Friday, March 30

In defense of Chiprecked on DVD

 I didn't see Chiprecked in theaters, I am seeing it on DVD, it is third of the trilogy. There has been bad reviews on this movie, that is just for the money and only kids will like. I know kids will definitely like this movie. I don't think ti is too bad, it is a bit like Finding Nemo, in which the father and children have a fight and then are split up and have surrogate parent and child. The Chipmunks, Chipettes and Dave are on a ship and when Alvin disobeys Dave, they end up on a kite-thing and float away to an island. Dave goes after them with Ian (David Cross)--who was the villain in the last movies and now works for the ship. Dave ends up with Ian and Ian isn't really a surrogate child, even though he acts like a child. The Chipmunks get a surrogate parent, in the wild and kind of irresponsible and jewel-crazy Zoe (Jenny Slate).

 
Jenny Slate has been a background character for SNL and Jimmy Fallon and VH1 and she has to act half the movie with invisible characters and she is really bad at it. When she has something to look at, she looks like she is looking at the object, not the invisible character. What helped Who Framed Roger Rabbit was Bob Hopskins, he sold it. She auctions it off on eBay. In defense of the movie, it has a common emotional thread in which Simon becomes responsible to more adventurous and brave; Alvin goes from irresponsible to responsible. The Chipmunks had the strict Dave and then the more free-willing parent. I like those parts. Zoe going crazy for treasure not so much. Nor the annoying Ian. I liked the first movie, hated the sequel (seeing them in high school wasn't fun and the chipettes were not developed).

 
The Chipettes had more personality in the 80's cartoon, here they seem to go with group mentality. In the cartoon, Britney was self-absorbed, fought with Alvin and was fame-hungry; Eleanor was shy but the sweet one and a cook; and Jeannette was the smart and shy one. Eleanor and Jeanette differed from Theodore and Simon because Simon was all smart but Jeanette was more shy and unsure of herself. Eleanor kept things to herself. Jason Lee actually does a great job as Dave, since he was mostly absent for the sequel, I feel like there was more closure with Dave. Hearing their voices a lot is kind of annoying mid-way through the movie. The Dave-Chipettes relationship is interesting but unexplored, when talking to Ian, he only mentions the Chipmunks and when he has to reprimand them, it comes a bit cold.