks">{{cite web|url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/07/28/justin-long-confirms-chipmunks-sequel-but-will-the-chipettes-be-in-it/|title=Justin Long Confirms ‘Chipmunks’ Sequel, But Will The Chipettes Be In It?|date=2008-07-28|accessdate=2008-07-28}}</ref>. Details on who the Chipettes will be are unknown, but rumored to be [[Drew Barrymore]] (Brittany), [[JoJo (singer)|Joanna "JoJo" Levesque]] (Jeanette), and [[Miley Cyrus]] (Eleanor). In the sequel, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore go to school and feel like "Chipmunks Out of Water" because of all the human kids around. Meanwhile, Ian (after the Chipmunks dealt him a serious blow) travels the world in search for animals that can sing. He finds [[the Chipettes]] and can't wait to make them famous and get back at the Chipmunks.<ref name="chipmunks mtv"/> |
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==Awards== |
==Awards== |
Revision as of 13:47, 25 December 2008
Alvin and the Chipmunks | |
---|---|
Directed by | Tim Hill |
Written by | Jon Vitti Will McRobb Chris Viscardi |
Produced by | Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Janice Karman |
Starring | Jason Lee David Cross Cameron Richardson Jane Lynch and the voices of: Justin Long Matthew Gray Gubler Jesse McCartney |
Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
Edited by | Peter Berger |
Music by | Christopher Lennertz Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Janice Karman Daniel Powter (song) Lipps, Inc. (song) |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date | December 14, 2007 |
Running time | 91 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $60,000,000 |
Box office | $359,350,661 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 American live-action/CGI holiday-comedy film starring Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Jane Lynch and the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney. The film is based on the popular musical group and animated series of the same name. It was directed by Tim Hill who is an animator of SpongeBob SquarePants, and distributed by 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions. The film was panned by critics, but was a huge financial success, being made on a modest budget of $60 million, it made nearly $220 million in North America alone and nearly $360 million worldwide, and sold 5.6 million DVDs.[2]
Plot synopsis
The tree Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney) live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles to become a Christmas tree. Once in LA, the Chipmunks meet struggling songwriter David "Dave" Seville (played by Jason Lee) who had his latest song rejected by JETT Records executive Ian Hawke (played by David Cross). Dave once had a relationship with his beautiful next door neighbor, Claire (Cameron Richardson). She broke up with him because she felt he was too busy and irresponsible and he didn't have any time for her.
Once the Chipmunks sing Dave's song, however, they become extremely successful. Managed and promoted by Ian, the Chipmunks continue to be wildly popular. When Dave expresses concerned for their well-being and insists that the Chipmunks are "kids" who don't need so much craziness in their lives. Ian tells the Chipmunks that Dave is holding them back.
Eventually, Dave and the Chipmunks have an argument and, in anger, Dave tells them that if they like "Uncle Ian" so much, they should just go live with him. Although their life with Ian starts off great (they arrive at his mansion to a room full of expensive toys and the declaration is that the only rule is that there are no rules), after they set out for their coast-to-coast tour, Ian begins to change their image completely and overwork them to the point of exhaustion.
Right before a big concert is supposed to begin, a doctor says that the Chipmunks can't sing because their voices have given out. Ian doesn't want to hand out refunds and orders the Chipmunks to lip sync (which Simon calls "cheating"). With the help of Claire, Dave sneaks into the concert, but is grabbed by the security guards. When the Chipmunks see Dave being taken away, they realize they've been tricked, decide that they've had enough of Ian, reveal that they were lip-syncing and run amok, ruining the concert. They are soon caught by Ian just when Dave is about to rescue them. He locks them up in a cage (where Alvin screams "You'll never take us alive!" and Simon replies "They just did take us alive, Alvin"). Dave tries to convince Ian to let the boys go but Ian refuses. Ian then leaves in his limo with the boys and Dave chases them but the boys have mysteriously ended up in his car. Dave immediately pulls over and admits that he loves them like his own family. Meanwhile, Ian looks in the cage and sees the boys have replaced themselves with ugly look-alike dolls (something Ian tried to get Dave to sell earlier in the film).
Sometime later, The boys are now "Sevilles" and they invite Claire over for a meal (toaster waffles). Alvin mistakenly breaks Dave's priceless china cabinet trying to open sparkling cider. The film fades out with Dave's famous yell "ALLLLVIN!!".
- In the middle of the end credits, Ian is now broke and out of a job. He tries to coach three squirrels to sing but he fails because they can't talk.
Cast
- Jason Lee as Dave Seville
- David Cross as Ian Hawke
- Cameron Richardson as Claire Wilson
- Jane Lynch as Dave's Boss (Gail)
- Chris Classic as DJ Chris Classic
- Xian Quon as the attractive housekepper
Voices
- Justin Long as Alvin (speaking voice)
- Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon (speaking voice)
- Jesse McCartney as Theodore (speaking voice)
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. as Alvin (singing voice)
- Steve Vining as Simon (singing voice)
- Janice Karman as Theodore (singing voice)
- Alana Da Fonseca as Alvin (DeeTown singing voice)
- Joseph Katsaros as Simon (DeeTown singing voice)
- Ali Dee Theodore as Theodore (DeeTown singing voice)
Characters
- Alvin: Alvin is synonymous with trouble. He’s charming, egotistical, arrogant, playful, and mischievous. Alvin often thinks up schemes that get him and his brothers in trouble. He is commonly known as the leader of his brothers. His signature color is red. Said in the film he is the "awesomest one." He didn't wear his famous baseball cap for most of the film, but in a magazine and at the end, he does.
- Simon: He’s the smartest of the three chipmunks. He often unsuccessfully tries to stop Alvin’s “hair-brained schemes”, but somehow always gets sucked into them. Simon is known for his round, black-rimmed glasses (because of his poor eyesight) and also for having dry sense of humor. His signature color is blue. Said in the film he is the "smart one." He flirts once in the film to a housekeeper and one of the backup dancers during "Witch Doctor."
- Theodore: Theodore is the cute, sweet, chubby, ditzy and sensitive chipmunk. He is often seen as the youngest of the three. When he gets nightmares, he asks Dave if he can sleep beside him. His signature color is green. According to Simon, he "fell out of the tree at birth". He can often be found eating various snacks.
- David "Dave" Seville: Dave is the manager of the Chipmunks who is very strict with the boys. He is the main protagonist of the film. At first, he dislikes them but eventually, he begins to love the trio like a father and thinks of them as his family. He appears to have an on and off relationship with Claire Wilson.
- Ian Hawke: The music producer and executive of JETT Records who later schemes to push the Chipmunks to fame to earn money off of them. At first, he seems on the positive side but he later turns out to be a jerk. He is the main antagonist of the film. He also attended college with Dave and Claire, in which he compares his success to theirs.
- Claire Wilson: She is Dave's on-and-off love interest. As they became famous, she fell in love with the chipmunks right away, however, firstly doubted Dave's words when he tried to tell her about them. She initially thinks that David is too busy and business-oriented to handle a serious relationship, which explains their on-and-off romance. She attended college with Dave and Ian.
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews, receiving only a 24% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes classifying it as "Rotten", and received only a 39 out of 100 at Metacritic, indicating "generally negative reviews", and fans of the original show complained it did not represent the Chipmunks in a respectful manner.
Despite negative reviews, Alvin and the Chipmunks was released in North America on December 14, 2007 and grossed a surprising $44,307,417 in 3,475 theaters its opening weekend averaging to about $12,750 per venue, and placing second at the box office behind I am Legend, with nearly sold out showings.[3] According to Box Office Guru, the first weekend was twice as much as Fox originally expected. Its second weekend was still well-$28,179,556, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets and I Am Legend. Then on its third weekend, it surpassed I Am Legend for #2 at the box office, still behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film closed on Thursday June 5, 2008, making $217,326,974 domestically and $141,560,622 overseas for a total of $358,887,596 worldwide, making it a huge commercial success considering the films relatively modest $60 million budget.[3] According to MTV, it also has become the highest-grossing talking animal/live-action cartoon adaptation to date. It is also 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film domestically to be released in 2007.[4]
The box-office success of the film has surprised executives of 20th Century Fox, which produced it, as much as industry analysts and especially movie critics who gave it bad reviews. Elizabeth Gabler of Fox 2000 said to The Los Angeles Times, "I look at the numbers every day, and we just laugh." Since it cost only $55 million to produce, it is likely to be far more profitable than the two other films that it was against, I Am Legend and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.[4]
DVD release
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 1, 2008. The DVD release is presented on a flipper disc featuring both full screen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) and widescreen formats (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English and Spanish subtitles. Special features will be the Chip-Chip-Hooray! Chipmunk History and Hitting the Harmony featurettes and an Inside Look at Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!. The Wal-Mart edition includes a bonus exclusive music CD. The K-Mart edition includes a free junior novel of the movie. The Best Buy edition includes 3 mini plush toys of Alvin, Simon and Theodore in a collectible box.
The Blu-ray release will be presented in widescreen format on a 25GB single-layer disc authored in AVC (MPEG 4) compression with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Master Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital plus English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and French subtitles. Bonus content will include a digital copy for download, a Chip-Chip-Hooray! Chipmunk History featurette, a Hitting the Harmony featurette, and several high definition trailers.
The film is so far the third top-selling DVD of 2008, according to the-numbers.com, with 5.6 million units sold and revenue of $94.4 million.
In some DVDs instead of an Inside Look at Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, the DVD has a Get Munk'd featurette, it's when the dancers of the movie will teach the viewers the action to the song The Witch Doctor.
Sequel
A sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks (introducing the Chipettes) was confirmed. It is set to be released on Christmas Day 2009 and is named Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakuel.[1] On July 28, it was confirmed that Jason Lee will return as Dave Seville and Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney will return as the voices of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore[5]. Details on who the Chipettes will be are unknown, but rumored to be Drew Barrymore (Brittany), Joanna "JoJo" Levesque (Jeanette), and Miley Cyrus (Eleanor). In the sequel, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore go to school and feel like "Chipmunks Out of Water" because of all the human kids around. Meanwhile, Ian (after the Chipmunks dealt him a serious blow) travels the world in search for animals that can sing. He finds the Chipettes and can't wait to make them famous and get back at the Chipmunks.[1]
Awards
- 2008 Kids' Choice Awards: Favorite Movie (Winner)
- 2008 Young Artist Awards: Best Family Feature Film (Fantasy or Musical) (Nominee)
- 2008 BMI Film & TV Awards: BMI Film Music Award (Winner)
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released November 20, 2007, three weeks before the film's opening and contains new versions of old songs such as Witch Doctor and The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late) (as made famous by David Seville and The Chipmunks), cover versions of songs such as Bad Day (as made famous by Daniel Powter) and Funkytown (as made famous by Lipps Inc.) and new songs such as Ain't No Party and Get Munk'd. The second track on the album is "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas's Don't Be Late)", a remake version, with an unknown male as the voice of Dave. However, the seventh track, the rock version of the song features Jason Lee as the voice of Dave.
Video game
The video game for this film was released December 4, 2007 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and the PC, just ten days before the film was released.It was written and produced by DeeTown Entertainment.
References
- ^ a b c "'Alvin And The Chipmunks' Producers Reveal 'Squeakuel' Details -- And The Chipettes Are In!". 2008-07-28. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Box Office Mojo
- ^ a b "Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ a b ""Alvin & The Chipmunks To Meet Chipettes in Sequel?"". MTV Movie Blog.
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