The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)
First and foremost, I arrive at The Chipmunk Adventure knowing full-well that it wasn’t made for me. It was made for the elementary school set of which I have lost past. I have seen only a few minutes of their television series, enough to know that it wasn’t made for me and that I didn’t really want to hang around. My only exposure to Alvin and the Chipmunks happened when I was 7-years-old and for Christmas somebody gave me a .45 of the group singing their little song “Christmas Don’t Be Late”. It was cute, adorable even. Somebody figured out how to make money by speeding up a record. I didn’t need anything further.
Don’t get me wrong, I like animation. I am first in line every time Disney comes out with one of their animated features but this one, produced by Donald Balasarius’ company and distributed through The Samuel Goldwyn Company was not in that league. In truth, I found it a little irritating because the story doesn’t seem made for kids, it seems like it was pasted together at random from stuff already on TV.
From what I gather, The Chipmunks – Simon, the smart one; Theodore, the sensitive one, and Alvin, the troublemaker are a band with a massive following. Dave, their father, goes on vacation leaving the little beasts by themselves until a group of thieves trick the trio into an around-the-world balloon race against The Chipettes, who are the girl versions of The Chipmunks. The movie takes us to a lot of exotic locations and the Chipmunks and the Chipettes sing songs that will vaporize from your memory as soon as they’re over.
The movie doesn’t do a lot in terms of a story. What do kids care about? A trip around the world? Stolen jewels? A cash prize? These are points selected at random. Why not have them on a real adventure, an exotic adventure not in the real world. Have them discover their origins. Maybe where sentient chipmunks rule the Earth. I like that idea better.