Alvin is struggling with nightmares about a werewolf and Dave takes away all his monster toys to help him get over it - even going so far as to take him out of the school play version of Jekyl and Hyde. Theodore is suffering at the hands of a school bully and he is given the lead role of Hyde to help him get over his lack of confidence. However, the strange new neighbour, Mr Talbot is worrying the trio with his howling dog. However things take a strange twist when Alvin gets bitten by a stray dog and suddenly manages to defeat his insecurities and shyness overnight.
Babysitting means occasionally getting stuck with films that you really, really don't want to see but are a useful tool for what you want to achieve (distraction). Matters weren't helped for me by the fact that I really don't like the chipmunks. I'm young enough to remember the tv show from my childhood and never really got past their annoying voices and cutesy characters. Here the plot is so very fragmented that you're never really sure what bit you're supposed to be following, until they all sort of are simplified and combined in the second half. It isn't as bad as I'd feared but it is still a bit heavy on the ol' messages - way too heavy handed for adults but going right over the heads of the young children that will be watching this. The film is never scary (a good thing) even if the early atmosphere of some scenes is a bit creepy for young 'uns. The film doesn't have a single gag that adults will get and is almost totally aimed at kids with it's energy and bright colours. Animation-wise it is bright and fun and pretty professional with some nice visual touches.
The voice work is reasonable enough but your opinion will very much depend on whether or not you can stomach the squeaky voice rats that are the chipmunks. I find it pretty difficult to really understand what they are saying all the time and I'm sure kids must too - plus their voices just add to their unrelentingly depressing cheerfulness and cuteness. Bagdasarian and Karman are the two inhaling helium to bring these characters to life but, as I said, they just annoyed the hell out of me. The only other voice I recognised was LaMarche who has been in many famous cartoons.
Overall this is not a terrible film but it's target audience does not include me. The animation is bright and colourful enough to keep kids happy and distracted for about an hour or so but I can't imagine any child over the age of 10 being held by this. Fans of the chipmunks will enjoy it but you have to wonder how many fans this series can have who are in double figures.
