Overall, you can’t go wrong with Alvin and the Chipmunks
Overall, you can´t go wrong with "Alvin and the Chipmunks." The first half is well worth the shortcomings of the final half of the film. Jason Lee is very good as Dave Seville and while he didn´t quite have the deep and parental voice of Ross Bagdasarian shouting the overly familiar "Alvin," he brought likability to the character. The film shines brightest when Dave discovers the magic of the trio when the first sing "The Chipmunk Song" and I´m very thankful the filmmakers retained that classic as a key part to this film. Once the ´Chipmunk Sound´ went to modern pop and dance, I thought some of the magic was lost, but I remembered back to when I was younger and how I enjoyed hearing the Alvin and the Chipmunks cover some of the songs I liked from the time. I´m sure kids today will love hearing Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing the music of their time. This isn´t a great film, but it´s a lot of fun and good for fans of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" of all ages.
Video:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" combines photo-realistic CGI effects with a live-action film. Essentially, the three chipmunks are computer generated and the remaining elements of the film were shot with a standard camera. I had first experienced "Alvin and the Chipmunks" on the Blu-ray format and that release was not overwhelming, but solid. The DVD release may not compare directly to the Blu-ray release, but doesn´t lose much ground is a comparatively better release on the DVD format when it comes to visuals. The level of detail is superb and colors are quite strong. While I feel the colors could have been slightly stronger," Alvin and the Chipmunks never looks over-processed. " On DVD, the film is closer to being ´awesome like Alvin´ than the Blu-ray release as it compares very favorably to the better DVD releases in recent times. Both the computer generated scenes and live-action segments of this 1.85:1 anamorphic release look superb and the disc can be viewed on the A-Side in 1.33:1 full screen.
Audio:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" have always been about the music and the DVD release of the film brings their modern songs to life rather nicely and potently through a quality English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix. Spanish and French Dolby Digital 2.1 sound mixes are also provided and subtitles exist for English and Spanish reading folk. Borrowing from my Blu-ray review, the film featured a fairly aggressive mix that really comes to life in the second half of the film and while I felt the storytelling was sub-par on the back nine, the sound was quite impressive. From watching the bonus features, I learned that there were at least twenty four tracks of music for each song. It shows and to quote one of the personalities from those bonus materials, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" boasts a "Wall of Sound." The DVD release once again uses the.1 LFE channel effectively and makes good usage of the rear surrounds. The highs and lows of the vocals and songs are solid and very nicely presented. I once again enjoyed the credits and hearing the super-cleaned up version of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don´t Be Late)." It sounded just as amazing on DVD as it did on Blu-ray.
Extras:
The DVD release of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" features the same primary two supplements as the Blu-ray release as well as something different for the kids. The Full Screen A-Side of the release includes the Chip-Chip-Hooray! Chipmunk History (12:18) feature that has Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and some others associated with the chipmunks giving a very nice backstory on how the Chipmunk Phenomenon came into being. This is a very nice little twelve minute feature. The first side also contains two preview trailers; the first for the theatrical release of "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" (2:04) and the second for a DVD release of "Garfield´s FunFest" (:38). Flipping the disc over yields the Hitting the Harmony (8:55) featurette that dives into how the sound of the Chipmunks was modernized for this film. The DVD release also contains the Alvin and the Chipmunks Soundtrack (:31) promotional spot for the film´s soundtrack. I mentioned this release contains something else for the kids and it does. Inside Look (3:47) is a brief look at the digitally animated film "Horton Hears a Who." This preview is one long scene featuring Horton trying to cross a bridge and how it affects a Who dental visit. It is promotional, but it is a funny scene from the film.
Closing Comments:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" could almost be called sacred ground. I grew up enjoying the laughs and music of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Although Jason Lee was attached, I was leery about the CGI-based chipmunks. However, the film is a good outing for the singing chipmunks and the filmmakers did a pretty good job of bringing the creations of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. to new audiences. I would have kept going with the themes and fun of the first forty five minutes for the whole film, but that is my personal preference and I didn´t enjoy the second half of the picture nearly as much as I enjoyed the first half. I wrote those first few sentences for the Blu-ray release and they still hold true as I watched the film again on DVD. However, in comparison I was a little happier with the DVD release as the picture was comparatively better when you compare "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to other DVD releases. Sound was again solid, but the supplements were ever-so-slightly expanded for the DVD release with a promotional spot for "Horton Hears a Who." Again, this is a nice release for the family and should please all but the most die-hard Chipmunk fans.
Video:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" combines photo-realistic CGI effects with a live-action film. Essentially, the three chipmunks are computer generated and the remaining elements of the film were shot with a standard camera. I had first experienced "Alvin and the Chipmunks" on the Blu-ray format and that release was not overwhelming, but solid. The DVD release may not compare directly to the Blu-ray release, but doesn´t lose much ground is a comparatively better release on the DVD format when it comes to visuals. The level of detail is superb and colors are quite strong. While I feel the colors could have been slightly stronger," Alvin and the Chipmunks never looks over-processed. " On DVD, the film is closer to being ´awesome like Alvin´ than the Blu-ray release as it compares very favorably to the better DVD releases in recent times. Both the computer generated scenes and live-action segments of this 1.85:1 anamorphic release look superb and the disc can be viewed on the A-Side in 1.33:1 full screen.
Audio:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" have always been about the music and the DVD release of the film brings their modern songs to life rather nicely and potently through a quality English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix. Spanish and French Dolby Digital 2.1 sound mixes are also provided and subtitles exist for English and Spanish reading folk. Borrowing from my Blu-ray review, the film featured a fairly aggressive mix that really comes to life in the second half of the film and while I felt the storytelling was sub-par on the back nine, the sound was quite impressive. From watching the bonus features, I learned that there were at least twenty four tracks of music for each song. It shows and to quote one of the personalities from those bonus materials, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" boasts a "Wall of Sound." The DVD release once again uses the.1 LFE channel effectively and makes good usage of the rear surrounds. The highs and lows of the vocals and songs are solid and very nicely presented. I once again enjoyed the credits and hearing the super-cleaned up version of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don´t Be Late)." It sounded just as amazing on DVD as it did on Blu-ray.
Extras:
The DVD release of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" features the same primary two supplements as the Blu-ray release as well as something different for the kids. The Full Screen A-Side of the release includes the Chip-Chip-Hooray! Chipmunk History (12:18) feature that has Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and some others associated with the chipmunks giving a very nice backstory on how the Chipmunk Phenomenon came into being. This is a very nice little twelve minute feature. The first side also contains two preview trailers; the first for the theatrical release of "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" (2:04) and the second for a DVD release of "Garfield´s FunFest" (:38). Flipping the disc over yields the Hitting the Harmony (8:55) featurette that dives into how the sound of the Chipmunks was modernized for this film. The DVD release also contains the Alvin and the Chipmunks Soundtrack (:31) promotional spot for the film´s soundtrack. I mentioned this release contains something else for the kids and it does. Inside Look (3:47) is a brief look at the digitally animated film "Horton Hears a Who." This preview is one long scene featuring Horton trying to cross a bridge and how it affects a Who dental visit. It is promotional, but it is a funny scene from the film.
Closing Comments:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" could almost be called sacred ground. I grew up enjoying the laughs and music of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Although Jason Lee was attached, I was leery about the CGI-based chipmunks. However, the film is a good outing for the singing chipmunks and the filmmakers did a pretty good job of bringing the creations of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. to new audiences. I would have kept going with the themes and fun of the first forty five minutes for the whole film, but that is my personal preference and I didn´t enjoy the second half of the picture nearly as much as I enjoyed the first half. I wrote those first few sentences for the Blu-ray release and they still hold true as I watched the film again on DVD. However, in comparison I was a little happier with the DVD release as the picture was comparatively better when you compare "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to other DVD releases. Sound was again solid, but the supplements were ever-so-slightly expanded for the DVD release with a promotional spot for "Horton Hears a Who." Again, this is a nice release for the family and should please all but the most die-hard Chipmunk fans.
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