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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

movies|alvin%20and%20the%20chipmunks%3A%20the%20squeakquel|2009-12-26

In the 'Squeakquel', pop sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore end up in the care of Dave Seville's twenty-something nephew Toby. The boys must put aside music superstardom to return to school, and are tasked with saving the school's music program by winning the $25,000 prize in a battle of the bands. But the Chipmunks unexpectedly meet their match in three singing chipmunks known as 'The Chipettes' - Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. Romantic and musical sparks are ignited when the Chipmunks and Chipettes square off.

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Editorial

2009 will be remembered for one made-up word borne of fun, fur and family friendly frolics: Squeakquel. This marketing touchdown winds up on the right side of cute and jolly despite its ingrained quota of cloying irritation.

Ditto for the, heh, Squeakquel, which replays nicely the surprisingly agreeable pitch and packaging of the successful AATC origins movie.

Doing what sequels must, the second big-screen scamper of the famed singing rodents injects a bit more of everything. Alvin’s cultural quoting highlights how this doesn’t make for reinvented wheels, but the female doppelgangers of Alvin, bookish Simon and cuddly Theodore — the Chipettes, voiced by unrecognisable Anna Faris, Christina Applegate and Amy Poehler — sweetly enhance rather than overload.

Smartly limiting songs and ambition, the lean, CGI-powered tale of Team Alvin adjusting to school, as slimy villain David Cross mounts a comeback, is a generous, gentle good time for all ages.