Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is a 2011 American live-action animated jukebox musical adventure comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on the characters Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and the Chipettes created by Janice Karman. It is the third installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series following the first from 2007, and the second from 2009. The film stars Jason Lee, David Cross and Jenny Slate. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate return to voice the Chipmunks and the Chipettes, respectively. In the film, playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes go overboard and end up marooned in a tropical island, where they discover their new turf is not as deserted as it seems.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was released in the United States on December 16, 2011, by 20th Century Fox. The film was panned by critics, but grossed $342.7 million worldwide against an $80 million budget. A fourth film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, was released on December 18, 2015 with Kaley Cuoco replacing Amy Poehler as the voice of Eleanor.
Dave Seville, the Chipmunks, and the Chipettes go on a cruise ship en route to the International Music Awards. Alvin ends up creating trouble, culminating in Dave having dinner with the captain to apologize. Disobeying Dave's instructions, the Chipettes go to the ship's dance club and Alvin and Simon head to the ship's casino. Dave discovers his former supervisor Ian Hawke works as the ship's safety monitor dressed as a pelican; Ian sets to inform the captain if the Chipmunks and Chipettes stir trouble. Alvin, Simon, and the Chipettes are caught by Dave, who warns them of missing the International Music Awards. Bored of shuffleboarding, Alvin goes parasailing on a kite, which flies away with him and the other Chipmunks. Dave goes on a hang-glider to try to find them but Ian attempts to stop him, which results in them ending up stranded in the Pacific Ocean.
The Chipmunks find a deserted island. Dave enlists Ian's help to find the same island and begin looking for the Chipmunks. The Chipmunks come across a castaway named Zoe. At Zoe's tree house, Eleanor sprains her ankle and Simon gets bitten by a spider; its side effects include personality changes and loss of inhibition. The morning after, Simon's personality changes where he thinks he is a French adventurer named "Simone". Later, Zoe takes "Simone", Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore to a lake with a waterfall and "Simone" finds a cave. He returns with a gold bracelet which he gives to Jeanette as a crown.
Brittany and Alvin see an active volcano the next day. Deciding they must leave the island, the Chipmunks prepare a raft to get them off the island. While Jeanette and "Simone" look for food, "Simone" is knocked unconscious and Jeanette is kidnapped; "Simone" reverts back to Simon. A conscious Simon cannot remember the spider bite's aftermath. They discover that Zoe has taken Jeanette, so they head towards the waterfall. When they approach the tree log to cross, Dave and Alvin look for Jeanette. As Zoe forces her to get the treasure in the cave by tying her to a rope, she reveals that she came to the island specifically to find the treasure. However, living alone on the island for ten years wiped her memory and has now been ruthlessly willing to find the treasure at all costs.
Alvin and Dave come to Jeanette's rescue. The island begins to rumble again. Zoe lets go of the rope and Jeanette runs with Dave and Alvin back to the raft. When they reach the log, Zoe grabs the rope and drags Jeanette back to her until Alvin cuts it with a Swiss Army knife Dave confiscated earlier. However, the log starts to break, leaving Dave hanging from a branch. Alvin and a reformed Ian convince Zoe to help save Dave. They run towards the raft and escape the volcanic eruption. Zoe and Jeanette reconcile; Jeanette gives Zoe the gold bracelet that Simon had given to her. Alvin reconciles with Dave and they are rescued. The Chipmunks and Chipettes perform at the International Music Awards. Ian starts a new screenwriting career by selling a screenplay about Zoe's story to Hollywood, finally resurrecting his fortune and making Zoe famous. On a plane headed for Los Angeles, Alvin tricks the other passengers into thinking they're going to Timbuktu, much to Dave's annoyance.
On October 26, 2010, according to 24 Frames from the Los Angeles Times, Mike Mitchell, the director behind Shrek Forever After, was in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to direct the new film. The film featured one of Carnival's newest and biggest cruise ships, Carnival Dream. The external shots and interior stateroom suite were filmed during a seven-day Caribbean cruise. The casino, dance club, and dining room were filmed on a set not attempting to match the actual interior of the Carnival Dream cruise ship. The visual effects and animation for the chipmunks were provided by Los Angeles-based Rhythm and Hues Studios, who previously animated the first and second installments of the franchise. Mark Mothersbaugh composed the musical score for the film, replacing David Newman.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was released in the U.S. on December 16, 2011, and was the first and only live-action/CGI Chipmunks film to be rated G by the MPAA.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was released on DVD and Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The release made $44,732,290 in DVD sales and $10,542,142 in Blu-ray sales.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is a video game based on the film. It was released for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360 on November 15, 2011, in North America and on November 25, 2011, in Europe. Like the previous "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel' video game adaptations, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman reprised their respective roles.
The film grossed a total of $133,110,742 in North America, and another $209,584,693 internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $342,695,435. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked made $6.7 million on its opening day, which was lower than the opening day grosses of Alvin and the Chipmunks ($13.3 million) and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel ($18.8 million). For its opening weekend, the film ranked at the #2 spot behind Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with $23.2 million, which was less than the opening weekends of the franchise's previous two films, the original film's $44.3 million and its sequel's $48.9 million respectively.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of 80 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Lazy, rote, and grating, Chipwrecked is lowest-common-denominator family entertainment that's strictly for the very, very, very young at heart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 24 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
John Anderson of Variety wrote: "As impressive as the CG elements are in 'Chipwrecked,' they're a mixed blessing: The more lifelike the techies make the critters—Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Theodore (Jesse McCartney) and Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) —the more we're reminded they're rodents." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it "Every bit as frantic, frenetic, groan-inducing and all around grating as its two predecessors."
Cross described Chipwrecked as "literally without question, the most unpleasant experience I've ever had in my professional life." He accused an unidentified female producer of antisemitism and mistreating him. He was also "forced at legal gunpoint" to spend a week shooting footage on a Carnival Cruise, which Cross argued was unnecessary since he had no lines and was unrecognizable in a pelican suit. The comments cost Cross a $150,000 bonus for violating his non-disparagement clause by discussing his grievances publicly.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked: Music from the Motion Picture is the licensed soundtrack based on the film. It was released on November 15, 2011, by Atlantic Records. Released to US Target stores, a limited edition version of the soundtrack was released containing four exclusive bonus tracks. iTunes and Amazon.com released a deluxe edition available only on digital download containing three bonus tracks.
In June 2013, 20th Century Fox announced that a sequel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, would be released on December 18, 2015. On December 18, 2014, however, it was announced for a December 23, 2015 release. On October 14, 2015, the release date was pushed forward to December 18, 2015. The cast reprised their roles for the film, excluding Amy Poehler and David Cross.