Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

This is topic Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-02-2010, 01:19 AM:

Well it was about what I expected, and the kids are enjoying it. What's amazing to me is the number of adults who come out raving about how cute it is, etc. More than one adult has said "Awesome!" upon exiting this movie.

We watched it this afternoon. It has all of today's standard kid-pic features, such as:

- At least one fart joke
- Somebody getting hit in the balls with something
- Somebody falling into, or getting dunked into, a toilet
- Somebody falling into a bedpan (only applies when part of the movie takes place in a hospital)
- Bad guy being a complete and total idiot for no reason
- Songs which were popular in the 1970s and 1980s (and 1960s)
- Really bad acting by all concerned
- Teenage girls being turned on by rodents (chipmunk movies only)
- Bad guy being horribly humiliated at the end, as opposed to killed
- A helpful message for the kids (in this case, it's "Don't be a jerk; think of others, not just yourself")

It had a couple of laughs due to cutesy/risque lines spoken by chipmunks, but that's about it. The sound mix was awful.

This movie became our top grossing movie of 2009 on Day 6. I just don't get it. (Meanwhile a really good movie, Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," probably won't make our top 10 for the year. I guess that's because it featured none of the dopey kidpic attributes listed above.)

0.5 out of 5 stars for me. It gets half a star for a catchy song during the end credits, which I enjoyed, and for putting a lot of butts in the seats -- some have come two or three times!

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 01-02-2010, 01:00 PM:

At the two smaller multiplexes here in Montgomery, Alvin is beating Avatar. At the major Plex it is giving it a run for its money.

Maybe there are subliminal messages in the squeaky voice recordings;>

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-02-2010, 06:57 PM:

Well, Avatar is a few weeks old now and the area audience around you for it is certainly dwindling by now. Or are you hinting at the type of fims your populus prefers???

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-02-2010, 07:00 PM:

quote:
which I enjoyed, and for putting a lot of butts in the seats -- some have come two or three times!

Which means your conc sales and percap went out through the roof!

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 01-02-2010, 08:05 PM:

Mike, I'm just as amazed as you about the business this thing is doing. We're in our second week now with attendance still very high. In our tiny town, the second week of any given show is usually way less than half the first week. Alvin is holding up over 50%. I didn't care for the show but my 4 and 6 year old boys loved it.

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-03-2010, 01:29 AM:

Can anyone understand what those horrible little rodents are saying? Maybe age is wearying me, but I'm sure this thing needs subtitles.

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 01-05-2010, 02:36 PM:

Gross Update: Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 is our 8th highest grossing picture since 1998. WTF!!!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-05-2010, 02:47 PM:

Having not seen the first and screening this one, I didn't like how the singing all had the "in vogue" effect of autotune.

And just to check, I listened just now to an old chipmunk song and then to one from the movie and the effect was insanely obvious.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-05-2010, 06:30 PM:

Totally agreed there. That whole Mariah Carey-ish vocal style where they sing five notes when only one is required drives me nuts. (It's called "melisma.")

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-05-2010, 08:39 PM:

I'm not referring to melisma, though melisma is an annoying thing that a lot of people do.

Auto-Tune is a piece of software that includes (among other things) audio pitch correction for vocals and instruments. So I sing off-key then they smoothly change my pitch to the right one. But now, a lot of people instead use it to instantaneously switch from one pitch to the other, which creates the odd-sounding effect that's become popular with a lot of artists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6bCdZmSE7M

edit: The bigger annoyance for me was hearing the obvious auto-tune effect even when the chipmunks are supposed to be singing A Capella in a hallway.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 01-05-2010, 11:55 PM:

yo shorrrtaayyyy