Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is a 2011 American 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.[6] It is the third installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series following the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and the first film. 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.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
- Janice Karman
- Ross Bagdasarian Jr.
Peter Amundson
- December 16, 2011
87 minutes[3]
United States[1]
English
$80 million[4]
$342.7 million[5]
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked was released in the United States on December 16, 2011, by 20th Century Fox. The film received generally negative reviews from critics. However, it grossed over $342 million worldwide against an $80 million budget. A fourth and final film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, was released on December 18, 2015 with Kaley Cuoco replacing Amy Poehler as the voice of Eleanor.[7]
Plot[edit]
Dave, the Chipmunks, and the Chipettes go on a cruise ship en route to the International Music Awards. Both parties end up creating trouble, culminating in Dave having dinner with the captain to apologize. He tells them to stay in their room, only for all of them, except Theodore, to escape to the casinos. Dave discovers his former supervisor Ian Hawke is working as the ship's safety monitor dressed as a pelican, and is out to inform the captain if the Chipmunks and Chipettes stir up more trouble. The next day, Alvin decides to go para-sailing on a kite but the kite flies away with him and the other Chipmunks. Dave goes on a hang-glider to try to find them but Ian attempts to stop him, which results in them both ending up stranded in the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the Chipmunks find a deserted island and they sleep for the night. Dave enlists Ian's help to find the same island and begin looking for the Chipmunks. The next morning the Chipmunks go and find food and while doing so, come across a castaway named Zoe, who sees the chipmunks for the first time. They then go to Zoe's tree house where Eleanor sprains her ankle and Simon gets bitten by a spider; its side effects include personality changes and loss of inhibition.
The morning after, everyone observes Simon's personality changed where he thinks he is a French adventurer named "Simone". "Simone" is attracted to Jeanette but does not take as kindly to Alvin and Brittany. Later, Zoe takes "Simone", Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore to a lake with a waterfall and "Simone" finds a cave. He returns with a gold bracelet which he gives to Jeanette as a crown.
Brittany and Alvin see an active volcano the next day, so decide they must leave the island with the others. Theodore and "Simone" find Dave and Ian and meet up with the other chipmunks. They all begin to prepare a raft to get them off the island and everyone is assigned a job. When Jeanette and "Simone" go to look for food, "Simone" is knocked unconscious and Jeanette is kidnapped; "Simone" reverts back to Simon.
Everyone finds Simon awake and he cannot remember anything after the spider had bitten him. They discover that Zoe has taken Jeanette, so they head towards the waterfall. When they approach the tree log to cross, Dave and Alvin decide to go find Jeanette. As Zoe forces her to get the treasure in the cave by tying her to a rope, she reveals that she was never a castaway, but came to the island especially to find the treasure. However, living alone on the island for ten years wiped her memory and she is now ruthlessly willing to find the treasure at all costs.
Alvin and Dave come to Jeanette's rescue. The island begins to rumble again, Zoe lets go of the rope and Jeanette runs with Dave and Alvin back to the raft. When they reach the log to cross, Zoe grabs the rope and drags Jeanette back to her until Alvin cuts it with the pocket knife (Swiss Army knife) Dave confiscated earlier. Dave almost falls.
Alvin and a reformed Ian convince Zoe to help save Dave. They then run towards the raft and escape the eruption. While floating away, Zoe apologizes to Jeanette for kidnapping her and trying to force her to get the treasure. As a gift, Jeanette gives Zoe the gold bracelet that Simon had given to her. Alvin reconciles with Dave and they are rescued. The Chipmunks and Chipettes perform at the International Music Awards. Ian also starts a new career as a screenwriter by selling a screenplay about Zoe's story to Hollywood, finally resurrecting his fortune and making Zoe famous. On the plane back to Los Angeles, Alvin tricks the other passengers into thinking they're going to Timbuktu, much to Dave's annoyance.
Production[edit]
On October 26, 2010, according to 24 Frames from the Los Angeles Times, Mike Mitchell, the director behind Shrek Forever After, was in negotiations with 20th Century Fox to direct the new film.[8] The film featured one of Carnival's newest and biggest cruise ships, Carnival Dream. The external shots and interior stateroom suite were filmed during a seven-day Caribbean cruise. The casino, dance club, and dining room were filmed on a set not attempting to match the actual interior of the Carnival Dream cruise ship. The visual effects and animation for the chipmunks were provided by Los Angeles-based Rhythm and Hues Studios, who previously animated the first and second installments of the franchise. Mark Mothersbaugh composed the musical score for the film, replacing David Newman.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The film grossed a total of $133,110,742 in North America, and another $209,584,693 internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $342,695,435.[5] Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked made $6.7 million on its opening day, which was lower than the opening day grosses of the 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks ($13.3 million) and The Squeakquel ($18.8 million).[10] For its opening weekend, the film ranked at the #2 spot behind Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with $23.2 million, which was less than the opening weekends of the franchise's previous two films, the original film's $44.3 million and its sequel's $48.9 million respectively.[11]
Critical response[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of 85 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Lazy, rote, and grating, Chipwrecked is lowest-common-denominator family entertainment that's strictly for the very, very, very young at heart."[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 24 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[14][11][15]
John Anderson of Variety wrote: "As impressive as the CG elements are in 'Chipwrecked,' they're a mixed blessing: The more lifelike the techies make the critters—Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Theodore (Jesse McCartney) and Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) —the more we're reminded they're rodents."[16]
Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it "Every bit as frantic, frenetic, groan-inducing and all around grating as its two predecessors."[17]
David Cross, who played Ian in this film and the previous two installments, has spoken critically of making the film, calling it "the most miserable experience I ever had in my professional life". He had no problems with the other actors or director, but said there were a couple of people who made it an awful experience.[18][19]
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked: Music from the Motion Picture
November 15, 2011[23]
42:43 (album version)
52:32 (Target exclusive limited edition)
49:45 (digital deluxe edition)
Ross Bagdasarian Jr., Janice Karman, Ali Dee Theodore