Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | |
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Directed by | Betty Thomas |
Written by | |
Based on | |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
Edited by | Matthew Friedman |
Music by | David Newman |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes [1] |
Country | United States [1] |
Language | English |
Budget | $70 million |
Box office | $443.1 million |
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, who criticized the over-reliance of juvenile humor. However, it 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. Former JETT Records chief executive Ian Hawke, who is broke and destitute after losing the Chipmunks, [a] 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 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. 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 preproduction 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 and Hues Studios. David Newman composed the film's musical score, replacing Christopher Lennertz.[ citation needed ]
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. [3]
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. [3] 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". [3] 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. [3] 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. [3]
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 [4] 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 . [5] 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. [6] [7]
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." [8] 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. [9] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A+ to F. [10] [11]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film a C-, [12] 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." [12] 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." [13]
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." [14] 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 ." [15]
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. [16] [17] 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". [18]
At the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel won Favorite Movie. [19] 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). [20] [21] Music supervisor Julianne Jordan won the Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervision for a Film in 2011. [22] [c] At the 2010 British Academy Children's Awards, The Squeakquel won Kid's Vote — Film. [23]
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. [24]
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | |
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Developer(s) | ImaginEngine |
Publisher(s) | Majesco Entertainment |
Designer(s) | Rohit Chokhani Michael Gesner |
Series | Alvin and The Chipmunks |
Platform(s) | Nintendo DS, Wii |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Rhythm |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
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. [25]
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was released on DVD/Blu-ray/digital copy on March 30, 2010. [26]
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. [27] The title was then changed to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked . [28] 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). [29] A fourth and final film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip , was released on December 18, 2015. [30]
Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for Novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The characters have since featured in several television series and films, as well as other media.
The Chipettes are a fictional girl group from the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise consisting of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor, alongside their adoptive human mother, Beatrice Miller. They first appeared in the animated television series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes. The title of the show was changed from Alvin and the Chipmunks to simply The Chipmunks in 1988 to reflect this. In the animated television series and the 1987 animated film The Chipmunk Adventure, all of the Chipettes were voiced by their creator, Janice Karman, the wife of Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. Karman also wrote and voiced the Chipettes' dialogue on their studio albums, while studio singers Susan Boyd, Shelby Daniel and Katherine Coon provided their singing voices. In the animated television series Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, Eleanor is voiced by Vanessa Bagdasarian, the daughter of Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman.
David "Dave" Seville is a fictional character, the adoptive father and producer and manager of the fictional singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks. The character was created by Ross Bagdasarian, who had used the name "David Seville" as his stage name prior to the creation of the Chipmunks, while writing and recording novelty records in the 1950s. One of the records, recorded in 1958 under the David Seville stage name, was "Witch Doctor", featuring a sped-up high-pitched vocal technique. Bagdasarian would later use that technique in "The Chipmunk Song ", which would introduce both Alvin and the Chipmunks as a singing group and Bagdasarian's music producer "Dave". Bagdasarian would go on to create The Alvin Show, based on the Alvin and the Chipmunks group, where he voiced the semi-fictional character David Seville, based largely on himself, with Alvin based on Ross's sometimes rebellious son Adam.
Ross S. Bagdasarian, known professionally by his stage name David "Dave" Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor of Armenian descent best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmunks. Initially a stage and film actor, he rose to prominence in 1958 with the songs "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song ", which both became Billboard number-one singles. He produced and directed The Alvin Show, which aired on CBS in 1961–62.
The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Alvin Show aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, to September 12, 1962 and was originally sponsored by General Foods through its Jell-O gelatin and Post Cereal brands. Although the series was created in color, it was initially telecast in black and white. It was later rebroadcast in color from 1962-65 for Saturday mornings on CBS and again Saturday mornings on NBC in 1979.
Ross Dickran Bagdasarian is an American actor, singer, animator, and record producer, known for his work on the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise. He is the son of the franchise's creator, Ross Bagdasarian.
Janice Karman Bagdasarian is an American filmmaker, designer, actress, and singer. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian Jr.
The Chipmunk Adventure is a 1987 American animated musical-adventure comedy film based on the Saturday-morning cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Alvin and the Chipmunks virtual band and media franchise created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr.. The film was directed by Janice Karman and written by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. The plot follows the Chipmunks and the Chipettes as they go on a hot air balloon race around the world while their guardian David is out on a trip, not knowing that it is a cover for a diamond smuggling ring. The chipmunks travel through a series of adventures in different countries while being hunted down by the diamond smugglers, Claudia and Klaus Furschtein.
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring the Chipmunks, which was produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983 to 1987, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson in 1988 and DIC Enterprises from 1988 to 1990.
Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein is a 1999 American animated dark comedy horror film produced by Bagdasarian Productions, LLC. and Universal Cartoon Studios and distributed by Universal Studios Home Video. It is directed by Kathi Castillo, written by John Loy and based on characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks and Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This is the first of two Alvin and the Chipmunks direct-to-video films, and the first of three Universal Cartoon Studios productions to be animated overseas by Tama Production in Tokyo, Japan. This is the only animated Alvin and the Chipmunks film where the Chipettes do not appear.
Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman is a 2000 American animated comedy horror musical film produced by Bagdasarian Productions and Universal Cartoon Studios and based on characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks. It is the second Alvin and the Chipmunks direct-to-video film following Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, and the third of three Universal Cartoon Studios productions to be animated overseas by Tama Productions in Tokyo, Japan. The film introduces the voices of Maurice LaMarche and Miriam Flynn.
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 American live-action/animated jukebox musical comedy film directed by Tim Hill from a screenplay by Jon Vitti and the writing team of Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi. It is the first installment in the live-action film series of Alvin and the Chipmunks. The plot follows chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, who move in with struggling songwriter Dave Seville after losing their home. When Dave discovers their rare singing talent, he introduces them to JETT Records executive Ian Hawke, whose plans threaten the chipmunks' newfound family dynamic. The cast includes Jason Lee, David Cross, and Cameron Richardson, with voices by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney.
This is the complete discography of the fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks.
A Chipmunk Reunion is a 1985 animated special produced by Bagdasarian Productions, in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises, and is spun off of NBC's popular animated series, Alvin & the Chipmunks, starring the Chipmunks and the Chipettes.
The fictional animated singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian have appeared in eight feature-length films since their debut.
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.
Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks is a French-American animated musical comedy television series created by Janice Karman. Produced by Bagdasarian Productions and Technicolor Animation Productions with the participation of M6, it features Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Chipettes and marks their first television appearance together since 1990. First announced by Bagdasarian Productions in 2010, a promotional trailer for the series was posted on YouTube.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is a 2015 American live-action/animated jukebox musical comedy film directed by Walt Becker and written by Randi Mayem Singer and Adam Sztykiel. It is based on the characters Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and the Chipettes created by Janice Karman. It is the fourth and final installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series and the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011). The ensemble cast includes Jason Lee, Tony Hale, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Josh Green. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney all reprise their roles as the Chipmunks, while Kaley Cuoco, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate voices the Chipettes. Cuoco replaced Amy Poehler as the voice of Eleanor in the film. The plot centers on the Chipmunks as they head to Miami after believing that Dave Seville will propose to his girlfriend Samantha, who has a son who bullies the Chipmunks.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is the soundtrack for the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Released on December 1, 2009, the album features performances by the Chipmunks and Chipettes, along with contributions from artists such as Honor Society, Queensberry, and Charice. The soundtrack achieved commercial success, selling approximately 650,000 copies and earning Gold certification from both the Recording Industry Association of America and the Australian Recording Industry Association.
according to market research firm CinemaScore, while "Alvin" got an A.