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Alvin & The Chipmunks Go To The Movies
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Andreas Petersen (27th April 2008). |
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The Show
 When I first got this DVD, I assumed it was going to be a short, 60 minute direct-to-video movie. Little did I know that this disc was actually three episodes of some "Alvin and the Chipmunks" spinoff called “Go to the Movies” in which the three anthropomorphic heroes re-imagine Hollywood hits. A novel concept to be sure, but is it any good? In short: No, not at all. The disc offers three episodes of “Alvin and the Chipmunks Go to the Movies”, the first of which is “Funny…We Shrunk the Adults” (running for 22 minutes and 34 seconds), a parody of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" (19890. Alvin, Simon and Theodore invite over their new neighbors to trash their house while Dave, their dad, is out. Dave never arrives because he is accidentally shrunk down by Simon’s “matter condenser”. The second episode, titled “Bigger” (running for 23 minutes and 6 seconds) is the chipmunk twist on the classic Big. Alvin wants to be an adult to acquire instant success in life, and after his wish is granted, he realizes he got more than her bargained for, and wants to be a kid again. The last episode is entitled “Back to Our Future” (running for 23 minutes and 6 seconds), and obvious parody of "Back to the Future" (1985). This is easily the best of the three, based on concept alone. In this episode, the three chipmunks travel back to the 1950's to meet their old selves. The episode is saturated in self-parody of how silly the old chipmunks were. While it was mildly entertaining for ten minutes, I got rather bored after that. Basically in every corner of this show I can find something to complain about. First and foremost, the writing is just plain sloppy. The episodes are riddled with clichéd joke after clichéd joke, and just lack the sincerity I found in the regular cartoon series, as well as the great "Alvin and the Chipmunks Adventure film" that came out three years prior to this show. Also, the animation is about as dodgy as the writing. Frame rates are dropped, people at times will suddenly disappear, and the animation all around just looks inconsistent. It is certainly miles below the work done on the original show and film. To be, “Going to the Movies” was possibly God’s way of telling the world that we’ve had just enough of the Alvin and his brothers, and it took this bastardized version to get the point across. It’s this sort of stuff that can completely destroy a franchise, and I get the feeling that’s what happened, as the show came out in 1990, which was around the time of the chipmunks decline in popularity. We can only hope that if they ever return, it’s with the dignity and finesse of the original series. What’s that? Oh, right. Crap.
Video
“Go to the Movies” is presented in a 1.33:1 transfer, and is honestly, in terms of quality, one of the most abysmal looking DVD's I have ever seen. The video is full of scratches and black specks, not to mention the level of noise makes it look as though it is being played on a VCR. It’s sort of hard to fault Paramount for not finding a better print of some show that no one really cares about, but that doesn’t make it good.
Audio
The disc offers one English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. The audio was nowhere near as bad as the video was, but I still felt as though it were lacking. Not all of the chipmunk’s dialogue was clear, but that may just be because they are shrilling in such a high pitch, but I have a feeling that it is a combination of that and a dodgy transfer. Someone really didn’t take care of the source material. This disc does not feature any optional subtitles.
Extras
None whatsoever. There’s a “Play All” button, but I don’t think that counts.
Overall
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