Delayed Reaction: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

The Pitch: I don't know. Make it a road trip movie this time. People don't seem to care.

I don't get the sense that Fox knows what it's doing with its franchises. They haven't for a long time. The most successful ones look like accidents. Ice Age always over-performed the amount of effort they put into the movies. They retool the X-Men and Planet of the Apes franchises with each movie. They had no idea what to do with Taken when it became a surprise hit in 2008. The Maze Runner always struck me more as them trying to get in on a trend than finding a property they believed in. I'm a little worried about how much they are putting into hoping these Avatar sequels will be equally massive hits. Alvin and the Chipmunks is another one that they appear to have now idea how to manage. After all, Alvin and the Chipmunks with $1.3 billion worldwide over 4 films is the highest grossing franchise to never have a movie lead the box office in the U.S. for a single weekend. In fact, the first two movies are the 3rd and 4th highest grossing movies to never hit #1 (at $219 and $217 million). Now, part of this has to do with always being Christmas releases in a competitive market. Still, that's weird. I can't find another franchise anywhere close to that box office return with that many films that never led the box office.

The Road Chip isn't memorable in any way. I've always hated the punny titles, although this is better than the Squeakquel. I had a lot of trouble with the internal logic of the movie. In previous installments, the Chipmunks were international pop stars. Now, they live in obscurity, at least, until it's more convent for the story for them not to. How can their New Orleans partying get national news coverage but causing an emergency plane landing on a cross-country flight doesn't? No one ever seems to recognize them* except the air Marshall who is after them thanks to a vendetta that goes back to him owning one of their albums. I just can't deal with that inconsistency.

*Although the Chippettes are famous enough to be American Idol judges? Please explain. Btw, nice product synergy with that plug, Fox.

This is not a cast that has ever been particularly comfortable interacting onscreen with the CG chipmunks. I don't know where in the production line that failing occurred, but it was painfully obvious that Josh Green in particular was talking to characters who weren't really there.
It's a harmless enough movie. It didn't anger me the way some children's movies can. There's just a general apathy to it that made it hard to care about at all.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend