Grade: CAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is the sequel to 2007's Alvin and the Chipmunks. In this one, the chipmunks are back but after Dave gets injured he has them go live with his aunt and go to school in order for them to try to live a normal life. School is a terrifying place for the chipmunks as they don't quite fit in and nobody really seems to like them there. The principal, however, is excited for their arrival because there is a music competition coming up that could provide funding for their music department if the chipmunks win it. At the same time, Ian, who is now unemployed and broke, is searching for the next big thing when he happens upon the chipettes, a trio of singing girl chipmunks. He puts them up against the chipmunks in hopes of getting his career back.
This sequel just didn't have the magic that the first one did. I actually really enjoy the 2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks, the humor was good, the story was pretty good and it really kept true and made many references to the original cartoons. This one seemed forced. The music wasn't as good, the humor was pretty bad, but it did make all the five year olds in the theater laugh, and the story seemed pretty uninteresting. For some reason Dave was hardly in it, maybe five minutes of screen time. The movie was basically an advertisement to get people interested in funding music programs at school. For instance the opening scene is the chipmunks performing at a Save the Music Foundation concert then the rest of the plot is the chipmunks getting ready for that competition to fund their schools music program because if they lose the school will shut it down.
I really get a kick out of the fact that they hired some pretty big names to voice the chipmunks and the chipettes because you can't tell who's doing the voice and all you need is a person who can speak slowly into a microphone. They have Justin Long (Accepted, Drag Me To Hell) voicing Alvin, Mathew Gray Gubler (500 Days of Summer, TV's Criminal Minds) voices Simon, singer Jesse McCartney voices Theodore, Christina Aplegate (TV's Samantha Who, Anchorman) voices Brittany, Anna Faris (Observe and Report, Just Friends) voices Jeanette and Amy Poehler (TV's Parks and Recreation, Baby Mama) voices Eleanor. Jason Lee (TV's My Name is Earl, Clerks II) reprises his role as Dave, but as I mentioned before he's barely in the movie. David Cross (Year One, She's The Man) reprises his role as Ian, who' not as good or funny as the first movie. Zachary Levi (TV's Chuck) plays Toby, Dave's second cousin who takes care of the chipmunks after an incident with Dave's aunt. Levi was actually pretty good and pretty funny in this movie.
This movie is definitely for kids and they will enjoy it. Unfortunately, unlike the first one, it doesn't have much entertainment value for adults but thankfully it's relatively short.
Great quote: "Hi I'm Theodore. Hi I'm Theodore. Hi I'm Theodore. Hi I'm Theodore. Hi I'm Theodore."
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