Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a 2009 American live-action animated jukebox musical comedy film directed by Betty Thomas and written by Jon Vitti and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. It is based on Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes. It is the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) and the second installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series. The film stars Zachary Levi, David Cross and Jason Lee, with voices by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney. Christina Applegate, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler voice the new characters. The film sees the Chipmunks entering high school under the care of Dave Seville's cousin, Toby. Meanwhile, Ian Hawke recruits the Chipettes to restore his career.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was released in the United States on December 23, 2009, by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $443.1 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. Two sequels were later released: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked in 2011 and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip in 2015.
Dave Seville is injured when a cardboard cutout of Alvin sends him flying across the stage during a charity benefit concert in Paris. While he recovers in a French hospital, Dave asks his aunt, Jackie, to look after the Chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Arrangements are also made for them to attend West Eastman High School. After Jackie falls down the staircase in her wheelchair and has to be also hospitalized, the Chipmunks are left in the care of Toby, Jackie's grandson and Dave's cousin. Ex-JETT Records chief executive Ian Hawke, who is broke and destitute after losing the Chipmunks, lives in the company's basement. Three singing female chipmunks, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor (the Chipettes), emerge from a FedEx package. Ian recruits them to resurrect his career.
While at school, two jocks bully the Chipmunks. The group is summoned to the principal's office after attacking and defeating the jocks. The principal, Dr. Rubin, a fan who saw them in Denver, enlists their help to raise money for the school's music program by participating in a contest. A shocked Ian finds that the Chipmunks will represent the school; he also enrolls the Chipettes there.
When the Chipmunks meet the Chipettes, both groups are smitten with each other. However, the girls recall that Ian said they are untrustworthy. Alvin and the boys struggle to make it through a rehearsal because of their new crushes. Ian smugly walks in and introduces his new stars, the Chipettes. The boys are shocked to see the girls working with him, and a rivalry emerges when Ian convinces Dr. Rubin to let the Chipettes compete in the competition. Rubin sets up a concert for the two groups to compete to represent the school. Alvin becomes popular with the jocks and joins the football team, inadvertently missing the concert. At the concert, Theodore and Simon withdraw, so the Chipettes win by default. Arriving to an empty auditorium, Alvin is called out by Brittany for his lack of responsibility. Alvin returns home and unsuccessfully tries apologizing to his brothers. Theodore runs away to the Los Angeles Zoo the next day to live with a meerkat family, but finds a wedge-tailed eagle living in their exhibit. Alvin and Simon save him from the eagle, and the three reconcile.
The Chipettes learn that they are to perform as an opening act for a Britney Spears concert on the same night as the school contest. Ian convinces them to call off the battle and perform at the concert but refuses to give the same credit to Jeanette and Eleanor that he gives Brittany, who demands that they all perform together or not at all. Ian threatens to send them to a barbecue restaurant unless they perform.
Before the school contest, Alvin receives a distressed phone call from the Chipettes, who inform him that Ian has locked them in a cage. He goes on to rescue them on his toy motorcycle while Simon tells Jeanette how to pick the lock over the phone. Simon and Theodore are on the verge of performing by themselves until the others arrive in the toy helicopter that Ian uses to chase them. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes perform together for the first time and win the money for the music program. Dave, who had left the hospital upon learning that Toby was looking after the Chipmunks, returns during the contest, happy to see the Chipmunks again, and allows the Chipettes to stay with them.
During the pre-production of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in 2009, most of Dave's scenes were rewritten, with much of Lee's role being replaced with Levi’s role, Toby Seville. The visual effects and animation for the chipmunks were produced by Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H). David Newman composed the film's musical score, replacing Christopher Lennertz.
In one scene, Ian interacts with a rat in a basement, culminating in the rat stealing a muffin before leaving. The scene was carefully staged in a controlled environment. The rat, guided by trainers, followed specific cues to stay on its mark, take the muffin (a prop), and exit the scene. A prop radio was used during the sequence, ensuring the rat's safety. An additional scene involving costumed rats, monitored by American Humane, was excluded from the theatrical release.
Several dog scenes were filmed under controlled conditions with trainers overseeing the animals' actions. A dog barks at and topples a fake TV prop inside a constructed igloo set. Trainers used cues and a lightweight prop rigged with a string to safely execute the sequence. In an elevator scene, a Chihuahua briefly interacts with actors exiting an elevator. Trainers handed the leashed dog to the actors right before filming. The actors and dog had been well-rehearsed for the action and the dog was unfazed by either the mild noise the elevator made or the actor walking by with stuffed chipmunks on his shoulder (which were changed to CGI chipmunks in post-production). Trainers then cued the dog to "stare". A cat hisses and swats while appearing to react to a character's presence. This scene was filmed separately from the actor. Trainers used safety measures, including a waist tie and bait stick, to guide the cat’s movements. An eagle appears in a scene interacting with the chipmunks. Filming took place under strict safety protocols, with the bird equipped with a monofilament line and guided by trainers. The eagle's actions, including flying and hopping, were directed using food rewards and bait sticks. The scene where a chipmunk seemingly kicks the eagle was created entirely with CGI.
On its opening Wednesday, the film opened to #1 with $18.8 million and finished the weekend at #3 behind Fox's own Avatar and Warner Bros' Sherlock Holmes with $48.9 million and a $75.6 million 5-day total, eclipsing its budget in only 5 days. In the US, it was the 9th highest-grossing film of 2009, and on March 7, 2010, it out-grossed its predecessor to become the second highest-grossing film to never hit #1 behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The Squeakquel ended its run with $219.6 million in the US and $223.5 million overseas for a total of $443.1 million worldwide.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 21% of 85 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4/10. The website's consensus reads: "This Squeakquel may entertain the kiddies, but it's low on energy and heavily reliant on slapstick humor." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 41 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A+ to F.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film a C-, asking, "Will kids eat up this cutely fractious claptrap? Of course they will. They'll eat up whatever you put in front of them. But that doesn't make The Squeakquel good for them." Sue Robinson from Radio Times said that "even if there's little here for older viewers to enjoy, youngsters will love the slapstick action and catchy soundtrack."
Joe Leydon, writing for Variety, called it "a frenetic but undeniably funny follow-up that offers twice the number of singing-and-dancing rodents in another seamless blend of CGI and live-action elements." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times commented on Betty Thomas' direction, saying that she brings "a light campy touch as she did in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie."
After the film had garnered $112 million worldwide at the box office over its first weekend, some critics were disappointed that it was more popular than other movies in wide release aimed at a family audience. Richard Corliss of Time wrote that families "could have taken the cherubs to The Princess and the Frog or Disney's A Christmas Carol, worthy efforts that, together, took in only about a fifth of the Chipmunks' revenue in the same period".
At the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel won Favorite Movie. The film was one of the nominees for the "Family" category at the 2010 National Movie Awards, losing to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). Music supervisor Julianne Jordan won the Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervision for a Film in 2011. At the 2010 British Academy Children's Awards, The Squeakquel won Kid's Vote — Film.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack based on the film. It was released on December 1, 2009. Bands Honor Society and Queensberry, along with Filipino singer Charice, were all featured artists for both the movie and soundtrack.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a video game based on the film. It was released on December 1, 2009 (the same day as the movie's soundtrack) for the Wii and Nintendo DS.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was released on Blu-ray/DVD/Digital copy on March 30, 2010.
Shortly after the film's release on DVD and Blu-ray, Fox and Regency had announced that Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D was scheduled to be released on December 16, 2011. The title was then changed to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. On January 22, 2011, Fox 2000 Pictures started production on the film during a Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Dream ship. Filming took place primarily on the ship's upper, open decks with scenes featuring actor Jason Lee (reprising his role) and the antics of The Chipmunks in the Carnival Dream's outdoor recreation areas. Stops on the itinerary included Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya (which provided tropical backdrops for many of the film's shipboard scenes). A fourth film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, was released on December 18, 2015.