The Chipmunk Adventure

***The Chipmunk Adventure*** is a 1987 animated film (released in 1987 on VHS, in 2006 and 2008 on DVD, and in 2014 on both DVD/Blu-ray) featuring the characters from NBC's Saturday morning TV cartoon series *Alvin and the Chipmunks*. This marked the first appearance of The Chipmunks in a feature film since their 1958 debut. *The Chipmunk Adventure* was directed by Janice Karman (one of the very few times that a woman had done so for an animated feature film) and features the voices of Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., Janice Karman, and Dody Goodman.

The film was not very successful at the box office, earning short of $7 million dollars, though it was soon rushed to home video, where it has managed to sell well over its many releases, appearing on the Billboard Top Kid Video chart multiple times.

— Ross Bagdasrian, Jr.

## Plot

 File:The Chipmunk Adventure VHS Cover.jpg   File:The Chipmunk Adventure 2006 DVD Cover.jpg   File:The Chipmunk Adventure 2008 DVD Cover.jpg   File:The Chipmunk Adventure 2014 DVD Cover.png
When Dave Seville goes off to Europe on a business trip, Alvin Seville, Simon Seville, and Theodore Seville are left at home with their rather absent-minded babysitter, Miss Miller - much to the chagrin of Alvin, who dreams of world travel. While The Chipmunks are playing an arcade game named *Around the World in Thirty Days* with The Chipettes (and which they lose), Alvin and Brittany begin to argue over which one of them would really win an actual race around the world. Their conversation is being eavesdropped on by siblings Klaus and Claudia Furschtein, two German diamond smugglers who are running out of ways of getting their wares to their customers without government interference. With Claudia suddenly seeing an opportunity, the Furschsteins approach the children, telling them that they will provide them with the means for a real race around the world by hot-air balloon, with the winner receiving $100,000.

After the boys trick Miss Miller with a recorded and edited-together telephone call made with the "help" of an unwitting Dave (the whole thing being done while it is three o' clock in the morning where Dave happens to be at that time), The Chipmunks and The Chipettes finally meet up at the Furschteins' mansion, where they are told the rules of the race: each team is given a separate route to follow, along with a chest of dolls made in their own likenesses, which they are required to drop off to verify that they have visited all of the checkpoints. Upon dropping off one of their own dolls, they will receive a doll made in the likeness of a member of the opposing team. In reality, the dolls being dropped off are filled with diamonds, and the dolls received are filled with cash given to them by the buyers.

Before they take off, Simon warns Jeanette not to take the easterly route because of a hurricane in that area. However, Brittany overhears him and ignores his advice, incorrectly believing it to be only a trick to slow them down.

And so, after a masterly take-off, both teams begin their travels; while The Chipmunks go to Mexico City, The Chipettes are caught in a hurricane (just as Simon had predicted) before reaching Bermuda. Unknown to both teams, however, they are being trailed by two rather-intimidating looking Interpol agents named Cisvan and Cuomo, sent by the French Inspector Jamal, who was informed by Klaus and Claudia's Italian butler, Mario, of the Furschsteins' operation. The agents silently follow behind as The Chipmunks and The Chipettes travel through South America and Africa, visiting Machu Picchu, Rio de Janeiro, Angel Falls, Morocco, and Venice. More time is given to the countries and sites The Chipettes see, including the White Cliffs of Dover, the Netherlands, Switzerland, London, Rome (where they visit the Colosseum), Paris, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Germany.

Both teams meet up in Athens, where Alvin and Brittany begin arguing again, each claiming that they can "out-rock and roll" the other. This results in the battle-of-the-bands performance of the song "The Girls of Rock 'n' Roll" amongst the ancient Grecian ruins, with Cisvan and Cuomo nearly catching them and Dave nearly spotting them.

The Chipettes then travel on to Egypt, passing by the Great Sphinx. There, they are chased by a group of men on camelback. Despite their attempts to fight them off, the girls are captured, which later reveals that they are actually being rescued from Klaus and Claudia's trick by the men and brought before their young Arabian prince. The prince falls in love with Brittany and, oblivious to the diamond smuggling, agrees to return the valuable dolls to Jamal but declares that he is keeping the girls, and in 12 years making Brittany one of his wives.

Despite being showered with gifts, including a male baby penguin, The Chipettes are desperate to make an escape. Still unaware of the contents of their dolls, they secretly try to retrieve them - only to find them guarded by cobras. Brittany and Jeanette "charm" the cobras by singing "Getting Lucky," then grab the dolls and escape out a window, just as Eleanor arrives carrying a small cooler.

The film cuts back to The Chipmunks, who are camping out for the night in a jungle in Fiji while taking a shortcut. Theodore senses that something is wrong, and he also knows that something is out there in the jungle. Simon and Alvin just think his imagination is running wild, with Alvin saying, "*He's still afraid of the bogeyman.*" Upon waking up the next morning, they find Theodore missing. While trying to find him and tracking him down to a native village, Alvin and Simon are taken captive by some local natives. They soon learn that Theodore is being worshipped as the natives' "Prince of Plenty". Alvin and Simon are forced to wear nothing but Alvin's cap, Simon's glasses, a string necklace with three shark teeth and a brown loincloth and are made into Theodore's personal slaves.

Meanwhile, The Chipettes learn that Eleanor's cooler contains not only cold drinks and sandwiches, but the baby penguin, whom Eleanor feels needs to be returned to his parents in Antarctica. At first, Brittany is confused ("*You were going to eat this penguin?*"). After the song "My Mother," the girls soon agree to head to Antarctica. However, Claudia is alerted to the girls' actions by her henchmen and incorrectly concludes that they must have discovered the diamonds and are trying to make off with them. Furiously she orders her henchmen to both get the dolls back and not to return without them.

After The Chipettes return the baby penguin to his parents, they are attacked by Claudia's henchmen. The Chipettes wrestle with the men as they attempt to steal the dolls, and a Brittany doll tears as the henchmen fall from the balloon. Grateful to the girls, the penguins snowball the henchmen into submission and the girls escape. They then notice the torn Brittany doll lying on the floor of the balloon; Jeanette picks it up and diamonds fall out of it. Opening an Alvin doll, they find it full of dollar bills; the girls realize that the whole race was just a set-up for delivering the diamonds. Realizing that The Chipmunks are likely in danger as well, they head off to find them.

Alvin and Simon, meanwhile, are forced to search a nearby cave for mushrooms for "Prince Theodore," with Alvin growing increasingly fed-up with the situation ("*Three o'clock in the morning and Prince Theodore has a craving for MUSHROOMS! I hope he chokes on 'em!*"). Inside the cave, they find a series of ideograms on the walls, which Simon translates as "Sacrifice the Prince of Plenty on the full Moon." They look up and see a full Moon overhead. Simon says in horror, "*They're going to sacrifice Theodore tonight!*" Alvin looks at Simon and exclaims, "*Over my dead body!*", but immediately in the next scene, all three Chipmunks are tied to stakes by the natives for no reason, hanging precariously above a pit full of crocodiles, much to Simon's annoyance ("*You mean, over OUR dead bodies."*). In a desperate attempt to delay their own deaths, they sing the song "Wooly Bully", which pleases the natives and lasts just long enough for The Chipettes to rescue them.

Together in The Chipettes' balloon, the boys and the girls return to the U.S. They are met at the airport by Klaus and Claudia, where Alvin and Briitany angrily reveal to them that they know all about the diamonds, and after a short chase accompanied by the song "Diamond Dolls," they are forced into a 1935 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I under the false threat of Miss Miller having been kidnapped. Dave is arriving home at the airfield at the same time where he sees Alvin's cap being blown by a gust of wind at his feet and hears Alvin's cries for help from the car. Inspector Jamal runs up, identifying himself, and he and Dave begin to make chase in his 1987 Chevrolet Caprice, but two other cars crash into each other and block them off at an intersection. While at first it appears that Klaus and Claudia will escape on a private jet to Costa Rica, they are accidentally run off the road by none other than Miss Miller, who was heading to the airfield to pick up Dave, but driving the wrong way on one of the airport's roads. Klaus and Claudia are then taken away by the police, and Brittany and Alvin begin arguing yet again over who really won both the race and the $100,000. An exasperated Dave breaks up the argument and guides them to Miss Miller's 1959 Lincoln Continental, where the others await. On the way home Alvin blathers on and on about the race and thwarting the Furschteins' scheme, frustrating both of the adults.

## Cast

* Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. - Alvin, Simon, Dave Seville
* Janice Karman - Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor
* Dody Goodman - Miss Miller
* Susan Tyrrell - Claudia Furschtein
* Anthony De Longis - Klaus Furschtein
* Frank Welker - Sophie, Baby Penguin, Native Chief

### Additional Voices

* Nancy Cartwright - Arabian Prince
* Philip Clark
* Ken Sansom - Inspector Jamal
* George Poulos
* Charles Adler
* Pat Pinney

## Goofs

* At the beginning of the film, when Theodore tells Dave not to forget his mittens, he hands him his sandwich, which then turns into a piece of clothing.
* When Simon is trying to warn Jeanette about the hurricane, the folds on The Chipettes' map change from vertical ones to horizontal ones.
	+ Also in the same scene, if the video is paused at the right moment, Brittany's shirt is not fully painted.
* When The Chipettes come out of the *Flying Surprise* with scuba gear on, Eleanor's eyes change from brown to green and then back to brown as she blinks.
	+ Also in the same scene, the words Mr. and Anton on the note he left them are written on separate lines, but during a close-up shot, they can be seen written on the same line.
* There are multiple instances during the song "Off to See the World" where The Chipmunks and The Chipettes are seen collecting and dropping off dolls of the wrong team.
	+ When The Chipettes are at the ski lifts, Brittany can be seen collecting a Chipette doll when the girls were supposed to be collecting Chipmunk dolls.
	+ When The Chipettes are at the lighthouse, Jeanette is seen placing an Alvin doll when it should have been a Chipette doll.
	+ When Jeanette climbs onto the windmill, she tries to retrieve a Jeanette doll.
	+ In Venice, Italy, Simon is seen preparing to put an Alvin doll into a pole. In the next shot, however, he is then seen putting a Simon doll into it.
* Also, during "Off to See the World," Theodore gets his apple stolen by a bald eagle, a bird only native to North America, despite The Chipmunks having already left the continent by that point during the trip.
* During the sequence of "The Girls of Rock 'n' Roll," when The Chipmunks come up the temple steps, Theodore is standing across from Jeanette and Simon from Eleanor. But, when they reach the top of the steps, Simon and Theodore have switched places.
* When The Chipettes discover that the dolls are full of diamonds, the Brittany doll that was damaged turns into an Eleanor doll that is damaged in a different spot. In the next scene, however, it has turned back into the original damaged Brittany doll, only to then turn into an undamaged Eleanor doll.
	+ During the same scene, the Alvin doll they open up is closed up again a few shots later.
* When The Chipettes are close to The Chipmunks in the song “Wooly Bully”, they are in their normal outfits.
	+ During the same performance, the number of dolls tied to the posts The Chipmunks are tied to is inconsistent each time they are seen.
* During the sequence of "Diamond Dolls", Theodore is seen wearing a loincloth like Simon and Alvin are. He was actually wearing a prince outfit for the rest of the film.
* After The Chipmunks and The Chipettes are kidnapped, Alvin is briefly missing his cap upon entering Klaus and Claudia's car. Later, Alvin's hat is back on his head not long before it flies off, getting Dave's attention. Also, after Klaus and Claudia's arrest, Alvin's cap is back on his head despite him losing it at the airport earlier.
* Near the end of the film after the car crash, just before they get out of the limousine, Alvin and Simon can be seen in their normal outfits.

## Trivia

 File:Deleted Scene from The Chipmunk Adventure.jpg
* This film was dedicated to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman's dog, Tiger Lilly.
* The film's VHS release was the last one to feature the MCA/Universal Home Video logo.
* Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his wife financed the film themselves by using the 1980s TV series' revenue.
* This film was the first one Janice Karman had ever directed.
* The first director of the film quit after two months of working on the project.
* Animation for the film was carried out in Los Angeles, New York, Utah, Canada, Spain, and Asia and would travel to more countries in its production than The Chipmunks and The Chipettes did in the film itself.
* Two and a half years were spent on producing the film; large pieces of the original script were cut to make its April 20 deadline. Disappointing overseas production returns early on and an unmovable deadline were the cause of these cuts.
* "The Brave Chipmunks" musical segment from *The Alvin Show* was released as a special feature in the 2014 DVD release.
* The destinations shown in this film were Mexico, Bermuda, Rome, Venice, Machu Picchu, the White Cliffs of Dover, Switzerland, Morocco, Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon River, Paris, the Alps, the Netherlands, London, Germany, Athens, Egypt, Antarctica and Fiji.
* The theatrical and Lorimar video releases have The Samuel Goldwyn Company logo at the opening, and below the copyright notice at the closing, the Universal and Paramount releases obscure the SGC logo and keep the closing logo, and current releases have no SGC logos at all to the point of removing it from the credits, and only displaying the Bagdasarian Productions credit and logo, so do not expect to see the same version of the film twice.
* The name of the *Around the World in Thirty Days* arcade game in the diner scene is a reference to the Jules Verne adventure novel *Around the World in Eighty Days*. Subsequent adaptations of the novel also spawned the idea of circumnavigating the globe by hot air balloon, much like The Chipmunks and The Chipettes would later do in the film.
* Several Greek god/goddess statues can be seen in the Grecian ruins during the song "The Girls of Rock 'n' Roll": the one Brittany and Alvin pose next to is Poseidon, the one Alvin steals the harp off of is Terpsichore, the one Alvin dances on is Laocoon and Atlas, and the one that one of the agents hides behind is Medusa.
* The scene in Peru where Alvin swaps a Brittany doll with an Alvin doll is a reference to the film *Raiders of the Lost Ark*.
* The book *The Chipmunk Adventure* is based on this film.
* Audio from the film was used in the 2017 *How I Built This* Interview.
* The film was released between the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 of *Alvin and the Chipmunks*.
* Brittany is more rude, selfish, and egotistical in this film compared to how she was portrayed in the TV series. Starting in Season 5 and going on to Season 8 of said TV series, Brittany can come off as how she is from the film.
* The Chipmunks and Chipettes never got their money from the Furschteins.

## Songs

Main article: The Chipmunk Adventure: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

## Gallery

Main article: The Chipmunk Adventure/Gallery

## References

1. ↑ The Chipmunk Adventure, Boxofficemojo.com, Retrieved 2014-12-18.
2. ↑ *Billboard* Apr. 18, 1998, Books.google.com, Retrieved 2020-08-27.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Chipmunks.com, *The Making of The Chipmunk Adventure*, Retrieved 2013-08-16.

This article uses modified CC BY-SA Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors) (2008 revision).