Watch out the chipmuncks are about!

My new post if for Alvin and the chipmunks the Squeakquel film, a perfect easy childrens film....

FILM ONLY REVIEW

The chipmunks are in Paris doing a charity concert when their carer Dave has a nasty accident and ends up in hospital. The chipmunks end up returning to America and being left in the care of Dave’s nephew Toby. Toby is not very mature and has no idea of how to look after children so they are really left to live a happy and fun life for a short time before the announcement that they are starting school.

Alvin, Simon and Theodor start school but things don’t go too well and they make an enemy of one of the jocks. The chipmunks also learn that the school music department is going to be closed due to lack of funding so they along with the Principle come up with the idea of hosting and winning the Battle of the Bands competition.

Things seem to be going well for the chipmunks until the arrival of the chipettes, a singing ad dancing group of girl chipmunks. Can the chipmunks get along with the chipettes or will their life be turned upside down and just when will Dave return home?

To be quite truthful I recorded this film for my boys to watch but as both me and hubby fancied a nice light hearted watch then we decided to give it a go ourselves. We did find it was good but not one we would be happy to watch again. The story was good but very predictable and not really very taxing but this is ideal for the young market this was made for. We also found that the laughs were few ad far between and the few we got were a little cheesy and daft.

The acting from the human character was good and we did not really have a main human character. Dave was good but her was not featured much at all. Toby was really the main carer for the chipmunks. He was played by Zachery Levi and he was good but nothing special. He was more into playing his computer games and not really interested in the care of the minors. We did have a more stronger role in that of the principle, she was stronger and more of a figure of authority. All of the actors did a good job working with the animated chipmunk characters and seemed to be able to make it seem as if they were really there.

The chipmunks looked good and very life like, they were cute and all had different images and appearances. They came to life and had good facial expressions and I did think the voice choices were very good. All of the voices managed to help bring life, emotion ad feelings to the characters. They were rather annoying at times but this may be because I am of the more mature nature and not the target audience that I found them slightly annoying and overly squeaky. They moved well and the interaction was very good.

We had a lot of special effects in the film and they were well created and fitted effortlessly into the film, there were one or two times when I felt the human actors were slightly off when supposedly holding or talking to a chipmunk but I was looking hard at this so I noticed by children certainly wont.

The film had a great soundtrack from start to finish and I was singing along to nearly all of the tracks used. I would advise that the tracks are sung by both the chipmunks and the chipettes so they have squeaky and high pitched vocals so don’t expect the proper tracks or singers. The costumes, props and sets were all good as this film is set in the present so not much effort was needed for this aspect of the film.

I am only reviewing the film so there are no DVD extras for me to mention. The running time of the film is 88 minutes and I did think this was a good length and should manage to keep children engaged from start to finish. The DVD can be bought for under £5 now which is a good price.

I am happy to give this film 3 stars as although I was not overly struck by it is would make great viewing for children. The story was good and not overly complicated so easy to follow and the soundtrack is good. There are a few laughs but some are daft and silly. I would say this is a good school holiday film which should give Mom and Dad 88 minutes of peace. 3 stars from both me and hubby.