Have you seen the poster for the new Alvin and the Chipmunks film (due Dec. 14), starring CG rodents and Jason Lee’s giant head? I’d just like you to take a minute and soak that image in for a bit. Then, give a little thought as to what the marketing idea-session probably sounded like:
BOSS: How do we make a 50-year-old franchise relevant to today’s kids?" Anyone?
[Ponderous silence]
AMBITIOUS UNDERLING: What if we made them, you know, B-Boys? B-Munks. Kids like hip-hop culture, right?
BOSS: Good idea, Ted. If Warner can make Ludacris into one of Santa’s elves, then we can make LL Cool J a chipmunk.
And the trailer is something else entirely. (Watch it after the jump, then come back and share your astonishment.)
Poop-eating aside (great lesson for the tots!), I can’t figure out A) who thought a Bobby McFerrin version of "Funkytown" was a good idea and B) what the hell Jason Lee is doing in this movie.
The thing of it is, this doesn’t piss me off because I’m a huge Chipmunk fan, and I feel like they’ve betrayed a fundamental cornerstone of the characters. It’s just that this co-opting of a black stereotype from 1987 is at the most, blatantly offensive, and at the least, just plain lazy.
Comments (1-30) of 42 Add your comment
I have no idea what to think about this trailer, much less get excited to watch the movie. And I was a big fan way back when! I like Jason Lee but this doesn’t appeal to me at all.
The poster completely creeps me out and I don’t like the idea of CGI chipmunks. Alvin doesn’t quite look like Alvin, if that makes sense.
Lee is just cashing a paycheck, because this is a bomb waiting to explode
For some reason I can’t explain the hooded Alvin on the poster reminds me of that Emperor dude from Star Wars. And don’t get me started on the top hat of his blue-clad sidekick. The horror. The horror.
RE: co-opting of a black stereotype from 1987
“Come bust a move where the games are played. It’s chill, it’s fresh, it’s Noah’s Arcade.”
I lost all respect for J. Lee after finding out he’s a Scientologist. Or maybe after Underdog. I can’t decide which is worse.
I was a huge chipmunks fan as a kid… the trailer actually made me cry. I’m not kidding. It’s positively insulting.
I only think the “black stereotype from 1987″ is for the poster, the trailer shows no sign of it in the film itself.
I was a big Chipmunks fan (watched all the cartoon movies, etc), and I was a little bit excited to hear about the movie. BUT a mix of CGI and live action does not work for this (go all animated for the traditionalists), and actually stick to the source material!
shouldn’t jennifer love hewitt be in this movie too?
I was a huge Chipmunks fan when I was a kid. I really don’t know how I feel about this though…their voices sound the same but they don’t look like the Chipmunks. Why didn’t they just make the entire thing animated?
Why CGI in the first place? Wouldn’t in make more sense to keep it a cartoon? I was a big fan when I was a kid, and I realy doubt I can bring myself to see this.
It’s sad that hip-hop is associated with “criminal” or negative behaviour.
It’s the African American gift and curse to American society.
actually i think jason lee would make a perfect david seville– but c’mon the idea of this is just plain pathetic. the cgi chipmunks dont bother me nearly enough as a cgi garfield… speaking of garfield I agree with NineDaves, shouldnt J love hewitt be in this movie? lol… anyway, poop eating is gross…
Jesus. The poster is really creepy looking. The chipmunks look more like rats. I can’t see today’s kids wanting to see this. First Underdog, now this? Ugh! And Earl first doing the voice of a flying dog and now playing Dave? Double ugh!
Wow… that is just sad. Sounds lamer than Underdog, if that is possible. And this is coming from someone who still loves the Chipmunks’ Christmas songs !
We saw this trailer right before we watched Underdog, also starring … Jason Lee. The guy has a steady gig on My Name is Earl, so what is he doing making these craptacular movies?
“Noah’s Arcade” was from “Wayne’s World”, and I think that was a heavily black sterotypical joke.
Here is the thing, teens from the mid seventies will remember the Jay Ward version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, aka “The Alvin Show”, but kids from the eighties (me included) remember the Ruby-Spears Alvin. The Ruby-Spears version was HUGE! If anyone goes on E-Bay, I guarentee that you will find the Chipmunks dolls cira 1983. The cartoons did not make Alvin and crew look like real chipmunks so we are not used to CGI animated chipmunks who look like real chipmunks. This movie looks as lame as Garfield the movie, so I am not going to be shocked when the critics give Alvin so-so reviews.
Dude should just go back to skateboarding, shed those Earl pounds.
I wanna cry. Why are they trying to ruin my childhood?!
Ewwwwwwww! Jason Lee is a scientologist?!?!
Okay Marc Bernardin(writer of this post)please calm down Mr. Super Liberal. From that trailer I saw nothing relating to racial stereotypes at all. Nothing! Because they sang Funkytown? Not really a black thing.
And to answer your question about Jason Lee..He is in this because he will do anything for a check. First Underdog, now this, thank God they have already made Flipper or else he would sign up for that too!
Why are they so small?! Weren’t they bigger in the cartoon?
WTF? I didn’t see any black stereotyping either, someone needs to take the stick out of his ass.
I don’t really have a strong opinion about this topic…but Theodore looks and sounds so adorable after Alvin tells him “Dude, you owe me bigtime!”
Jason Lee’s got a kid now, with the weird name. I remember hearing of other actors who did ‘kid-friendly’ stuff when they had a family. Richard Harris only did Dumbledore because his granddaughter begged him.
Working in a creative environment at a corporation, my guess is that the meeting went more like
BOSS: We’ve decide to remake the chipmunks, but to make them all “dope” and “hip hop.” Underling, you’re in your 20s! You’ll be in charge of “keeping them real.”
UNDERLING: grrroaaannnnnnnn
How is this offensive? Lame and cheesy, sure! But offensive…? I’m just not seeing it.
Great. Another childhood cartoon favorite has been killed. Why oh why do it in CGI?
Does anyone know how old Ross Bagdsarian Jr. is now?
I was a huge Alvin & the Chimpmonks fan as a kid. My first record was the Christmas song. I loved when they sang that song on SNL last year with Justin Timberlake. This movie looks awful. I’ll pass.