User reviews

Saw an early screening. I never saw the first one, but within the context of it being a kids' movie, it was actually quite well made. I actually laughed at the jokes, and I'm 33 and educated. If I were a young kid, I'd love this movie a lot, but I'm way past that and am often quite critical of children's genre films these days. The plot was coherent and the moral issues were clear. The characters stay true to themselves, much to anyone who is a fan of the original cartoon characters, and the dynamic of character triads works well for moral storytelling.

The moral lesson to be taught is about learning to be selfless and considerate of others. This is explored through Alvin and his ego problem, and the consequences it has on his friends and family. Other characters have their own arcs as well, and they read clear and convincingly.

On the downside, I think there are some choices that hurt the quality. Dave, the most famous human character in the franchise is probably in the film for about 5 minutes total, however the human characters we're left with are good performers with decent subplots. I did not care for the cliché use of a fart joke, but I forgive it because there was only one, and it was used in a way that's actually still funny to adults.

Sure, it's not the most intellectual film for an adult audience, but it serves its purpose and achieves its goals, despite being the result of commercialism. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to take their small kids out to a movie.

I really enjoyed this film, but mostly because I went in with the expectation that I would have an hour and a half of laughs and general fun, not a serious film. I have seen the first film, and this isn't as good as it, but probably because film makers always use up all there best ideas in the first films, very few sequels live up to or surpass the originals. Obviously it's not the sort of film you can watch again and again, the jokes are clichéd and will quickly become old to anyone over the age of about 8. It never ceases to amaze me why adults go and see a children's film and somehow expect a serious film. All in all, good fun, the quality of the film isn't bad. Children will enjoy this, and their parents won't be bored by it either!

Let's face it: "The Chipmunks" is a pretty thin premise. Once you get past the novelty of squeaky voiced animated rodents, there's really not much there. So this movie's straight-line, A to B to C story is a serious drawback.

Director Betty Thomas doesn't get a whole lot out of the cast (although, to be honest, I don't expect much in the way of high-caliber acting in movies like this), and the whole thing has a bit of a TV-movie feel, but the animation is rather good, and the film moves moves along at a pretty good clip, so even adults won't get too bored.

Certainly, for some reviewers, a film like this, in the final analysis, is perfectly acceptable, since it's "for kids," and thus the only thing that counts is whether it's "entertaining" on some basic level, regardless of its actual quality. That's a pretty common attitude toward kids' films, and one that really sells children short, as if they have no interest in character or story. They do, just like anyone else, albeit on a less sophisticated level than (most) adults. For example, I know that a lot of reviewers hated "Hotel for Dogs" but that film had an engaging story, well-drawn characters and a story that, while ultimately predictable, still held a few twists and turns. It wasn't particularly good, but it was better than this film.

Today I had to sit through this movie several times. :-(

As an adult, it wasn't funny or entertaining. But what amused me was the reaction from the kids in the audiences. Almost none of the kids laughed out loud during the matinée viewing (the showing with the most kids in attendance).

Some take away comments from the mouth of babes: "Is it over YET?" "I'm bored" and my personal favorite "That wasn't so funny at all." (poor kid said it over and over again with the "big" jokes.) Plus, I had never seen so many kids ready to leave after the first 15 minutes.

It didn't get better over the course of the evening.

This movie just fails on so many levels. It is terrible, I couldn't even sit through it. Don't watch it, ever, don't even show it to your kids, because they might like it at the time, but they'll get brain damage or something. So just don't check it out, definitely not, if you have to pay for it.

Okay, let's start with the title. Squeakquel? Really? What the hell is that? Squeaking sequel? Did the producers think this was a funny and clever title? Let me tell you something: IT'S NOT! Moving on. The jokes. They're not funny. A poor old lady in a wheelchair falling down the stairs? Come on! Who wrote this crap? Stephen Hawking? (You see, that's an example of a bad, tasteless, offensive joke. The movie is full of them.)

One big problem in the film is, that the supporting characters tend to forget that the Chipmunks are, well… damn chipmunks and not kids! Squirrels (even if they talk) are allowed to go to school? They need someone to babysit them? They're rock stars for god's sake? Gosh… Another thing that caught my attention: when those kids put the squirrels into the toilet, isn't that animal cruelty? Shouldn't they go to prison for that or something?

All in all, this film is really stupid, badly written and annoying. The studio must be thinking that kids are stupid and all kinds of crap is good for them. Sorry if I cursed a lot, but this movie offended me by how bad it was. It's not the case where something is so bad it's good, it's just very bad.

I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Maybe those who're blind and their hearing is impaired (ba-damm-tss).

You've all seen or heard of the first film, Alvin and the Chipmunks. My suggestion is that they shouldn't have even made a sequel, or in this case, a sqeakuel. Last film was fine: a group of talking chipmunks found and made famous.

When I went to watch this at a pre-screening, it was awful: my cousin was asleep, and I was just crying to get out of the theatre.

Now, the storyline is awful: those talking chipmunks go to school, and face against some other talking chipmunks in this band contest. In my opinion, I thought that was a really weak storyline.

However, this is just a perfect film for small kids. Lessons taught about being considerate to others, being kind, and those other lessons.

But as entertainment, I'd rather have watched Barney.

After all the negative reviews I read, I went in with pretty low expectations. Perhaps that's why I ended up giving up a 7.

Look, this is not Hamlet, Citizen Kane or Duck Soup. This is a PG film that as close to being family friendly than I have seen. I can only imagine the PG rating was due to the fact that the chipettes were darn right sexy - I didn't hear any vulgarity, see any nudity, violence or adult situations.

It is really getting hard to find a film where I can take my 9 year old daughter to. With battling giant robots, vampires, and giant smurfs lurking in 3D, this movie was a relief to see.

The plot is paper thin - though in its defense it did have an ethical base of family, friendship, and responsibility.

The effects were top notch, and there were a few times I even laughed (which was a few more times than I expected).

In one word it was - 'Cute' - which is exactly what I think it sought out to be. Nothing more.. Nothing less. Harmless fluff.

My 9 year old enjoyed it. And at the end of the day, that's all that mattered to me.

This is a film for children. Taken on it's level, I give it a 7. if you want to rate it as art or entertainment for adults? Yeah, mebbe a 2 or 3. But you know what? Some kids were clapping at parts in the theater. To me, that was pretty cool knowing that a film can get kids in a theater clapping for the characters on the screen.

So relax. chill.. bring your little ones... and enjoy...

I will not deny that I've grown up with the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon series on television, and had unabashedly enjoyed their very first cinematic outing way back in the year 2007, formulaic the storyline may be like an extended cartoon episode. That it had raked in enough cash meant a sequel wouldn't be far away, and the logical progression in terms of the introduction of new characters, translated to the ushering of The Chipettes, voiced by Christina Applegate, Amy Poehler and Anna Faris as Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette respectively.

But the sequel suffered from having a rather half baked plot in trying to pit one set of chipmunks over the other, and complicated itself by trying to do too much in too little, having to write off their human guardian Dave (Jason Lee) to replace him with nephew Toby (Zachary Levi) who's about as plain as a piece of cardboard, and the very tired Alvin versus his brothers in an all for one and one for none subplot involving his association with the football jocks in search for a higher popularity.

Even the villain too was a repeat in having Ian (David Cross) make a comeback, in trying to exploit the Chipettes for his comeback after falling from grace in the first film, without the clunky corporate executive being corrupted by greed and money stemming from good intentions. Here he's manipulative in a child-like fashion through and through, and you can see his grand plot from a mile away when he tries to isolate one of the Chipettes whom he thinks will be a better solo artist at the expense of the rest.

So it's a revisit of the same old themes of family togetherness over friends, or over careers, which got repeated twice for the different triplets. And it's either me, or somehow having the chipmunks all sounding alike (despite having a different voice cast) got to me this time round. The redeeming grace of having them sing and dance to contemporary pop tunes also took a nose dive here, having the number of performances got reduced, and of course the novelty of having such songs "munked" have lost their lustre.

However, having it released during this festive period would mean that all will get forgiven, and children will once again be thrilled by the all singing, all dancing chipmunks welcoming the festive cheer. There's a coda at the end of the film as well, so don't just head out the cinema once the credits start to roll.

I have to laugh at the comments about "not having substance." Um, this is 'Alvin and the Chipmunks,' right? If you really are concerned about what "messages" this movie is sending your children (or....yourself?), then there is a plain, easy-to-grasp theme about family and friends sticking together. I'm not sure what else you want.

Beyond that, the film is very cute, funny, and entertaining all the way through. The female-counterpart "Chipettes" add something new, but don't take away from the Chipmunks. Zachary Levin and David Cross are charming and amusing in their respective roles. If you liked the first movie, then you will be entertained by the "squeakquel."

I asked my 11 year old and 7 year old daughters what they thought of this film. They both loved it.

The 3 on IMDb is a bit misleading. This is a film for children, not a campaign to win an Academy Award! Obviously there are people out there who take things a little toooooo seriously when rating kid's movies.

My 11 year old daughter writes the following: the movie was great. i love the sounds of those little voices. why are kids films usually getting a 2,3,4? the film the music, adventure,scenes were all entertaining for me.

Remember folks, this is a film for children, the chipmunks have been around for more than 30 years so they must be doing something right. If you want to over analyze a film then do a search on the French new age section and go your hardest, on the other hand if you are looking for pure entertainment for your under 12's then go no further.

But even the only 19 year old teenager in the audience who lowered his standards all the way down to watching this children's flick says this was a waste of time and film.

I recall seeing that theatre packed with children. of course, it was Saturday afternoon. But the sounds of laughing children were about as rare as a steak.

In other words, even the kids didn't like the movie.

So what goes on? The chipmunks hurt their owner while performing some van halen (rock on) in high pitched tones. so then they have to stay with their grandmother (who also gets hurt) so then they have to stay with toby, who's only care is video gaming. To curb their time, the chipmunks have to go to school. they find their place in school with the singing competition. if they fail, the school's music classes and club will no longer exist.

Meanwhile, the arsehole Ian wants vengeance. He finds it in the form of 3 girl chipmunks, called the chipettes. but the chipettes are perfect matches for the chipmunks. this is shown when they meet, along to the song "I wanna know what love is" (rock on).

The only memorable funny part at which i really didn't have to try to laugh at was when one of the chipmunks broke the TV with the Wii remote. That has become an internet sensation, when some idiot kid doesn't put on the remote strap and throws the remote into the TV.

If you hadn't guessed already, the soundtrack is the only good thing about the movie. but anyone can make a good soundtrack.

I recommend that you don't watch this movie....at all. Not even a rental.

This movie was a terrible movie, even for children. I am 15 and had to bring my younger brother to this. Even he didn't enjoy this movie. Watch the three chipmunks attempt to "survive" high school. It boggles my mind that people are still pretending that high school is a huge threat. It really isn't anywhere near how bad these unimaginative scriptwriters and directors believe it to be. you love exhausted and clichéd plot-lines, shallow teenage stereotypes, numerous plot-holes galore, and an endless stream of fart and belch jokes, you still won't watch this movie. I wouldn't even recommend this to fans of the original, which was probably about five times better then this garbage. A useless movie that maybe should have been released straight to DVD at best.

This film is about three chipmunks who has to put their singing career on hold to attend high school.

Even when I was typing the plot summary, I was already laughing out loud. What a ridiculous story! Can a sane person imagine chipmunks going to high school, and have all the schoolmates treat them like actual people? The plot is full of stupid and crazy clichés, in every imaginably contrived manner. And the voices of the chipmunks are so high pitched that they hurt my ears and annoy me so much. Even putting my enraged emotions aside, I often could not hear what the chipmunks say, which made me like the film even less. The quality of the animation is bad, production is bad, and acting is bad. Everything is uniformly bad. I can't believe how awful this film is, even taken into account that this is a children's film!

You know this still works for the little ones, but will appall a lot older viewers, than say the first one did. It's basically more of the same, even with the addition of some Chipmunks "rivals" (another group of talking ...). The little ones won't mind (I watched it with my nephew and he enjoyed it), but what about the parents? There are other movies that can please both.

Still not really that bad, you can watch this in its own right or at least put the kids there and let them enjoy it. It's like the Chipmunks won't grow up (literally and physically that is), but again it's only us grown-ups that will think about things like that.

OK, so I was one of those people who actually enjoyed the first Alvin. I know it was predictable, terribly acted and lacking in substance, but I liked it nonetheless. The Squeakquel not so much. There's no effort to even mask the predictability in this one, the filmmakers just concede to the fact there are no surprises. The acting is noticeably worse, Jason Lee essentially being replaced by the far less appealing Zachary Levi is the main contributor to this problem. And worst of all the shallowness of the plot can't be redeemed by numerous hit songs getting 'munked', like achieved by its predecessor.

The major upside to the movie is still the song and dance numbers, which are turned up to eleven thanks to the arrival of The Chipettes. Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor (voiced by Applegate, Faris and Poehler respectively) provide two things: firstly, a reason for more girls to watch, secondly, and most importantly, the chance for the film to include female tunes. Its these 'cute girl' routines which provide the bulk of the enjoyment as Alvin, Simon and Theodore's music acts become tired very fast.

Of particular annoyance to me is something that has become increasingly popular in Hollywood: big names being vocally unrecognisable. It occurred in the first Alvin and then again most recently in Planet 51. Why oh why would you use well-known actors if you can't tell it's them? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having them at all? Any old person can have their voice synthesised digitally to sound like a chipmunk, is it purely so their names can be included on the poster and in the trailer? Well, it is a real shame, because if I lured in talent like Long, Poehler and Faris I would make more out of it than name-dropping.

2 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)

I've seen the first one and its okay. I chuckled a few times and it was entertaining and cute. I've seen the third one and its not that great. But not bad. It was watchable and entertaining. But this one flat out sucks. Its not funny, its dumb, its not even entertaining. The chipmunks go to high school? Ya high school. Makes no sense right. And the whole movie they just try to save the schools music program against the girl chipmunks. Which were really annoying. The characters suck, its unfunny (didn't laugh once), there's a bunch of stupid cameos that kids wouldn't understand, and is by far the worst of the three. Watch the other two, there fine. But this one sucks.

You guys made me even hate your movies after this one. This movie should be 1

I watched this movie this afternoon and although the humour wasn't particularly suited to my tastes it certainly made my 5 year old laugh (aswell as the other kids in the audience).

In comparison to the first movie I certainly wouldn't say it was better, it was, however... almost as good. Animaton was spot on, humour was good (not too over done), music choice, like in the first movie was excellent.

If you want to put a smile on your kids face this Christmas then you could do a lot worse than Alvin & The Chipmunks.

It's worth remembering when commenting on this type of movie that it's a kids film, targeted at an immature audience.

Overall, for amusement I would give it 7/10, my 5 year old 10/10

I don't understand the severely low rating for this film. 2.7?

I was prepared for something awful but wanted to do something with the 4 younger kids before they headed back to school.

This is the movie they wanted to see.

I've seen a lot of kids' movies and this is definitely among the funnier ones I've seen.

My 8-year-old and I sat next to each other and had a hard time controlling our laughter on a few occasions.

I told my husband he definitely has to see this when it comes out on video. I can't wait to watch it with him!

Give it a try - maybe even risk raising your expectations a little!

I was never a fan of the Chipettes even when they were on the cartoon back in the 80's. They are such an unoriginal creation. They are quite literally the female version of the Chipmunks. Where's the thought in that?

"The Squeakquel" ushered in the Chipettes and a way for Ian (David Cross), the now demoralized and homeless music exec, to get back into the limelight. When Dave (Jason Lee) was hospitalized due to Alvin's recklessness--Again!--the Chipmunks had to stay with Dave's Aunt Jackie (Kathryn Joosten). That plan never took effect because she was hospitalized as well, so her grandson Toby (Zachary Levi) ended up watching the Chipmunks at Dave's home.

Another new development was Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) being enrolled in school because that's exactly where little talking rodents should be; in a high school with people. The Chipmunks were requested to enter a music contest on behalf of the school to raise $25,000 for the school's music department. That seemed like an odd request to me. I'm thinking the principal would ask a mega-famous singing group to simply donate $25,000 to their new high school. But that's just me.

On to the Chipettes. Their intrusion was as contrived as their very existence. They made their way to Hollywood where they wanted to meet the Chipmunks and launch their own singing career (I did say they were a female carbon copy of the Chipmunks right?). They were swooped up by Ian (David Cross) who hadn't learned his lesson from mistreating the Chipmunks and was going to ride his new trio back to the top.

The Chipettes were probably the worst part of this movie. Besides being a knock off of Alvin and the Chipmunks, they were a sassy, gyrating, female group singing about "all the single women" in a kids movie. Was that really the best song you could think of for them to perform?

I don't want to put this movie's failure all upon the shoulders of the Chipettes because there was plenty of lousiness to spread around to everyone. It wasn't like the first movie was a masterpiece, but this movie was the pits.