'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel' Blends Old School and New School R&B with School Days

My grandfather told me yesterday that one thing he admires in my personality is my contumacious behavior. I told him I never was one to feed into peer pressure, and he joked about how I would be more likely to do the exact opposite just because someone tried to provoke me into doing what they wanted me to do. I'm a comic book person. I can count on one hand, and not use all my fingers, the number of cartoons I like, and the main one is "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Although I am as sensitive as Theodore and I'm more like Simon when it comes to school, Alvin's rebellious behavior was the one who I related to the most. So when I heard about "Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel," I was excited about seeing the movie.

Unfortunately I missed out on the 2007 film "Alvin and the Chipmunks" so those who have seen the movie may be more familiar with the greedy record promoter Ian (played by David Cross), who is determined to have a new chipmunk superstar group.

Alvin manages to showboat at a rock concert and cause Dave (played by Jason Lee) to have an accident, so now the Chipmunks have to find a temporary person to watch over them. But before they can get out of the hospital after visiting Dave, their cousin Toby (played by Zachary Levi) manages to create another accident with the Chipmunks' second guardian, Aunt "Popcorn" Jackie (played by Kathryn Joosten). So now video-game loving Toby is stuck being the guardian of three very lively chipmunks.

The Chipmunks first day of school is hilarious with Alvin being completely offended by the idea of waking up early and the sound of an alarm clock. When he said, "in the morning?" once again I related to Alvin.

Of course the rest of the plot after they get to school is pretty predictable. The Chipmunks are notorious rockstars, and they have many fans. But one particular football player, Ryan (played by Kevin G. Schmidt) is not impressed by their music skills and wants them out of the school. But the Chipmunks aren't having it and go head to head with the football team.

When the Chipmunks find out that Dr. Rubin (played by Wendie Malick) is a huge fan and wants the Chipmunks to participate in a music competition to raise funds for the music department, Theodore and Simon are all aboard. Alvin is more interested in being popular and hanging out with the ladies though, which puts him and his brothers at odds. Then there's triple trouble when the Chipmunks find out about the Chipettes-Eleanor, Jeanette and Britney.

The best part about this film "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" is the adorable animation of the Chipmunks and the Chipettes. When the Chipettes perform and start working those hips, even mega-hip dancing Beyoncé, Ciara and Shakira would have to take notice. Those lady chipmunks were definitely bringing sexy moves to chipmunks. It was even better when the three dancers performed Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)." The movie may be a little uncomfortable for now-separated Destiny's Child to watch because the storyline surely did resemble their separation, including the nickname "B" for Britney.

Although I enjoyed the film, there were some noticeable cons. The Chipmunks were doing some of today's popular actions-giving dap, talking about hip hop stars like Jay-Z and the clothing was pretty current. But some of the songs they were performing, like "You Spin Me Around (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive, "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, "Shake Your Groove Thang" by Peaches & Herb and "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge are noticeably dated. While it may have been nice for the parents to hear songs they could relate to, if the target audience is kids I thought it would make more sense to have more current music like Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) and "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas.

However, considering "The Chipmunk Song" released in 1958 and the Chipmunks' TV series debuted in 1983, I assume that Rhino Records wanted songs that both young and old(er) people could relate to. I wasn't impressed by most of the song selections though.

I also found it odd that the Chipmunks were such notorious superstars, but they were being ignored when walking down the school hallways as though no one knew them at first. It wasn't until they got to one classroom full of screaming girls that I realized they were supposed to be this well-known.

And in phys ed, the idea of them being hit so hard with dodge balls was also unrealistic because those chipmunks would've died in real life. Then again, these are chipmunks hanging out on the football team, riding motorcycles and performing live with groupies so the whole idea was supposed to toy with our imaginations anyway.

Although I cringed at the live rat and every scene with the meerkats that Theodore loved to watch on television, this movie made me temporarily want a chipmunk. All six of them were so lively and cute. There will probably be some flack about the flirty movements of the Chipettes, but anybody who has seen a music video or watched today's singers perform live has already seen this before.

I'd give this move a 7.5 out of 10.