Alvin and the Chipmunks (Film)

## *Alvin and the Chipmunks*

*This article is about the film. For other uses, see Alvin and the Chipmunks (disambiguation).*
***Alvin and the Chipmunks*** is a 2007 live-action/computer animated film, based on the popular musical group and animated series *Alvin and the Chipmunks*. It was directed by Tim Hill, distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, and produced by Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions.

The film has received unfavorable reviews from critics / websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes, but has proved to be a huge financial success, making over $215 million to date in North America alone and over $350 million to date in total worldwide receipts, while being made on a budget of just $60 million. Jason Lee and the film won his and its first award at the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Movie.

## Plot

Dave Seville meets Alvin, Simon, and Theodore for the first time.

## Full Plot

The tree that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles to become a Christmas tree in the JETT Records office building. Here, Dave Seville is trying to have his song produced, but is brutally denied by the CEO of JETT Records and his longtime arch-rival, "best friend", and former college roommate Ian Hawke. As a rejected Dave leaves the office building, the Chipmunks quickly escape (after being scared by a barking German Shepherd at one point) by jumping into a basket, which Dave is carrying.

Dave unknowingly takes the Chipmunks home with him, where he throws it into the trash, which prompts a confused Theodore to claim, "*Gross! Is this his house?,*" followed by Simon stating, "*No. It's his garbage can.*" and Theodore replies, "*Oh.*"

While Dave is quietly watching TV, the Chipmunks proceed to freely explore Dave's kitchen and eat a portion of his food, but are discovered by Dave in the process; this prompts a humorous game of hide-and-seek, with Dave as the unwilling participant. However, the game is abruptly ended when an escaping Alvin manages to drop and break a jar on Dave's head and knock him unconscious.

When Dave awakens, he is promptly greeted by Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Dave is initially shocked, but calms down long enough for the Chipmunks to formally introduce themselves. However, he still finds the notion of talking animals "*creepy*" and "*somewhat evil*." Quickly, Dave betrays the Chipmunks by trapping and then tossing them outside in the rain.

However, in an attempt to win him over, the Chipmunks sing "Funkytown," much to Dave's surprise. They succeed and a deal is struck, where the Chipmunks can live in his house, as long as they sing his songs. However, Dave quickly finds himself annoyed by the Chipmunks as he isn't used to the erratic behavior that comes from their young age and, upon questioning, learns that their parents were hippies and abandoned them early in order to join a commune (if this is true or not is yet to be revealed).

The same night, after tucking the Chipmunks into bed, Dave is unable to sleep. After hearing the Chipmunks snoring, he finally comes up with "The Chipmunk Song" after thinking up some lyrics for the song.

The next morning, Dave tries to show the Chipmunks to an incredulous Ian, assuring him they will be JETT record's next big hit. However, the Chipmunks experience stage fright, which prevents them for singing his song and ends up having Dave ridiculed by Ian. Angry at the failure, Dave drives to his other job (which he is late for) and the Chipmunks ask if they can go with him. Worried they will also mess up his day at work, Dave refuses and takes them home. Upon arriving at his meeting with his boss Gail, Dave discovers that the Chipmunks have written all over his presentation boards (one showing "*the size of Theodore's butt*", "*how smart Simon thinks he is*", and "*why Alvin stinks*"), and this gets him fired as a result. Dave arrives home and yells at the Chipmunks for ruining his presentation boards and getting him fired, then Theodore accidentally pushes a button on the voice messenger.

Later that night, Claire is invited to Dave's house for dinner and the Chipmunks are forced to stay in another room. However, Alvin, thinking Dave needs his help to win Claire over, unintentionally sabotages the date. Dave tries to tell a frustrated Claire the reason for his strange behavior, but instead, he further alienates her by saying his "life was being sabotaged by talking chipmunks". In her anger, Claire storms out, stating that Dave never changed at all as Dave becomes heartbroken. The Chipmunks feel guilty for Alvin's unintentional sabotage. In order to make it up to Dave, they quickly leave to Ian's house that night to show him that Dave was right about their amazing talent.

Meanwhile, Dave decides to return the Chipmunks to their original home and goes as far as writing the note before being overcome by his affection for them and decides against it. At Ian's house, upon seeing their performance, Ian welcomes the Chipmunks to JETT Records and proceeds to quickly circulate the song and make it a big hit in just a few hours, much to Dave's surprise.

Soon, the Chipmunks' career skyrockets and by being managed and promoted by Ian, the Chipmunks continue to be wildly popular. Also, during this time, Dave sews the Chipmunks their sweaters and the Chipmunks like them.

Christmas quickly comes and in his excitement, Theodore calls Dave "*Dad,*" which prompts a nervous Dave to dissuade the notion of him being their father, which hurts the Chipmunks.

After showing them their presents (which are savings bonds), Ian arrives and proceeds to shower the Chipmunks with many toys and an invitation to a Christmas night party.

During the party, Dave reconciles with Claire, who apologizes for leaving the dinner and not believing him. Ian also tries to convince Dave to let him work with the Chipmunks, but he refuses. In spite, an angry Ian proceeds to plant false lies to the Chipmunks about Dave.

The following day, Dave arrives home to find the Chipmunks being once again showered by various gifts from JETT Records and Dave asks the Chipmunks where did they get all of this stuff. Irritated by their behavior, Dave quickly converses with the Chipmunks, telling them that even with their new-found stardom, they do not have the right to be selfish and greedy and do what they want. Equally irritated by Dave, the Chipmunks quickly point out that Ian said they should always be happy while Alvin asks if he thinks of them as his kids or rats, much to Dave's confusion (who doesn't know about the untrue things that Ian has told the Chipmunks). Finally, at the height of his anger, Dave tells them to go live with "Uncle Ian" if they like him so much and not to think he is currently looking out for their best interests, which hurt and surprise the Chipmunks.

That same night, Theodore tries to apologize to Dave and asking if he is still mad at them, but discovers that he is sleeping. Theodore manages to see the letter that Dave wrote and shows it to Alvin and Simon. Not knowing that Dave has already decided against returning them home, the Chipmunks interpret that Dave wants them gone, and heartbroken, they contact Ian to see if they could live with him from now on.

At first, life with Ian is grand for the Chipmunks as he supplies them with many toys and allows them to do whatever they want in a rule-free environment. However, things begin to turn when Ian starts to overwork them to the point of exhaustion and also reworks their image. Dave contacts Ian to see how the boys are doing, but is purposely blocked out by Ian, who fears that upon knowing that Dave misses them, the Chipmunks will want to return to him and abandon Ian.

As the coast-to-coast tour ends, Ian brings the Chipmunks back to Los Angeles in order to perform their kickoff performance for their highly anticipated world tour. However, due to their exhaustion, the Chipmunks' voices have given out and as a result, they cannot perform their song. Not wanting to postpone the tour and give-out refunds, Ian decides to have the Chipmunks lip sync the song. Simon considers this cheating, but is convinced by Alvin that they have no choice.

Meanwhile, Dave learns that Ian still plans to proceed with the world tour, despite the Chipmunks' exhaustion. Angered, he proceeds to the theater to get his boys back, though is blocked by security. He is able to sneak in, with the help of Claire (who claims that he is her assistant and she gives him her press pass to enter the performance area). However, he is once again caught by security, who have been ordered by Ian to keep Dave away from the Chipmunks. However, as he is being escorted away, Dave manages to yell Alvin's name loud enough that he hears. Upon seeing Dave, the three quickly realize that Ian has lied to them and proceeds to reveal they are lip syncing and begin to run amok. After a brief chase (with the Chipmunks teasing the security guards), Ian manages to capture the Chipmunks and quickly whisks them away, despite pleas from Dave to let them free.

As Ian is being chauffeured toward the airport, Dave quickly takes chase. As he furiously pursues Ian, the Chipmunks reveal themselves to Dave in his car.

Surprised to see them, Dave questions them on their escape, to which Simon replies that breaking out of a cat cage wasn't difficult in the first place and the Chipmunks reconcile with Dave. On the other hand, Ian (who was unaware of the Chipmunks' escape) discovers that the Chipmunks have escaped and he proceeds to yell a long "*NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!*" in defeat.

A few days later, Claire once again visits Dave house for dinner. However, the dinner once again proceeds disastrously when Alvin accidentally spills champagne, which shorts out the electricity, and prompts an irritated Dave to yell Alvin's name while Alvin replies, "*Okay!*".

Ian is also shown trying to get three clueless squirrels to sing and, of course, fails at doing so. He eventually breaks down and sobs at his failure.

## Box Office

The film closed in the United States on June 5, 2008. It was a huge box office success, with a final domestic earning of $217,326,974 and a worldwide earning of $144,009,659 for a grand total of $361,336,633, making it the second highest grossing Alvin and the Chipmunks film.

## Cast

### Live-action

* Jason Lee as David "Dave" Seville
* David Cross as Ian Hawke
* Cameron Richardson as Claire Wilson
* Jane Lynch as Gail
* Kevin Symons as Ted
* Veronica Alicino as Amy
* Adriane Lenox as Vet

### Voices

* Justin Long as Alvin Seville
* Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon Seville
* Jesse McCartney as Theodore Seville

## Trivia

* The film is six times profitable with $360 million gross revenue on a $60 million dollar budget.
* Dave shouts out Alvin's name three times angrily:
	+ First time when Alvin is running on a tape recorder.
	+ Second time when he pulled a prank when Dave was sleeping by painting a red "A" on his forehead.
	+ Third time when Alvin accidentally spilled champagne on the floor, which spills the electrical wires, making the lights go out.
* *SpongeBob SquarePants* on Nickelodeon makes a cameo appearance in the film.
* The script leading up to "The Chipmunk Song" rehearsal is taken almost word-for-word from the original 1958 recording of the song.
* The final scene of the film is the only time Alvin has worn a cap on-screen since the reboot.
* In the scene where The Chipmunks are filming an advert for "Crunchy Nibbles" pet food, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. makes a small cameo. He is seen as a camera-operator.
* During the scene where Ian's security guards chase The Chipmunks, Alvin screams, "*Yippee-ki-yay, mamacita!*" (profanity in Italian), which, as Justin Long confirmed, is a reference to *Die Hard*.
* An interview with Ross and Janice regarding the film was released a week after the film's premiere.
* Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and his wife Janice Karman initially portrayed Alvin, Simon, and Theodore for the film, as revealed in the 2010 Cult Radio A-Go-Go! Interview, but were replaced at the studio's insistence with younger actors Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney.
* Whenever the Chipmunks make an appearance in a scene, their voices on set were provided by three vocal stand-ins, one of whom was Vanessa Bagdasarian, daughter of executive producers Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman. Actors Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney recorded their voices for Alvin, Simon and Theodore after the film was finished with principal photography.

## Goofs

* When Dave said it was the worst day of his life, Alvin said that it is still early, then Theodore accidentally hits the message button on the phone and it was Claire Wilson and she said she is nervous for dinner, then Dave says that dinner is in 30 minutes. However, dinner is at 7:00 PM and it was very bright outside and it cannot get pitch black in 30 minutes.
* In the scene where Theodore knocks Dave out with a glass jar filled with peanuts, the cheese balls they spilled are gone. As well, the cheese balls aren't there when he wakes up.
* In one scene, Simon mentions, "*six degrees elevation...*", but the DVD subtitles state that Theodore said it.
* In the scene where Simon says, "*No, it's his garbage can,*" the subtitles said that Alvin said it.
* On Netflix, when Alvin said "So, we're good with the toaster waffles, right? Uh... Dave?", the subtitles said that Theodore said it.

## Songs

Main article: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

## Trailers

* The film's teaser premiered on May 4, 2007, during the release of *Spider-Man 3*.
* The film's second teaser premiered on July 27, 2007 during the opening of *The Simpsons Movie*.

## Videos

Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Chipmunk Troubles Scene (1 5) MovieclipsAlvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Funky Town Scene (2 5) MovieclipsAlvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Christmas Don't Be Late Scene (3 5) MovieclipsAlvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Bow Chicka Wow Wow Scene (4 5) MovieclipsAlvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Witch Doctor Scene (5 5) Movieclips
## Storyboards

AATC movie 1.jpgAATC movie 3.jpgAATC movie 5.jpgAATC movie 7.jpgAATC movie 9.jpg
## Sequels

*Main Article: The Squeakquel, Chipwrecked, & The Road Chip*

Three sequels entitled *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel*, *Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked*, and *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip* were released on December 23, 2009, December 16, 2011, and December 18, 2015.

## References

1. ↑ Alvin and the Chipmunks, Boxofficemojo.com, Retrieved 2014-12-18.
2. ↑ John McClane Dies Hard with The Chipmunks, Mtv.com, Retrieved 2017-12-17.
3. ↑ Alvin and the Chipmunks DVD Commentary Track, Briguyx.wordpress.com, Retrieved 2018-08-31.