Blu-ray Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks

THE MOVIE: 2 3/4 stars out of 5

Alvin and the Chipmunks is based on the characters created by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958, when he recorded a song with the voices sped up sounding like Chipmunks. That song became a hit and spawned a number of successful albums, especially involving a set of Christmas songs as well as an animated TV series in the 1960’s and 1980’s. This film is a live animation CGI mix based on the original TV series. Here the main character is once again David Seville (Jason Lee), a frustrated song writer who can’t get his songs picked up by Jett Records. When he arrives home, he discovers that a set of three chipmunks have invaded his home, making a mess of things. To his surprise, the Chipmunks are able to not only talk but sing and he records a song with the Chipmunks that becomes an instant hit. However, control over the Chipmunks career is taken away from David by the head of Jett Records (David Cross) with predictable results.

While this film was a huge hit, is simply lacks the charm and simplicity of the original TV series. The film itself is totally predictable and relies mostly on the CGI chipmunks rather than a witty script which far too often stoops to juvenile humor. Frankly, the new vocalizations of the Chipmunks falls flat in comparison to the original. So much for digital processing! I have the original Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas record and the voices of Alvin, Simon and Theodore are much more pleasing compared to the digital processing on this film. While I am sure your kids will enjoy this film, the adults will most likely find the film to be tedious. Do your kids a favor, track down the original cartoon series if you can and show it to them. I am sure they will enjoy it more than this film. I would recommend this one as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5

Encoded with AVC and presented on a BD25 disc at its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, Alvin and the Chipmunks is a very good encode. The film boasts wonderful and bright colors which are perfectly captured by this encode. I thought that the skin tones had a bit of a golden hue but that the color reproduction was otherwise excellent. Detail was also very good, especially the CGI chipmunks, where each hair of fur was visible. Black levels were deep and stable giving the film a good three dimensional look. The film lacks the crystal clear clarity of the best looking encodes but this is really the only area of the video that falls short. However, I am sure that fans of this film will be thrilled by the quality of the video presentation here. It is clearly of very good quality but just a tad short of the best that Blu-Ray can offer.

THE AUDIO: 4 stars out of 5

The audio encode here is presented in DTS HD Master Audio and unfortunately, falls a good deal short of the quality exhibited by the video. The audio here is certainly has good dynamics, especially in the front three channels where most of the audio here is presented. While the audio is rather front heavy, there is also good and appropriate use of the surrounds, presenting a nice immersive sound, especially during the concert sequences. The ambiance of the other various sets of the film are well captured. Where this release falls a good bit short in my opinion is the quality of the sound. As I have noted above, I have some problems with the overly processed sound of the voices of the chipmunks. My biggest complaint with the sound however is the shrillness of the sound in general. The treble is just way too hot and sounds very bright, especially at reference levels. The brightness of the sound made me reach for the remote to turn the volume down several notches. While this may make my wife happy, I do enjoy watching movies at appropriate real world volume levels. This was difficult to do with this release and hence my overall score.

IN CONCLUSION

I must say that I was a big fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks as a child but that this release falls a good bit short of the original cartoon series in the 1960’s. While it tries, the movie falls short, lacking the wit and charm of the original. This is a case of where more is less. The film boasts very good video and rather average audio. However, I am sure that fans of the film will enjoy both although the audio just did not cut it for me. I can only recommend this release as a rental.

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