A Quick Look: THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE (1987 - color)

    The 80's produced some fun animated movies. This one isn't remarkable, but it quickly established itself as one of my favorites when I watched the video on a lark after being given a collection of VHS tapes. Spun off of the updated Saturday morning cartoon series, this rather delightful feature follows Alvin and the Chipmunks (along with their female counterparts, the Chipettes) as they are tricked into embarking on a round-the-world race which really fronts for a diamond smuggling operation. Largely the episodic mini-adventures one would expect from another variation of Around The World In 80 Days, combined with several musical numbers, the results are quite entertaining. The humor is largely on the mark, the characters good, and the pace is swift, thanks to a very good script and solid direction. The animation itself is pretty advanced for this sort of thing, combining largely limited animation with some rather elaborate, Disney-esque fluidness during some of the musical numbers. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes seem of equal importance, rather than the supporting characters there just serve as back-up to the established stars, and we spend as much time with the girls as we do the boys. I hadn't seen the Saturday morning cartoons since first run. I had forgotten all about the Chipettes, who seem to've commanded the most attention from the animators at work here. This one is of the fun and breezy variety, and one of the few more modern (post-1960) animated movies I'd show to kids without reservation.

UPDATE - Be aware that the remastered Alvin's Diamond Edition DVD isn't as good as the 1998 VHS release. While the print is nice and the colors are vibrant, the soundtrack was remixed for stereo and as result there are several lines and sound effects missing (while some sound effects seem to've been added to a couple of the musical numbers). In addition, the aspect ratio has been artificially letterboxed for widescreen TV's by lopping portions of the picture off the top and bottom of the screen. Isn't it ironic how widescreen televisions were invented so movies didn't have to be cropped, but as result some movies have been cropped to fit widescreen sets?

   Reportedly, THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE was a failure at the box office. Another movie wouldn't turn up for a decade. The results, though, were far more entertaining than I expected. ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS MEET FRANKENSTEIN came to video in 1999 (supposedly, the 1998 video release of THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE did better than it's theatrical run, and even coincided with the release of a soundtrack album). Being a late 90's picture, the music isn't as good as it was in the first film, but the script is strong, and funny. Alvin and his brothers now find themselves performing at a movie studio theme park at the same time that Dr. Frankenstein has moved to town and rebuilt his monster. Being a Universal production, they even get to use the traditional Jack Pierce design of the monster. This one was sharp and funny, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The humor is a bit more cartoonish this time around, and I wonder if the then-recent Animaniacs television series was partly an influence (one can easily imagine from that show the exchange between Dr. Frankenstein and Alvin, whom the Doc plans to turn into a zombie: "Have you ever seen a mindless zombie?" "Are you kidding? I live in Hollywood!"). The film was followed in 2000 by another video release, ALVIN AND CHIPMUNKS MEET THE WOLFMAN! 

   Somewhat more subtle than the zaniness of the previous entry, there are still some chuckles and laughs as monster-obsessed Alvin is convinced the spooky new neighbor Mr. Talbot is a werewolf. The Chipettes are back, joining the boys in a school play based on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. When Alvin proves too hyper and destructive, he's yanked from the lead role and replaced by the timid Theodore. When Theodore is bitten by a big dog, though, he develops a more confident attitude which turns into wildness as he begins transforming into a werewolf! This last film is a mixed bag, though it gets better with repeated viewing, being largely entertaining but somewhat lackluster after the first two films. That's not to talk it down, of course. It's got plenty of charm and the climax set during the performance of the play is pretty funny stuff. I would've welcomed more movies in the series, but the next time the franchise was used in a feature film it was for the radically different ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (which set the dial to zero and made the chipmunks actual animals rather than David's adopted sons). This approach must've worked for audiences, though, because it resulted in a series of four films.