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Author Topic: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2010 01:19 AM                        Well it was about what I expected, and the kids are enjoying it. What's amazing to me is the number of adults who come out raving about how cute it is, etc. More than one adult has said "Awesome!" upon exiting this movie. We watched it this afternoon. It has all of today's standard kid-pic features, such as: - At least one fart joke - Somebody getting hit in the balls with something - Somebody falling into, or getting dunked into, a toilet - Somebody falling into a bedpan (only applies when part of the movie takes place in a hospital) - Bad guy being a complete and total idiot for no reason - Songs which were popular in the 1970s and 1980s (and 1960s) - Really bad acting by all concerned - Teenage girls being turned on by rodents (chipmunk movies only) - Bad guy being horribly humiliated at the end, as opposed to killed - A helpful message for the kids (in this case, it's "Don't be a jerk; think of others, not just yourself") It had a couple of laughs due to cutesy/risque lines spoken by chipmunks, but that's about it. The sound mix was awful. This movie became our top grossing movie of 2009 on Day 6. I just don't get it. (Meanwhile a really good movie, Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," probably won't make our top 10 for the year. I guess that's because it featured none of the dopey kidpic attributes listed above.) 0.5 out of 5 stars for me. It gets half a star for a catchy song during the end credits, which I enjoyed, and for putting a lot of butts in the seats -- some have come two or three times!  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2010 01:00 PM                        At the two smaller multiplexes here in Montgomery, Alvin is beating Avatar. At the major Plex it is giving it a run for its money. Maybe there are subliminal messages in the squeaky voice recordings;>  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-02-2010 06:57 PM                     Well, Avatar is a few weeks old now and the area audience around you for it is certainly dwindling by now. Or are you hinting at the type of fims your populus prefers???  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-02-2010 07:00 PM                     quote: which I enjoyed, and for putting a lot of butts in the seats -- some have come two or three times! Which means your conc sales and percap went out through the roof!  |  IP: Logged Steven J Hart Master Film Handler Posts: 282 From: WALES, ND, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 01-02-2010 08:05 PM                        Mike, I'm just as amazed as you about the business this thing is doing. We're in our second week now with attendance still very high. In our tiny town, the second week of any given show is usually way less than half the first week. Alvin is holding up over 50%. I didn't care for the show but my 4 and 6 year old boys loved it.  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 01-03-2010 01:29 AM                     Can anyone understand what those horrible little rodents are saying? Maybe age is wearying me, but I'm sure this thing needs subtitles.  |  IP: Logged Steven J Hart Master Film Handler Posts: 282 From: WALES, ND, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 01-05-2010 02:36 PM                        Gross Update: Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 is our 8th highest grossing picture since 1998. WTF!!!  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-05-2010 02:47 PM                     Having not seen the first and screening this one, I didn't like how the singing all had the "in vogue" effect of autotune. And just to check, I listened just now to an old chipmunk song and then to one from the movie and the effect was insanely obvious.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-05-2010 06:30 PM                        Totally agreed there. That whole Mariah Carey-ish vocal style where they sing five notes when only one is required drives me nuts. (It's called "melisma.")  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-05-2010 08:39 PM                     I'm not referring to melisma, though melisma is an annoying thing that a lot of people do. Auto-Tune is a piece of software that includes (among other things) audio pitch correction for vocals and instruments. So I sing off-key then they smoothly change my pitch to the right one. But now, a lot of people instead use it to instantaneously switch from one pitch to the other, which creates the odd-sounding effect that's become popular with a lot of artists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6bCdZmSE7M edit: The bigger annoyance for me was hearing the obvious auto-tune effect even when the chipmunks are supposed to be singing A Capella in a hallway.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 01-05-2010 11:55 PM                     yo shorrrtaayyyy  |  IP: Logged

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