Alvin and the Chipmunks (2015)

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Alvin and the Chipmunks
"Aw come on, writers!" — Alvin's reaction to this awful reboot
Genre: Comedy Musical Running Time: 22 Minutes Country: United States France Release Date: March 30, 2015 – March 4, 2023 Network(s): Nickelodeon (US/International) M6 (France) Pop (UK) Super RTL (Germany) Gloob (Brazil) Created by: Janice Karman Distributed by: PGS Entertainment Starring: Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Janice Karman Vanessa Bagdasarian Michael Bagdasarian Jean Ellie Brian Chambers Edwina Jones Elizabeth Gomez Seasons: 5 Episodes: 214 Previous show: Alvin and the Chipmunks (in terms of television series)

Alvin and the Chipmunks (stylized as Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks) is an American-French CGI-animated television series that first aired in France on March 30, 2015. It was created by Janice Karman, who also co-created the 1983 series with her husband, Ross Bagdasarian Jr.

Plot

Everyone's favorite chipmunks - Alvin, Simon, and Theodore - are back in this computer-animated version of the classic animated series. The brothers are famous rock stars who tour around the world with their best friends, the Chipettes. The boys' father, Dave, writes their songs and tries to keep them in line - both on and off the stage. Alvin, the leader of the fraternal group, is always coming up with crazy schemes that often get him and his brothers in trouble. Oldest brother Simon is the smart one, using his intelligence to keep the group safe. Theodore may be the youngest of the three brothers, but he frequently comes up with powerful words of wisdom.

Why It Makes You Wanna Yell "ALVINNN!!!"

1. Weak grasp of the source material: It misunderstands why the 1961 and 1983 series were timeless classics, despite having the original creators, Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr. in it. The atmosphere for this show has hardly any connection to any the series at all, and it barely even has the chipmunks singing.
2. Similar to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (TV series), most of the people are unlikable jerks and very mean-spirited.
3. The re-designs of the chipmunks are mediocre: although they tried to make the chipmunks look more like actual children, they look more like both their live-action designs, with the tails, and their original designs were merged into one design, creating a rather ugly result with the chipmunks looking like rodent-human hybrids. The clothing they are wearing is also too modern and looks almost nothing like the original, mostly for the chipettes.
   • All of the human characters from the original TV show appear in this show, but they are also redesigned, making them look less like their original counterparts, especially the main human character, Dave Seville.
4. They have also been dumbed down into having very generic personalities. At least, in the live-action franchise, the chipmunks and the chipettes were still likable, and kept their charm from the original series, as bad as the movies were:
   1. Alvin himself suffers the worst personality change of all the characters, as he went from being quite mischievous and rude, but innocent and relatable in the live-action franchise, and both the 1961 and 1983 series, to becoming a grating, selfish, self-absorbed, egotistical and sadistic jerk. Good examples come from episodes, like "Liar Liar", where he lies to a kid that he has a brother in China, and he even claims that Dave was the one who spread the lie or in "Back to School" where after he, Simon and Theodore figured out that Dave never graduated from high school, Alvin starts becoming a bad influence to Dave. All these reasons make it more justified for Dave to yell at Alvin.
      • Along with that, he often tortures and manipulates his brothers, especially Theodore, to get his way or try to pass the blame to them. Some major examples include:
        1. In "Talking Teddy", he gets tired of Theodore's talking teddy, so he gets Simon to make a keyboard so he can edit what Teddy says, but he goes too far, making Theodore do his chores and sell his money!
        2. In "Safety Third", he manipulates Simon into turning his bus project into a dangerous car that Dave won't buy for him. Then, when he steals the car, he breaks it and tries to hide it by taking the actual car but ends up breaking it as well.
        3. In "The Great Snack Off", when Theodore gets candy stuck in his nose, instead of going to the doctor, he tries to get it out on his own in dangerous ways, such as stealing Simon's invention, which, as Simon said, 'literally could have blown Theodore's head off!
      • Not to mention, he is portrayed as the laughingstock of the series.
   2. Simon went from a supportive, smart, and likable character, into a generic, punching bag who acts like a jerk to Alvin, though, this can be understandable due to Alvin mistreating him and Theodore most of the time. A good example comes from the episodes "Geizmo's Day Out" and "Spoiler-itis". However, he remains tolerable for the most part.
   3. Theodore, despite being dumbed down the least, is also a notable punching bag, especially in episodes like "The Great Snack Off" or "Talking Teddy", and sometimes can be unlikable like when he steals food in "Allergic Reaction".
   4. Dave has gone from a kindhearted and likable father who always punishes the chipmunks for rightful reasons, and cares about them, into a strict and selfish father which makes him very unlikable sometimes. However, he remains tolerable for the most part.
   5. The chipettes are now unlikable jerks, with Brittany being the most unlikable of the bunch, who tend to abuse their male counterparts in a lot of episodes, particularly in the first season. Though, Jeanette is the least bad and remains tolerable for the most part.
5. The theme song, while it is the same theme from the 1983 series, can get annoying after a while; in addition, the theme has been slightly sped up and the middle verse is cut to accommodate more commercial time.
6. Similar to the first two seasons of The Garfield Show and the following seasons of The Loud House, it has lots of outlandish elements that are really out of place such as: Actual Robots, Aliens, Cloning, Wizards, Yeti and much more.
7. Some continuity errors; the biggest example is in the episode "The Sub", Alvin claims that he's the middle child of the Seville family, when in the original series, he was the oldest.
   1. This was even confirmed by Dave in "Big Bro Theodore", that Alvin is indeed the middle child, making Simon the oldest of the three.
8. It overuses a lot of soccer player stereotypes.
9. Sometimes it rehashes other concepts/reuses plots from the 1983 series, for example,
   • "Wax Dave" feels too similar to the 1983 series episode "Whatever Happened to Dave Seville?", as it involves Dave making a wax statue and the Chipmunks believing said the statue is the real Dave.
   • "Mojo Gone" rehashes "Hat Today Gone Tomorrow with both plots focusing on a lost hat.
10. Quantity over quality: Like Teen Titans Go!, it lasted way too long despite the overall reception, having a total of 5 seasons, 214 episodes, and a lifespan of 8 years, showing how Nickelodeon is blind to the criticisms of the show. Luckily, they finally cancelled the show.
    • According to a now-deleted social media post, even Nickelodeon hated the show and only aired it for money.
11. A lot of the female extras talk in a "Valley Girl" accent which can get obnoxious after a while.
12. The soundtrack and most of the songs are rather forgettable, bland, and a bit annoying thanks to the poor pitch shifting.
13. The CGI animation is rather weak, compared to the nice hand-drawn animation in the 1983 series, as it doesn't do a great job at translating the series to CGI as almost everything is extremely off in the show such as the poor character animations, plastic and fake designs for the characters, places, and objects, poor visuals that feel like they came from a mid-2000's CGI TV series, and a crappy frame rate that is rather slow-paced and barely sets up for the pacing in this show. Overall, it just looks just as awful as Fireman Sam's CGI.
    • Not to mention that the show sometimes reuses the same character models, for example, Mr. Crabel had the same model as Mrs. Smith but with different clothing and shorter hair.
14. It has cheap and unpleasant humor, with a lot of mean-spirited moments, especially from Miss Smith and Dave, fart jokes, and toilet humor.
15. Annoying voice acting for the most part. Nearly all the characters speak with a lisp, an accent, and high-pitched voices, and the characters constantly stutter for the most part.
    • Speaking of voice acting, the show recycles voice actors, resulting in many of the show's characters sounding like each other to a cringe-worthy degree.
    • It is also a complete downgrade from the original voice acting as the actors such as Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpsons from The Simpsons) and Frank Welker (Fred from Scooby-Doo series) don't reprise their roles.
    • The dialogues are also laughably bad as there isn't a single time where the characters speak without stuttering.
16. There are also many animation errors:
    1. Eleanor somehow doesn't have her bag in the episode "Lice-enced to Teach".
    2. Many of the babies, except the robot babies in the episode "Baby Mama Drama", in this show have the same appearance, consisting of light skin, blonde hair, and a lilac onesie, as well as a voice.
    3. Often at times, the chipmunks and their environment don't work. For example, the floor often changes just so the Chipmunks are visible.
17. The promotional image of the series that you can see is bad because the characters and the setting are not even in sync it even looks like a green screen.
18. The special CGI effects are laughably bad.
19. Sometimes, they reuse scenes. For example, there are scenes where Brittany reorganizes the school files getting reused.
20. When someone is about, to tell the truth, the confession is skipped. "Candy Confessions" is the biggest offender of this.
21. Similar to Les Sisters, Trolls de Troy and Get Blake!, the cartoon is partly responsible for Gulli's decline and downfall, as well along with the oversaturated reruns of Miraculous Ladybug and the current seasons of Detetives do Prédio Azul, is also partly responsible for Gloob's downfall in 2018-2023.
22. Overall, it's just forgettable as it has little to no depth which makes it admirable like the previous show. And just like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (TV series), it was a terrible way to revive the series.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Theodore is the only character whose personality wasn't dumbed down badly in the show. He still has most of his child-like food-loving personality from the original show, although his personality slightly changed, as seen in BQ#3.
   • And speaking of that, despite the other main characters' personalities being dumbed down, they remain their old and original personalities like in the classic series. Like a few examples:
     • Simon is still smart and supportive in the chipmunks and is still tolerable most of the time.
     • Jeanette still has her timid yet caring personality and is still tolerable most of the time (and probably the least unlikable and the least jerkish of the chipettes.
     • Dave is still a caring and loyal father to his sons and is still tolerable most of the time.
     • Alvin, despite of course being selfish and cruel, can be somewhat tolerable at times, though rarely.
     • Brittny, despite her derailment, is a bit tolerable in this series since she’s more mature and responsible.
     • Eleanor is still likeable at times and even more so than Brittany.
2. Despite what's said at WIMYWYAA#14 and 15, there are some good voices, with Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (Dave, Alvin, and Simon) and Janice Karman (Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette) reprising their roles and a new voice actress, Vanessa Bagdasarian, replacing Karman as Eleanor. It's also impressive that the Bagdasarians are usually the only voice actors in the series.
3. There are some a handful of good episodes like A Very Merry Chipmunk, The Littlest Robot, World Day, Warbie, Carts and Crafts, Ballet Boys, Ride Along, and Munk Man. Several episodes have an entertaining amount of suspense/mystery like Good Luck Mr. Whiskers and Switch Witch.
4. The theme song for the 1983 series is at least used, although the middle verse is removed.
5. It contains little to no pop culture references and product placement, unlike live-action movies.
6. Despite the problems with the music, the songwriters did try to write new songs for every episode, instead of going with the traditional chipmunk style of covering popular songs by well-known artists.
7. It's nice to see the Chipmunks back on TV after 25 years, even with the awful execution.
8. Some episodes taught good lessons and morals.
   • "The Great Snack Off", despite being a Theodore torture episode, does tell you that you shouldn't play the game where you throw food up in the air and try to catch it with your mouth because there will be consequences.
9. While the animation is mostly mediocre and generic, it can be passable and fluid in certain scenes of the show.
10. There are some good songs, like "Awesome Town", "We are the Champions", and "Fist Of Shining Gold".

Episodes with their own pages

1. "Talking Teddy"
2. "Principal Interest"
3. "Double Trouble"
4. "Deserted"
5. "Spoiler-Itis"
6. "Blabber Mouth"
7. "Monster Madness"
8. "Germs"
9. "The Devil Wears Rodentia"
10. "The Crow That Ate My Homework"
11. "Alvin Management"
12. "The Great Snack Off"

Reception

Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks received negative reviews from critics and fans of the 1983 series. It scored a 4.5 on IMDb. It also has a 2.6/10 on Senscritique. Saberspark placed this at #6 on The Top 10 Worst Nickelodeon Cartoons.

Trivia

• At one point, it aired on Nick Jr. and in other countries, though it is not a preschool show and absolutely not educational. This has since been corrected.
• The animation is made by the same company that animated Sonic Boom and Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years (Under the name OuiDo! in Season 1 and Technicolor in Season 2 onwards).

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