THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE
Offers more squeaks per second than a whorehouse that caters to prematurely-ejaculating fourteen year old boys.
Alvin and the Chipmunks came into being back in the fifties, when someone discovered that a voice recording played back at double speed sounded helium-cute. To justify the sound, a silly backstory was concocted involving singing chipmunks cared for by a sexless single man named Dave. They were brought to life as a puppet show, and then eventually made the leap to cartoon success in the sixties and seventies. Recordings of the Chipmunks singing songs, particularly the Christmas classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, brought them instant fame and - most disturbingly - five Grammy awards. The mystifying success of the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie in theaters late last year justifies the re-release of these old Chipmunks properties. However, the horrifying liberties taken with the characters for that film adaptation - do they really need to be hip hop chipmunks?? - justifies bringing back old school Chipmunks even more. Let's take a look at both discs together: The Chipmunk Adventure (1987) Available at Amazon for $9.99THE FILM What can I say? Dave is headed overseas for a business trip, and the Chipmunks are pissed that they can't go along. Fortunately for them, two worldwide diamond thieves happen to be sitting nearby at the coffee shop when the Chipmunks are bitching about it, and they offer the Chipmunks the chance to "travel the world." Little do the Chipmunks know that they will be unwittingly smuggling diamonds for the thieves. Did I really just type that? Anyway ... needless to say, the Chipmunks manage to get into plenty of trouble. The film manages to sneak in a fair amount of danger and violence, but the songs make it all go down fairly easily. The animation is of a fairly high calibre, attributed mainly to the fact that the production company managed to snag a bunch of Disney animators who found themselves unemployed after the failure of The Black Cauldron. In fact, this might be the best animated version of the Chipmunks ever, and I am including last year's CGI monstrosity. It is definitely colorful, with a pace fast enough to entertain most young children. But for adults, those damn Chipmunk voices can get old really fast. EXTRAS The only extra are some sketches of the characters and storyboards. Nothing too exciting. TECHNICAL A good transfer that shows off the vibrant colors employed for this theatrical run. I was particularly impressed with the backgrounds here. Quite nice. OVERALL It's a cute film and all, but why re-release it? A quick scan of Amazon reveals several DVD and VHS versions of this film. If it's going to be re-packaged, then why not include some extras?? Very little makes sense about this release. FILM: 
THE FILM Unbearable. This set, which includes three episodes from the short-lived television show, might cause coma patients to crawl from their beds in order to turn the television off. The horrible scripts were apparently written on animation cels, which were then recycled for the animation; in other words, this is some of the dirtiest-looking animation I have ever seen. The three films "spoofed" by the Chipmunks are Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, Big, and Back To The Future. All three are varying degrees of awful, with only the Back To The Future parody demonstrating any kind of wit or intelligence (The Chipmunks travel back in time to meet themselves in 1958, and the two bands have a contest to see which one is better). One final note. I found it a little disconcerting to see an adult Alvin - seen all grown up in the Big parody - wearing a half shirt with the words "Furry Balls" written on it. While I am certainly not a prude, I always get a little weirded out when cartoons for children add sexual innuendo for cheap adult laughs (see: masturbation jokes in Shrek, for instance). Anyway, it's just awlful all around. EXTRAS None. Thank God. TECHNICAL Blood transfusions in 1981 were cleaner than this awful disc. I reflexively Windexed my television screen five times from all of the dirt and grime inherent in the artless limited animation. Nothing was cleaned up for this disc; the transfer process apparently involved videotaping the episodes as they played on a 1975 Zenith console television. OVERALL Don't bother with this, especially at the jaw-dropping price. FILM:
rating: 2.5
DVD:rating: 2.5
Alvin and the Chipmunks Go To The Movies(1990) Available at Amazon for $15.29!THE FILM Unbearable. This set, which includes three episodes from the short-lived television show, might cause coma patients to crawl from their beds in order to turn the television off. The horrible scripts were apparently written on animation cels, which were then recycled for the animation; in other words, this is some of the dirtiest-looking animation I have ever seen. The three films "spoofed" by the Chipmunks are Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, Big, and Back To The Future. All three are varying degrees of awful, with only the Back To The Future parody demonstrating any kind of wit or intelligence (The Chipmunks travel back in time to meet themselves in 1958, and the two bands have a contest to see which one is better). One final note. I found it a little disconcerting to see an adult Alvin - seen all grown up in the Big parody - wearing a half shirt with the words "Furry Balls" written on it. While I am certainly not a prude, I always get a little weirded out when cartoons for children add sexual innuendo for cheap adult laughs (see: masturbation jokes in Shrek, for instance). Anyway, it's just awlful all around. EXTRAS None. Thank God. TECHNICAL Blood transfusions in 1981 were cleaner than this awful disc. I reflexively Windexed my television screen five times from all of the dirt and grime inherent in the artless limited animation. Nothing was cleaned up for this disc; the transfer process apparently involved videotaping the episodes as they played on a 1975 Zenith console television. OVERALL Don't bother with this, especially at the jaw-dropping price. FILM: rating: 1.5
DVD:rating:0