Alvin y las Ardillas

The Chipmunks are almost unknown here in Sweden, but in the mid-1990s one TV channel showed the 1980-90s series on Sunday mornings. I found it by sheer coincidence while zapping between channels, and it was love at first sight! I was a nearly 30-yrs old cartoon buff with the penchant for classic Looney Tunes and the like, I couldn't dream of falling for a cutesy-pootsy "kiddies" cartoon like that. But I simply HAD TO get up early every Sunday morning to watch it! The plots were usually rather tame (with some brilliant exceptions), but the dialog was fun and witty with lots of jokes a grown-up could appreciate. And these little guys were soooo CUTE and so COOL! The animation was so well done, and then there was the MUSIC!! It was so fun hearing those classic rock-and-roll tunes sung with those silly Chip&Dale-type voices.

But I must admit it took a few episodes to get the grip of things. Like: What are these very peculiar-looking little boys supposed to be? "Chipmunks"???!!!... They doesn't look the slightest like chipmunks to me. Why are they goofing around in those ridiculous nightshirts all the time? Why are they living with that human guy in a realistically drawn human world? All other talking cartoon animals live among other cartoon animals, not among humans. Weird, weird...

For many years I assumed The Chipmunks was something new, that David Seville was just a cartoon character, and Alvin, Simon and Theodore had always looked like their 1980-90s versions. I didn't knew there had been something before! So it was rather confusing to come across songs written by "David Seville", plush animals from 1959 resembling an ugly rat or distorted guinea-pig but supposed to be "Alvin from the Chipmunks", gramophone records from 1960 showing the boys as "real" chipmunks on the cover, and so on! But the Internet soon made all clear to me. Anyway, a great cartoon, so unlike the mass produced cheap crap of today (but the "Chipmunks goes to the Movies" series were rather poor -the movie spoofs were often not even funny).

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" was, and is STILL one of my childhood favorites. This show had good story plots, characters, humor, and it was original. The music was great as well. I loved it when Alvin, Simon and Theodore were singing songs from that time, and years earlier. This show is indeed one of the best. P.S. Don't watch the episodes where they lampoon movies. Those ones suck.

This gets a perfect 10!

Another Saturday morning cartoon I have a soft spot for...I even got a Chipmunks coloring book for Christmas one year! Cute characters and stories, and I thought it was so cool that Alvin, Simon and Theodore sang and did videos to the hot pop songs of the day (Up Where We Belong, Hungry Like The Wolf, etc). OK, it's cheesy now but it was great fun. By the way, has anyone else noticed that the Chipmunks theme song and Van Halen's "Jump" sound awfully similar?

This was a hip cartoon show that I've watched during my childhood - about three chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore and their misadventures, with their adopted owner, Dave, thrown into the mix. I've always remember Alvin to be the adventurous one, Simon to be the brainy one, and Theodore to be the cuddly and thoughtful one.

A different cartoon that shows the hipness and a little bit of young-adult fun that attracts an audience of all ages. A catching opening tune and some unique stories.

Grade B

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were three characters young boys could relate to: one was brainy, one hungry, and the other naughty. They practically represented the personalities of all boys. However, the plots mainly centered around the world of males. Unfortunately, the creators of the show brought in female characters in reaction to this, each the antithesis of their male counterparts. Invariably, they would often compete with the boys, and the boys ALWAYS lost. They never won, and while these scenarios might have given girls inspiration and confidence in the real world; the show's creators completely forgot about the young boys who originally tuned in to watch the chipmunks harmless antics. Ultimately, the message the show gave young boys was that girls are competition. The creators of the show should have emphasized a message of cooperation like they do in many present day cartoons. Instead, by having the girls beat the boys in practically every episode they were in, many young boys grew to resent the idea of female empowerment-- an idea no young boy should learn to resent.