Alvin and Chipmunks Poster
Twentieth Century Fox Movie Comes to Theatres December 14th
Jul 4, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann
(Source: www.slashfilm.com)
Actor Jason Lee seems to be using his My Name is Earl hiatus to absolutely shred both his credibility and dignity. First he signed up to voice the titular hound in the upcoming Underdog (coming to the silver screen August 3rd, and likely to leave just as quickly) and now he has officially put his name to the big screen adaptation of Alvin and the Chipmunks, playing singer/impresario David Seville.
You might recall that David Seville was the stage name for Ross Bagdasarian, a singer who scored several hits back in the late 1950's by singing duets with a sped-up version of his voice (kinda like what Morrissey did with The Smith's "Bigmouth Strikes Again" but not quite as cool).
Seville's first hit was 1958's "The Witch Doctor," which he quickly followed up with "The Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don't be Late)," which featured the 3 Chipmunks in their original incarnations: Theodore the soprano, Simon the bass, and Alvin the tenor troublemaker.
So what's this movie about? There's not a lot a lot of information available about the plot, but it seems we're getting an "origins" tale, showing how David Seville discovered Alvin and his singing brethren, and turned all three of them into big stars. Wacky hijinks will no doubt ensue.
To quote Keith Lango's immortal phrase: "You can't make me drunk enough to like this poster." So what's wrong with this movie?
First off, the fact that Jason Lee (Dogma, Almost Famous) has agreed to star in an Alvin and the Chipmunks flick is bad enough. Secondly, the fact that it's directed by Tim Hill, who also helmed last year's flop Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, doesn't reassure us as to this flick's quality.
How can it get any worse? How about adding the writing talents of Don Rhymer (Big Momma's House, The Santa Clause 2) and Jon Vitti (The Simpsons Movie, Robots). There's one out of these four movies I would check out in theatres, and three from which I would run screaming. A bad combination, people.
Oh yeah, and Alvin and his gang are going all "street" on us ("street" meaning what rappers were wearing circa 1987), and CGI. The CGI isn't exactly prime work either, especially when you compare it to what DreamWorks Animation and Pixar are cranking out these days. For a closer look at this monstrosity, you can click here.
Alvin and the Chipmunks hits theatres on December 14th.
Fun Fact: Ross Bagdasarian Jr., son of "David Seville" (Bagdasarian Sr.'s stage name), is voicing the characters of Alvin and Simon while his wife Janice Karman (known for acting in such classic titles as Switchblade Sisters and Wham Bam Thank you Spaceman) voices Theodore.
Alvin and the Chipmunks poster
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