Alvin and the Chipmunks

When this movie was announced, the question came to mind WHICH Alvin and the Chipmunks were they going to present. Were they going to use the little furry creatures that were on the first record covers, or the more kid like TV version that appeared a couple of years later, or any of the other versions that have popped up over the years? I have always been a huge Alvin and the Chipmunks fan, though I have always like the original TV version the best, where they are portrayed more like regular kids, instead of the small rodents of their first record covers.

The Chipmunks were the brain child of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., way back in the late 50s. Ross used the stage name of David Seville for the Chipmunk records and for "The Witch Doctor." During the 50s Ross released several records under different names (and he even appears in Hitchcock's Rear Window as the composer next door as well as some small parts in other movies). His music is always very square but at the same time usually very inventive. He finally hit it big with "The Witch Doctor" which contained a speeded up voice in the nonsense lyric chorus. If you go listen to it today, it is was, and still is, one catchy record. The record was a huge hit, and he quickly followed it up with the first Alvin and the Chipmunks record, "The Chipmunk Song," which was also a big hit. This was followed up by more records and then the Alvin TV show, which originally ran, oddly enough, in prime time on its first go around, later rerunning on Saturday morning on NBC.

What I found lovable about the Chipmunks were the records. Not only were they funny, but the arrangements and situations were clever. A lot of the situations on some of the records (not all), came out of the premise that the chipmunks really were making records. The records had their charm. The instrumental break of "The Chipmunk Song" has a simple version of the melody played by a doubling a guitar and a mandolin (just my guess mind you), and the effect works really well. It catches your ear. There are a lot of little moments like this in all of Ross Bagdasarian's records, before and during the Chipmunk phase. In my warped world I would like to think there would have been no Beach Boy's "Pet Sounds" without that instrumental break in "The Chipmunk Song." Unfortunately there isn't really a good CD that gives you a good sense of the history of the records, and there is room for a small boxed set that would include not only the Chipmunk records, but all of the records made by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. There are some greatest hits collections available, but not any especially good ones. The originals can be still found on e-bay if you want to take the time to track them down.

My favorite of the early records is "Alvin's Orchestra" (a clip of from the early TV show can be found on www.youtube.com). David Seville walks into a rehearsal and wonders out loud who the large orchestra is for, and of course, it is for Alvin and the Chipmunks, because Alvin hired them. The record includes the line from David, "You don't need a fifty piece orchestra for three chipmunks" which works like a double joke, because this IS in fact a record by three chipmunks that we are listening to with a large orchestra on it. Every time David complains to Alvin about the huge cost of the orchestra, the orchestra comes in and drowns him out. It is a very funny record, and I think it works better just as a stand-alone record without the visuals.

I think the makers of the current Alvin and the Chipmunks movie try to capture this tug of war between Alvin and Dave, but overall don't succeed. First of all, Jason Lee, playing Dave in the movie, just never comes off as really mad. He is just too much of a softy in this part. That said, I do like Jason Lee as an actor. The animated chipmunks are okay, but they are really hard to warm up to. The script is actually not that bad, and there are a lot of little clever one-liners that fly back and forth during the movie.

I think they missed their chance to make a very satirical movie, if they had portrayed the chipmunks as real musical stars, with a real actual past. As if they has made their first record in 1958, and it is now 2007 (of course this would have also created some problems, is a 50 year old chipmunk cute?). This would have given them a golden opportunity to go back and revisited the old records and poke fun at all the previous chipmunk versions. I think the chipmunks also work much better when portrayed more like kids, which was not done here. They are the size of real chipmunks in the movie. They also, of course, try to update the music with a new version of "The Witch Doctor," which I think says more about how good the original was, than how good the music of today is. They might have been better off doing something completely new and original, instead of trying to fit a square record into a hip-hop hole.

There were two things I really loved about the movie. The first is David Cross, who plays the evil record producer that is trying to steal the Chipmunks away from Dave. He has the right amount of piss and vinegar to put this part across (I am a HUGE fan of the original "Mr. Show," if you haven't checked it out; it is available on DVD and WELL worth watching). Casting David Cross in this part was a very smart move, and I would go see the movie again just to watch him perform. There are a couple of in-jokes included, such as Dave's home address in the movie is 1958. Anyway the kids will like the movie, and during the end credits they show the sleeves of some of the early records if you feel like reminiscing. Oh Baby.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com