Oh, and they’re rappers, apparently.
Who is that guy? Is that Morton Downey Jr.? I thought he’d gotten off drugs.
According to IMDb, that is Jason Lee. Let us fear.
Not only is Ross Bagdasarian Jr. fully involved in this project, he’s reprising his role as the voice of Alvin. (He was the voice of Alvin in the 1980s series. His father, Ross Sr., created the Chipmunks and was the original voice of Alvin and David Seville.) I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
That poster would have been approximately 1000 times better if it had just left out the stupid text at the bottom.
“Here comes trouble,” full stop, is perfect.
(Not that I think this movie is a good idea–I’m just talking about the poster.)
This is why I wish I could get a job just—correcting—stuff. :lol:
-FrL-
Hey, maybe it’ll be like the movie version of Teddy Ruxpin Penny Arcade has come up with.
Karma is so gonna get Jason Lee for this. He used to be in Kevin Smith movies. He was Azrael in “Dogma.” And he’s Earl Hickey, for cryin’ out loud. His coolness factor just plummeted several points.
And he’s also the voice of Underdog!
Do Scientologists believe in karma?
I always thought Alvin and the Chipmunks were such a wonderfully bizarre little novelty concept. Ross Bagdasarian took a comical audio effect and managed to spin it out into several successful albums and a cartoon show. (I remember playing the LPs as a kid, while holding the turntable to make the voices slow down to where the chipmunk’s voices sounded normal. Holy cow, Dave Seville and Alvin were the same guy! That blew my mind.)
Now, 50 years later, they have a CG live-action movie. That’s just nuts. Props to Ross for being the genius who found the mountain of gold under that unlikely molehill. I can only dream that someday my fortune will be made by something as humble as the 45 rpm setting.
How long until Beany and Cecil get the big-budget treatment, do you suppose?
With all these 80s properties, would a CGI version of Gumby be missing the point?
Underdog was a live-action abortion that bore even less resemblance to its Saturday morning original. Maybe Karma’s already got him in its sights.
In keeping with the tradition of recycling nostalgia favorites for the “urban” market.
Yes, because in the '50s, the Chipmunks played white music, like rock n roll.
I was never a Chimpmunks fan. Although I was a fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle, the live-action show sucked big time! I’m expecting this to be bad.
I think that the new character modelling is lacking of charm. But whatever. I didn’t really like them when I was little anyway, though I was pretty excited when they met Michael Jackson.
All right, now that this film is out, I have to bring this back. I don’t plan on seeing this film (does anybody over the age of 5?), but Roger Ebert’s review was pretty darn funny. Keep in mind this is the man who gave Garfield four stars.
Looking, it appears that the ‘munks aren’t rappers, but apparently, an evil producer played by David Cross wants to make them so: the old “money vs. creativity” argument that always seems to be in movies about singers. I seem to recall that Ross Bagdasarian Jr and his wife, the current chipmunk voices, were to reprise their roles, but they’ve been replaced by Jesse McCartney (singer, Beautiful Soul et al), Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds), and Justin Long (“I’m a Mac” from Apple commercials). The only thing more baffling is the writers’ credits: Jon Vitti (The Simpsons), Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi (co-creators of Pete and Pete and Kablam!) I seem to remember these guys being good, but maybe I’m forgetting. I think a film about Alvin’s true story would be better.
Wait.
What?
-FrL-
Yeah, I realize that’s a misplaced modifier there, but it’s somewhat right- after the death of Ross Bagdasarian, his son, Ross Jr. took over the voice of Alvin and Simon. Ross Jr.'s wife, Janice Karman, is the voice of Theodore.
Even when I think a movie is a terrible idea, I can usually understand why some producers and a movie studio might think millions of people will want to see it. I always hated Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I can’t understand why anybody wanted to make this movie. As far as I know, it’s been off TV for years. Were they just waiting for CGI technology to advance until they could realistically do Alvin, Simon and Theodore? Yeah, maybe that’s it. The producers were waiting to see what Peter Jackson’s Weta people did with King Kong, and when they saw that movie, they figured they could probably make the singing chipmunk thing work at long last.
I can understand even less why Jason Lee wanted to be in it. The money was probably good, yes, but he isn’t poor. Maybe he just needed an excuse to shave off his Earl mustache. I can sort of imagine that conversation with his agent.
"Irwin? It’s Jason. I need a break from this hairy thing on my face. I look like a failed porn star who let himself go and became a gas station attendant.
"No, the show is great, I don’t want to quit. I just need a break. There’s a writer’s strike coming up anyway, so maybe I can do ditch the 'stache, do a movie and say I shaved for that. Who’s out there?
“No, that’s horrible. That’s worse. Oh God, who the hell would make THAT movie?
That’s it? Fine. Tell them I’m doing that chipmunk thing. I’m going to buy one of those razors with fifteen blades in it.”