A Sarah Palin joke? A Charlie Sheen wise
ROGER MOORE McClatchy-Tribune News Service
if you go
What: Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked
1/2
Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Jenny Slate and the squeaky voices of Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Jesse McCartney, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler
Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Running time: 87 minutes
Rated: G
A Sarah Palin joke? A Charlie Sheen wisecrack? Is this a Chipmunks movie or a Letterman monologue?
Alvin and the Chipmunks Munk Up for their third digitally animated turn on the big screen: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked, a Cast Away take-off that parks the three chipmunks, their three Chipette counterparts and their human family on a desert island.
For captive parents in need of a reference point, Chip-wrecked is twice as funny as their last film, 2009s The Squeakquel. And the return of Jason Lee as Dave Seville, the rodent wrangler who keeps our pop-singing ground squirrels in line, gives the picture a hint of the heart that made 2007s Alvin and the Chipmunks work.
This time, the squeakers are off on a cruise prior to performing at a big international music awards show. And Alvin being Alvin, mischief is made.
I like my tails shaken, not stirred, The Big A (voiced by Justin Long) chirps as he dons a tux and sneaks out to hit the casino. But thats nothing compared to the disaster he creates on deck. A kite and hang-gliding accident leads to Chipmunks and Chipettes overboard, with Dave and their disgraced manager, Ian (David Cross), now a lowly costumed ships mascot, tumbling in after them.
They wash up on an island, the chipmunks in one pack, the humans in another. Each must find food, find ways to make fire and hope for rescue. Maybe theyll even find each other.
Simon, the responsible one, suffers a spider bite that turns him into a French-accented adventurer who goes by the nam! e See-MO NE. Thus Alvin finds himself having to be the responsible one.
These are urban chipmunks, so expecting them to know how to rough it is a bit much to ask, even though theyre used to living in the wild. But at least theres always time for a song, from Party Rock and Bad Romance to The Go Gos Vacation and the campfire favorite, Kumbaya.
The gags and the jokes are pretty tame, and the script relies a bit too heavily on Oh no you DIDNT sass. Its about what youd expect from a chipmunks movie directed by the fellow who handled Surviving Christmas and Shrek Forever After.
But the message about giving kids responsibility and the tone make it hard to hate on these Chip-Wrecked chipmunks. At least they took the time to sum up the whole movie in one Chipette-to-Chipmunk put-down:
You can make all the jokes you want, Alvin, but you cant make this interesting.
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