Alvin & the Chipettes: A Review and Giveaway

Three years ago, our kids went crazy for Alvin & the Chipmunks and I can totally understand why. Say what you will about the flicks they had the same easygoing charm that made me love the cartoon in the 80s.

New on DVD this week is the ‘Munks collection Alvin & the Chipettes: Cinderella Cinderella. Because The Squeakuel was one of the few movies that my son managed to sit through in the theater, I decided to fire up the DVD player one afternoon and watch it with him. (My daughter has the attention span of a gnat, so while she was invited to watch too, I didn’t expect her to be much of an audience.)

The packaging may be new, but the DVD is actually a collection of three Chipettes themed episodes from the 80s cartoon. As the theme song played, a strong wave of nostalgia washed over me. If you watched it as a kid, you remember… “We’re the Chipmunks. C-h-i-p-m-u-n-k. We’re the Chipmunks, Guaranteed to brighten your day.”

As it was playing, WonderWife™, who also grew up with the cartoon, peeked her head around the corner and said, “Great, now that song is going to be stuck in my head all day.” (And it was.)

There are three episodes in the collection. In the first, the Chipettes are front and center in a retelling of Cinderella, causing my son to repeatedly ask, “Where’s Alvin?” until he finally showed up halfway through. It wasn’t long before there was some physical comedy, which made him laugh and settle into the couch.

The DVD held his attention for the duration of the first cartoon, but he soon abandoned the ‘Munks in order to go in the other room and play cars, which is his usual m.o. As expected, my daughter barely made it through the opening song, but she's one and a half and can't be held to the same standards as the rest of us.

The next cartoon also featured the Chipettes in a spoof of Charlie’s Angels. Lastly, the ‘Munks and the Chipettes starred in a cartoon called The Brunch Club. But despite the Hughes-ian sounding title, the episode played out more like Rashomon than The Breakfast Club, where the gang tried to figure out who broke their school’s statue.

No matter what your age, how you feel about this collection of cartoons depends on how you feel about the movies. To me, they were cute and had a nice kick of nostalgia to wash down the squeaky voices. However a DVD like this isn’t about us grownups, it’s about the kids. And if your kids are a fan of the movies, they will surely dig this DVD.

Now for the fun part—SWAG! I have one copy of the DVD to give away to a lucky reader. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below. The winner will be selected using a complicated algorithmic equation (okay, a random number generator from the internet).

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS APRIL 9th.

Good luck!

I’d like to thank the fine folks at Bagdasarian Productions and Paramount Home Entertainment for providing the DVD.