Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Another movie based on an animal pop band that no one asked for: a sequel.
Genre: Live-Action
Comedy
Adventure
Directed by: Betty Thomas
Written by: Janice Karman
Ross Bagdasarian
Based on: Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes created by Ross Bagsdasarian and Janice Karman.
Starring: Justin Long
Matthew Gray Gubler
Jesse McCartney
Amy Poehler
Anna Faris
Christina Applegate
Zachary Levi
David Cross
Jason Lee
Photography: Color
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release date: December 23, 2009
Runtime: 88 minutes
Country: United States
Prequel: Alvin and the Chipmunks
Sequel: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a 2009 American live-action/computer-animated musical comedy film and a sequel to the 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks, directed by Betty Thomas and it was distributed by 20th Century Fox, as well as the second live action/animated film starring Alvin and the Chipmunks and stars Zachary Levi, David Cross, and Jason Lee with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate. The film was released in theaters on December 23, 2009 and is the second/third-to-last installment of Alvin and the Chipmunks series. A third/penultimate film, titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, was released on December 16, 2011.

Plot

Now in the care of Dave Seville's nephew (Zachary Levi), chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore take a break from pop-music stardom and return to school. Almost immediately, the tiny tunesmiths get the giant task of saving their school's music program by winning a battle-of-the-bands contest. Though the boys think winning it will be easy, romantic and musical sparks fly when they meet Brittany (Christina Applegate), Eleanor (Amy Poehler), and Jeannette (Anna Faris)-- also known as The Chipettes.

Bad Qualities

  1. Like the first film, this film still has toilet humor, adult humor, and fart jokes despite being a family film. There are also some inappropriate moments such as Theodore lying to the hospitalized Dave on the phone that Toby's grandma (who is also hospitalized) is practicing her pole dancing (another word for a stripper) and the scene in the climax where Ian Hawke gets hit right in the the crotch by.... a toy motorcycle.
    • There is an idiotic and useless scene where Toby invites Theodore (which has nightmares), and after this one enters under the rug, Toby releases a huge fart Dutch oven which scares Theodore, although Theodore's reaction is kinda funny.
    • Unlike its predecessor however, this film's humor is far more exaggerated and all over the place.
  2. It barely has a story due to having way too many subplots.
  3. Some continuity errors.
    • In the climax, Jeanette doesn't have her glasses when the Chipettes are locked up in the cage, but after they escape, her glasses are back on her without explanation.
  4. While David Cross still puts on a fun performance as Ian Hawke, he isn't quite as funny as he was in the first film.
  5. Unlike the previous film, Dave Seville barely gets any screen time (due to being hospitalized) while the film mostly focuses on his nephew. And especially in the final scene of the film where Dave finally gets out of the hospital to put the Chipmunks and Chipettes to bed...only to get injured once again by a skateboard lying on the floor.
  6. For an unknown reason, Claire Wilson isn't in the film and there was no explanation to what happened to her.
    • Cameron Richardson, the actress who portrayed the character, didn't like her experience in the first film, which explains her absence from this film.
  7. Though the movie does introduce the Chipettes, it barely gives them any chemistry with the Chipmunks which is sad, especially since fans would expect them to interact more.
    • The Chipmunks and the Chipettes don't have much of a relationship in this film which is unfortunate. However, the sequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked did fix this problem.
  8. Toby Seville is a generic "loser" character who was a laughingstock when he was at school.
  9. It has too many pop culture references.
    • It even shoves in a pointless and out of place cameo of Digger, the infamous mascot of NASCAR on Fox at the time.
  10. Even more usage of product placement than the first movie, such as the Nintendo Wii, UTZ products, VTech, Welsh Farms milk, Animal Planet, Gatorade, The Staples Center, FedEx, and others.
  11. While the CGI for the Chipmunks and the Chipettes still look pretty okay, the other uses of special effects are basically just the same from the first film with no improvements whatsoever, which is, again, ironic considering the special effects are done by Rhythm and Hues Studios.
  12. David Newman's musical score is even more generic and lackluster than in the first movie.
  13. Like the first film, they took whatever popular hit songs that were known at the time (e.x. "I Gotta Feeling'" by The Black Eyed Peas, "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé and "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry) and butchered them with chipmunk singing.
  14. The acting, while slightly improved, is still pretty laughable, particularly from Jason Lee as Dave.
  15. Like with the first movie, Jason Lee makes David Seville's famous bellow "ALVINNN!!!" sound forced and weak compared to both Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (the original David Seville), and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (who voices Dave in the 80s and 2010 series).
  16. Cringeworthy and cruel moments:
    • Ian Hawke dressing up like Brittney having Jeanette and Eleanor puppets and performing terribly on the Staples Center stage.
    • Ian threatening to barbecue the Chipettes at a Korean restaurant.
    • In the airport scene when Toby accidentally makes his grandma in a wheelchair fall down the stairs and break her neck while getting the chipmunks' luggages. He felt sorry about her for accidentally pushing her and falling down the stairs.
  17. Unlike the first movie, this film is a fair bit more mean-spirited.
  18. In the scene with Alvin and Simon rescuing Theodore from the Wedge-tailed eagle, Simon mentions that the eagle's natural enemy is the Pygmy elephant. Even though that the two species never interacted with one another, nor that they lived together in the same environment and/or country. Just like it was mentioned in the first movie on the wiki, this just proves once again that Simon knows nothing about animals.
  19. False advertising: Some scenes that were included in the trailers aren't in the movie.
  20. Terrible direction of Betty Thomas, who directed the much better Dr. Dolittle.
    • Not to mention, this is also the final film for Betty Thomas to be directed, thus causing her directorial career to end on a low note.

Good Qualities

  1. There are indeed some good jokes.
    • Despite being a blatant product placement for Wii Sports, the scene where Alvin and Toby play it, but Alvin ends up breaking Dave's TV by throwing a Wii Remote at it is actually quite funny and even accurate to what happens when you don't use the Wii properly back then.
    • Speaking of cringe moments, the scene where Ian pretends to be the Chipettes is so stupid some may find it funny, as a scene that's so bad it's good.
  2. Good cinematography.
  3. Some songs, such as "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner are surprisingly not butchered by the Chipmunk's singing.
  4. Some of the acting is good/passable:
    • As mentioned above in SQ#14, the acting is slightly improved, most notably Jason Lee as Dave.
    • Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney still do a pretty good job as Alvin, Simon and Theodore, respectively.
    • David Cross still does a fun performance as Ian Hawke, although it isn't quite as funny as the first film.
    • Wendie Malick does a good performance as Dr. Rubin.
    • Anjelah Johnson does a good job playing as Julie Ortega.
    • Zachary Levi is fine as Toby, but even at that, it's very clear that this isn't his best performance.
    • Christina Applegate, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler do a pretty good job as Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor, respectively.
    • The purple shirt dancers at the high school contest climax are pretty good for their performance.
    • Added to that Charice, despite being pointless, is also had an amazing performance and her singing during her performance.
    • Amazing guest voice actor, Eric Bauza (who's the current voice of Bugs Bunny from Looney Tunes Cartoons) as Digger.
  5. Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Ian, Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor, Dr. Rubin and Julie Ortega are likable characters, with Brittany being much more tolerable than her television incarnation.
    • Alvin and Simon's personalities are also much more fleshed out than in the first film, and they, along with Brittany, go through a decent character development.
    • Also, Ian is still an entertaining villain thanks to David Cross' performance.
  6. As mentioned, the CGI animation on the Chipmunks and the Chipettes are okay.
    • Also, the designs of The Chipmunks are adorable, and the redesigns for the Chipettes are gorgeous, especially Brittany's.
  7. It was the first film in the franchise to feature the Chipettes.
  8. A few cute moments.
    • The scene with Theodore and Eleanor is absolutely adorable.

Reception

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel received worse reviews than the first film. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from 84 critics and an average rating of 3.88/10. The site's consensus is that, "This Squeakquel may entertain the kiddies, but it's low on energy and heavily reliant on slapstick humor.". On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.

Box office

Despite the negative reviews, it was the box office success, like the first film, grossed $443.1 million on a $70 million budget.

After the film had garnered $112 million worldwide at the box office over its first weekend, some critics were disappointed that it was more popular than other movies in wide release aimed at a family audience.

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