Movie review – Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

– by Adrian Mack

As a puckish satire of contemporary mores, 2007’s Alvin and the Chipmunks was hard to beat. Amazingly, Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel is even better.

As Dave Seville, master Scientologist Jason Lee is sidelined early in the picture, left in traction in a hospital in Paris after something crazy happens to him (I don’t remember what).

Enter pathologically shy younger brother Toby Seville – given a brooding, animal sexuality by Zachary Levi (Wieners). He’s left to make sure the chipmunks attend high school after a tragic mishap at LAX puts his grandmother in hospital (I don’t remember what).

Dave = Granny

But, Toby = Dave (he even looks like him).

Here, director Betty Thomas (Private Parts) is playing with doubles, mirrors, and symmetries; plunging the viewer into a world of uncertain meaning. Parents are left to wonder, “Am I watching a kid’s movie or Vertigo on DMT?”

Kiddies meanwhile will be delighted by the slapstick antics of the Chipmunks as they take on high school jocks and a rival group of singing female Chipmunks managed by down-and-out former record exec Ian Wolfe (David Cross).

Alvin and the effin' Chipmunks.

Naturally, passion blooms out of this loaded premise, and Alvin, Theodore, and Simon are left to grapple with their pubertal drives – most potently symbolized by the scene in which Alvin hucks the Wii remote through the TV. There’s a strong allusion to homosexual panic when fat little Simon is accidentally dutch-ovened by Toby, and Theodore’s ongoing confrontation with the football team speaks to common “size” issues. I couldn’t help but squirm, even as I was rolling in the aisles.

My daughter adds, “When Alvin went up and bonked Dave on stage at the start. That was funny, wasn’t it?”

Oh right, right — that’s why he ended up in hospital.

“AL-VIN!!”