Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Promotional poster
Directed by	Betty Thomas
Written by	Jon Vitti Jonathan Aibel Glenn Berger
Produced by	Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Janice Karman
Starring	Jason Lee Zachary Levi David Cross Wendie Malick Justin Long Matthew Gray Gubler Jesse McCartney Christina Applegate Anna Faris Amy Poehler
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Edited by	Matt Friedman
Music by	David Newman
Production companies	Regency Enterprises Bagdasarian Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 23, 2009 (2009-12-23)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Box office	$316,442,018

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a 2009 American live-action/CGI comedy film and sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks starring Jason Lee, Zachary Levi, David Cross, and Wendie Malick. The film also stars the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, and Amy Poehler.

The film features Alvin and the Chipmunks and their female counterparts, The Chipettes. It was directed by Betty Thomas, written by Jon Vitti and Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger, and distributed by 20th Century Fox, and produced by Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions. It was originally scheduled to open on March 19, 2010, but it was moved up to a December 23, 2009, release instead. In Australia, it was released on December 26.

Plot

During the Chipmunks' "Save the Music" benefit concert, sponsored by VH1, in Paris, where they perform "You Really Got Me", David Seville (Jason Lee) tells Alvin (voiced by Justin Long) to take it easy, but Alvin has a difficult time listening. Then, Alvin jumps on top of a scaffolding and accidentally causes a billboard to fall. Alvin warns Dave, but the billboard sends Dave flying across the stage and crash into electric devices. After the accident, he is rushed to the hospital. Although he survives, he must stay for a few days to recuperate. The nurse gives him a sedative that will make him fall asleep in a minute, so he tells his boys that he's leaving his Aunt Jackie (Kathryn Joosten) in charge of the Chipmunks until he returns. Also, he tells Alvin, Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney) that while he's away, he wants them to have a normal childhood, and that he has also made arrangements for them to go to school. They head to the airport, where the Chipmunks meet up with Aunt Jackie, who introduces her grandson Toby (Zachary Levi), a former high school dropout. He is playing on a Nintendo DS, paying no attention to them. Toby then accidentally knocks Jackie's wheelchair down some stairs while getting the boys' luggage, and an airport luggage trolley crashes into her. She is also sent to the hospital, so Toby is left in charge.

Back at the house, Dave calls them, and Simon warns Alvin to not stress him out, so Alvin lies that Jackie is making them a five course meal, but when Dave finds out he cannot speak to her, he becomes suspicious, so Alvin can do nothing but hang up, causing Dave to yell "ALVIN!" and his stress monitor to beep wildly.

The next day, Toby wakes up early to take the boys to school. When Toby drops them off at East Westman High School, he leaves them all by themselves, but little does he know that on their first day at school the Chipmunks feel uncomfortable, especially with all the bullies around. After becoming frustrated with the Chipmunks' flirting with the girls, Ryan (Kevin G. Schmidt), a jock, gives Simon a swirlie and he and his friend Xander (Chris Warren, Jr.) make fun of Theodore's weight, but this causes Alvin and Simon to angrily attack them.

Meanwhile, Ian Hawke (David Cross), a former the soundtrack editor, now lives in the basement of Jett Records. While brushing his teeth outside, a FedEx truck parks near the building, and a package falls out. Three singing female chipmunks, Brittany (voiced by Christina Applegate), Jeanette (voiced by Anna Faris), and Eleanor (voiced by Amy Poehler),who call themselves the Chipettes, emerge from the package and introduce themselves to Ian. Brittany says that since Ian made the Chipmunks stars, they want to be stars too. To prove their talent, they sing "Put Your Records On". Ian tells them of his previous plight with the Chipmunks to make the Chipettes not trust them. He lets the Chipettes stay in his apartment and have their own dressing mirrors.

Meanwhile, the Chipmunks are afraid to go back to school, but Toby assures them that their second day will be better. During P.E., Simon and Theodore get hit by dodgeballs, but Alvin catches one of them, causing Ryan to invite him to be a jock. Also, they enter the school concert to win $25,000 and save the school's music program. The tension between Alvin and Simon continues to build as Alvin hangs out with the jocks of the school, but the one who is most affected is Theodore who believes he is losing his brothers because they are fighting all the time. Meanwhile, Toby is reunited with his high school crush, Julie Ortega (Anjelah Johnson), who is now the Chipmunks' homeroom teacher.

The Chipmunks meet the Chipettes and fall in love, but are soon forced to have a rivalry after discovering that they are with Ian. The Chipettes sing "Hot N Cold" to get Dr. Rubin (Wendie Malick), the school principal (and secretly longtime fan of the Chipmunks), to enter them in the contest. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes compete against each other in a Battle of the Bands. During lunchtime, Alvin meets up with Brittany, sharing a slightly romantic moment with her until he warns her about what Ian did to him and his brothers, but Brittany does not believe him. Alvin then humiliates Simon in front of everyone when he tells one of the jocks to trick him into thinking he's now the school Litter Monitor and Simon ends up being thrown into the dumpster. At the concert, the Chipettes sing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Ian videotapes the Chipettes performance and posts it on YouTube, along with his phone number. The Chipettes win after Simon and Theodore forfeit the competition because Alvin failed to show up. Alvin later shows up only to see that everyone's gone. Brittany tells Alvin that he doesn't care about anyone but himself and that she never wanted to win the way Ian was making her. When Alvin returns home, Simon and Theodore pretend they're sleeping and ignore him. The embarrassment is too much for Theodore to take so he runs away to the zoo, hoping to live with the meerkats, after seeing Meerkat Manor. When Toby and the boys find him and save him from an eagle, it brings out the best in all four of them and the Chipmunks all forgive each other and go back to "One for all, and three for one," as Theodore had said.

Soon, the Chipettes are hired as the opening act at a Britney Spears concert at the Staples Center. Unfortunately, the concert is on the same night as the school concert, so Ian decides to blow off the battle and make the Chipettes perform at the concert. However, since he focuses on Brittany the most, he wants her to perform onstage alone while Jeanette and Eleanor sing backup. Brittany refuses to sing without her sisters, so Ian threatens to send them to a barbecue restaurant if they refuse. At Dave's house, as Toby plans to take the boys to support the Chipettes, Dave calls, Toby answers, and he is curious as to why Toby is there. Toby tells him about Aunt Jackie's accident, and that he is watching over the boys, but Dave starts to panic, and he calls for the nurse to release him.

At the school, Toby gets a phone call from Ian, and Alvin answers it, but he learns that it's from Brittany, saying that she and her sisters have been locked in a cage. Alvin races to save them on a red toy motorbike while Simon tells Jeanette how to open the cage on the phone. The Chipettes escape from the cage, climb out of the limo, and they jump onto Alvin's toy motorbike. While being chased, Brittany apologizes to Alvin for not listening to him about Ian. Ian pursues them with a remote-controlled helicopter, but they leap off the motorbike and grab onto the helicopter. Jeanette snatches the remote and steers the helicopter away from Ian, while the motorbike drives straight into Ian's groin.

Simon and Theodore are about to forfeit the concert again, but Toby stalls for time. He goes out on stage and notices Julie. He is too nervous but he manages to improvise a song to Julie, telling her how much he loves her, which Julie accepts. Alvin and the Chipettes fly into the hall on the helicopter and they all sing "We Are Family". Dave then arrives and watches them perform, along with Toby and Julie.

Without the real Chipettes to perform, Ian desperately tries to fill in for them at the Staples Center by dressing up in an unrealistic costume consisting of the gold dress the Brittany was supposed to wear, a curly wig with two small chipmunk ears attached to it (held on Ian's head by duct tape visible only if one looks at the back of his head), and Ian also uses two poor sock puppets for Jeanette and Eleanor. He then does a bad imitation of the Chipettes' version of "Single Ladies", only to be booed at by unconvinced audience members as he is carried off the stage by security.

Back at the school, the Chipmunks and Chipettes sing "Shake Your Groove Thing", and Dave, in spite of being confined to crutches and a neck brace, gets onstage. Finally, everyone returns home. The Chipettes are re-adopted at the boys' request and sleep at the Chipmunks' house where Dave wishes them good night, but Alvin refuses to go to sleep. So, while Dave turns off the lights, Alvin turns them back on. Dave eventually gets irritated, and goes over to Alvin, who turns off the lights, causing Dave to trip over a skateboard. Exhausted, Alvin turns on the lights, and wishes Dave good-night, turns off the lights, and the movie ends with Dave yelling "ALVIN!" again.

As the credits start to roll, the screen shows photos of the Chipmunks and Chipettes at the beach, at Christmas, in the kitchen, in the garden, and with Aunt Jackie.

Before the rest of the credits are shown, the jocks are shown cleaning off gum from the bleachers with Dr. Rubin watching over them.

In the post-credits, Ian is shown being thrown into a dumpster backstage by the guards.

Cast

Actor	Role	Notes
Jason Lee	David Seville	Lead Role
Zachary Levi	Toby Seville	Lead Role
David Cross	Ian Hawke	Lead Role
Wendie Malick	Dr. Rubin	Supporting Role
Anjelah Johnson	Julie Ortega	Supporting Role
Kevin G. Schmidt	Ryan Miller	Supporting Role
Chris Warren, Jr.	Xander	Supporting Role
Bridgit Mendler	Becca Kingston	Supporting Role
Aimee Carrero	Emily	Supporting Role
Kathryn Joosten	Aunt Jackie Seville	Minor Role
Brando Eaton	Jeremy Smith	Minor Role
Justin Long	Alvin Seville	Voice
Matthew Gray Gubler	Simon Seville	Voice
Jesse McCartney	Theodore Seville	Voice
Christina Applegate	Brittany	Voice
Anna Faris	Jeanette	Voice
Amy Poehler	Eleanor	Voice
Eric Bauza	Digger	Voice, Cameo

Cameos

• Charice Pempengco as herself
• Honor Society as Themselves
• Quest Crew as Li'l Rosero Dancers
• Eric Bauza as the voice of Digger

Reception

Box office and reaction

The film grossed $18.8 million on the day, ranking #1, another $7.9 million on Thursday, and $48.8 over its first weekend, for $75.5 million in the United States and Canada and $36.5 million in other territories - and a worldwide total of $112 million. As of January 13, 2010, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel made $180,448,165 million in the United States and in Canada and $143,105,247 million overseas for a total of $323,553,412 million worldwide.

After the film had garnered $112 million worldwide at the box office over its first weekend, reactions to the film's success have been less favorable. Many were shocked and upset that the film had managed to outdo other family films, such as The Princess and the Frog and A Christmas Carol, at the box office. Richard Corliss of TIME Magazine stated "They [families] could have taken the cherubs to The Princess and the Frog or Disney's A Christmas Carol, worthy efforts that, together, took in only about a fifth of the Chipmunks' revenue in the same period. No, somebody — somebody young — must be enjoying this soul-sapping would-be comedy. Maybe I'm missing the wit in the Alvin 2 pile-up of purloined plot points, toilet and fart jokes and tired references to old movies, (the "You talkin' to me" bit from Taxi Driver simply must be retired from overuse.) Or maybe kids aren't as cinematically precocious as I thought they were."

See also

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

External links

• Official website
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel at IMDb
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel at Box Office Mojo
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel at Rotten Tomatoes
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel at Metacritic