Positive Liberty

The story behind Ross Bagdasarian, better known as David Seville, and his place in American popular culture on the basis of two novelty songs is almost certainly a better story than Alvin and the Chipmunks. But it needs to be said that Alvin and the Chipmunks, even under the nearly insurmountable handicap of a Jason Lee lead part, does not suck. Parents could do worse than sit with their younger children through 90 minutes of this formulaic but nonetheless largely inoffensive and amusing bit of holiday fluff. “Inoffensive and amusing fluff” is, come to think of it, a pretty good description of the soon to be 50 year old chipmunk, um, franchise.

The delightful irony of Alvin and the Chipmunks (an irony which CV hastens to add does not detract from its entertainment value for children) is the conceit of a pop songwriter who hates the commercial superficiality of his day job as an advertising exec and whose, um art — you know, lyrics like “Me, I want a hula-hoop!” played back at a tape speed 50% faster than its recorded speed — is more important than any exploitative marketing or product franchising potential. After all, it’s one thing to discover three talking chipmunks capable of singing harmony and whipping up a little holiday ditty for them, quite another to package and book them as the latest boy band, admittedly a big step down for rodents, on a world tour. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of exploitative capitalism and crass commercialism, CV encourages readers who see the film to try to count the number of Cuisinart™ products strewn about ‘Seville’s’ kitchen. CV suspects there weren’t any bathroom scenes because Cuisinart™ doesn’t make hair dryers or electric toothbrushes.

Okay, so a crassly commercial Hollywood movie about how terrible crass commercialism is may be longer in the tooth than a rat on a liquid diet, but what the hell? It’s mostly good clean fun, and even if the updated songs are far lamer than the originals (especially in the case of Witch Doctor), there’s something almost timelessly endearing about all this silliness. Well, maybe not timelessly, but long lasting enough that not only Bagdasarian père but also Bagdasarian fils has managed to make a nice piece of change. Alvin and the Chipmunks has grossed $142 million so far; not a bad return on a business that started with a $190 variable speed tape recorder.

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