Alvin and the Chipmunks

Three more movie spoof episodes from the cartoon series

Tags: Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews

Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Sep 10th, 2008


Alvin and the Chipmunks have had a very long life. Some of the songs have been original, but they are perhaps most famous for their high-pitched renditions of popular tunes of the day. In the 80’s the trio was arguably at the height of their popularity, due in large part to a long running cartoon series. A lot of things changed for the three musical rodents over the course of the series, perhaps most notably in the form of a trio of grils that were bit players, then regulars, and now are equals to Simon, Theodore and even Alivn.

Towards the end of the series life, the writers were out of ideas as to what can be done, so they started spoofing movies using the chipmunks. Of course a song or two would be thrown in to the mix. Sometimes the entire episode would be a spoof, and sometimes it would be more of a daydream style story, but in the end it was the furry animated characters twisting the silver screen gems for a young audience that was at the heart of the final episodes of the long running cartoon.

Paramount has already released a few of the episodes on DVD, and now we get three more. The three episodes include “Daytona Jones and the Pearl of Wisdom”, “Batmunk” and “Robomunk”. Yes, Robocop being distilled to an audience of 6 year olds.

So do these episodes hold up today? Well, yes and no. Young viewers may get some of the references, but certainly not most of them. While the episodes themselves are innocuous enough for younger viewers, much of the source material isn’t. I won’t let my young kids see the 1989 version of Batman, which “Batmunk” is based on, but I’m also a bit proponent of appropriate age viewing and monitoring what my kids watch.

Even with the source material as questionable as it is, the three episodes presented here are particularly amusing if you remember the films or the time these episodes were created – almost 20 years ago. For younger viewers, which is what this DVD release is presumably aimed at, they will simply enjoy animated rodents performing heroic deeds.

The bottom line is that there is a lot better stuff out there for kids. What Paramount should do is release the television series in season sets. While kids may like this stuff today, it is their parents that will get a lot more out of it. A better package will serve both audiences much better.

What Works Score
+ Funny (if you were there) 3.0
What Doesn't
- Is a Robocop spoof really appropriate for kids?
- The series as a whole needs to come out in season sets for the intended audience of those that watched it the first time around
Under the Shrink-wrap
These aren't bad, but for the intended audience (I assume) of 7 year olds, there is just so much better, especially considering that much of what we have here is dated.
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