Huh... A day or so ago, I was mentioning that 1) Alvin and the chipmunks is a horror story to musicians, because they've come to embody pop musicians making HORRIBLE covers of old songs where they only use 10% of the lyrics and just repeat them over and over, and 2) The sad part is they USED to not do that: they would do serious covers, and actually had some original songs by Dave Seville. (yes, he was a real guy)
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The only thing good that came from the (relatively) new live-action chipmunk movies was the a Capella numbers they did in the first film. I loved their rendition of Bad Day at the beginning of the movie. :3
I also have a guilty pleasure in listening to various songs being chipmunkified. I'm a sucker for high notes, so hearing high notes being one-upped is pretty awesome. I especially enjoy hearing hard rock and heavy metal songs; chipmunk screams are the best.
"When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around,
do you ever really crash or even make a sound?"
KJOokami wrote:I also have a guilty pleasure in listening to various songs being chipmunkified. I'm a sucker for high notes, so hearing high notes being one-upped is pretty awesome. I especially enjoy hearing hard rock and heavy metal songs; chipmunk screams are the best.
Hmm... now I somehow can't stop thinking about chipmunked version of Housepets Theme sang by Buckdida.
Rick mentioned in a post that they are ground squirrels.
The Alvin and the Chipmunks movies are my guilty pleasure. I know they're ridiculous, you have to suspend a lot of your belief and it's insulting on many levels that the boys refer to themselves as "Rock Stars" but I enjoyed the first and third movie.
The chippettes have always seemed like filler characters, they aren't very different from one another, but I think the writers did a good job of bringing Alvin, Simon and Theodre to life. I especially enjoyed the portion of the third movie after Simon was bitten by the spider.
'I am Si-Mone!!'
'That's a lot like Simon'
I also think these movies have some good things to teach a young audience. Alvin's persistent selfishness causing him to overlook what's important, and in the final movie the unexpected move to be the responsible member of the group. That's a nice message.
I'll bet most of you would rather watch this than The Smurfs
Spike - "Seriously, a talking Dog is the weird thing about all this"
Me - "Not at all, the fact that you're a dog and not a lizard is much weirder"
JohnWillow wrote:I also think these movies have some good things to teach a young audience. Alvin's persistent selfishness causing him to overlook what's important, and in the final movie the unexpected move to be the responsible member of the group. That's a nice message.
Way to spoil the movie for me! Naw not really. XD
Ground squirrels, eh... why not praire dogs?
Ferrets being infiltrated by a praire dog would be awesome.
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JohnWillow wrote:I also think these movies have some good things to teach a young audience. Alvin's persistent selfishness causing him to overlook what's important, and in the final movie the unexpected move to be the responsible member of the group. That's a nice message.
I'll bet most of you would rather watch this than The Smurfs
Well it doesn't take a brilliant screenwriter to outdo the Smurfs.
I think what turned most people off to the later Chipmunks movies IS Alvin's persistent selfishness. Like a constant, oppressive cloud that never goes away and never leaves anything of value behind; the audience doesn't get invested because it doesn't matter what happens, Alvin is going to remain an idiot and constantly endanger everyone around him. When a main character is the SOURCE of all the problems in the movie . . . it's not very fun.
The last-minute turnaround doesn't really do much to help that when the audience doesn't anticipate it ever happening.
I'm sure the cold hand of science will be able to overcome his magical powers
rickgriffin wrote:
I think what turned most people off to the later Chipmunks movies IS Alvin's persistent selfishness. Like a constant, oppressive cloud that never goes away and never leaves anything of value behind; the audience doesn't get invested because it doesn't matter what happens, Alvin is going to remain an idiot and constantly endanger everyone around him. When a main character is the SOURCE of all the problems in the movie . . . it's not very fun.
The last-minute turnaround doesn't really do much to help that when the audience doesn't anticipate it ever happening.
Yea, i suppose he is a bit one dimensional. But if ever given the chance i'd hug him till he pops.
rickgriffin wrote:
Well it doesn't take a brilliant screenwriter to outdo the Smurfs.
No indeed.
Stupid thing is i've never even watched The Smurfs. I'm still flabbergasted by the money it made.
holmebrian wrote:but having the main character hurt them self or make major problems for everyone else is funny and enjoyable if done right.
Heh, you read my mind.
Rango...The Emperors New Groove...Cat's Don't Dance...about every Pixar movie
Spike - "Seriously, a talking Dog is the weird thing about all this"
Me - "Not at all, the fact that you're a dog and not a lizard is much weirder"
Not that I've ever seen those Chipmunchkin or whatever flicks, but I think it's a question of attitude.
Is he/she/it a supremely clumsy fool that makes/caused more problems than solved by the end of the film? Yeah, so what, just make him honestly try to make up for it, better himself, etc. and you've reclaimed the audience's sympathy.
From what I've seen in previews, trailers and reviews, however, I would wager the problems don't lie so much by that red CG eyesore but with the work as a whole. Strikes me as one of those lowest-common-denominator flicks that substitute charm and wit by loud and flashy vulgarities or various kinds of gross-out goo thrown at characters in failed attempts to derive humor and that even the most lowbrow hillbilly audiences seem to tire of these days.
Sure you could make something worthwhile out of the property. Just give it to Pixar and not one of those money-grubbing hacks that are part of the current race to the bottom.[/rant]
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