Written by: John Loy
Directed by: Kathi Castillo
Distributed by: Universal Studios Home Video
Runtime: 77 minutes (1 hour 17 minutes)
Certificate: G/U (UK)
Intro:
Some kids today might not know it but before the live-action films with CGI chipmunks that sing popular pop songs, there was a classic kids cartoon series where the famous trio of chipmunks sang their own original songs. Alvin and the Chipmunks have had many adventures over the years. As a fan of Universal Monster movies, I had to eventually come across this animated feature film, along with its counterpart ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein’.
As a self-proclaimed werewolf obsessed fan, I decided I could not review a bunch of werewolf films and miss out on the more kid-friendly ones. Of course I have reviewed ‘Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf‘ also, so expect more classic cartoon reviews in the future, especially if they contain werewolves.
Plot:
Alvin is mad on monster movies, often watching them late at night on TV just before bed, but it seems they are not having a good influence on him as he has nightmares almost every night. However, this time he blames his new neighbour, Mr. Lawrence Talbot, who Alvin claims is a werewolf! Meanwhile, the chipmunks are putting on a play at school about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Alvin in the lead role.
After failing to prove his accusations, Alvin is forbidden to own anything monster related including taking part in the role of Jekyll and Hyde, but that, of course, does not stop him. Later, his brother Theodore is bitten by a mysteriously large dog, and begins to turn into a werewolf himself, leaving Simon and Alvin to figure out how to stop the curse and change their brother back into a normal chipmunk again before the next full moon, which is on the night of their big performance!
Can Alvin and Simon save their brother or will Theodore forever be changed?
Story:
The film is certainly fun, with plenty of visual references to classic Universal Monster movies such as Alvin’s collection of posters and figures. Of course, this wouldn’t be a Universal werewolf movie without multiple references to their most popular classic werewolf film, 1941’s The Wolf Man.
Besides the obvious reference of having the classic film’s main character, Lawrence ‘Larry’ Talbot in the kid’s movie, there is also the various references to the classic black and white film such as the various tropes the film made popular in werewolf mythos such as the silver wolf-headed cane, the ‘mark of the werewolf’ being a symbol on a werewolf’s hand (although this has been changed from a pentagram to a wolfs paw…probably due to the pentagrams association with devil worship in culture.). Mr. Talbout also grows aconite in his garden, also known as wolfsbane, and to top it off, Alvin reads a passage from a book that is directly out of the 1941 film;
“Even a man who is pure in heart,
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf, when the wolfsbane blooms
and the Autumn moon is bright!”
This is the saying that multiple characters in the Wolf Man film recall when talking about werewolves. This all ties the light-hearted chipmunk film to the classic 40s horror film, for adult fans to enjoy.
Songs:
As mentioned before, Alvin and the Chipmunks used to sing their own original songs in the cartoon. This film has three original songs sung by the Chipmunks and the Chipettes.
- “Munks on a Mission” – sung by Alvin and Simon during their investigation into Mr Talbot being a possible werewolf. This song was written by William Anderson with lyrics by William Anderson and Janice Karman.
- “Monster Out in You” – sung by The Chipmunks during Theodores transformation into a werewolf as he progressively becomes more confident, but less loveable, often being a jerk to people. The Music and Lyrics were created by Jai Winding
- “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” – The final song of the film, sung by The Chipmunks and the Chipettes during the school’s performance wrap party in the sports hall when everything has been resolved. The Music and Lyrics were created by Jai Winding.
All of these songs are pretty catchy as far as classic kid’s cartoon songs go, however, I would say they are of course subject to the listener as not everyone enjoys the musical effect of chipmunk voices. The songs also help to create a nice break in pace for the film as well as allow the story to montage in order to push forward without rushing anything important.
Animation:
This film was released in the year 2000, and honestly with the help of DVD quality that enhanced the classic VHS picture quality, this animated feature holds up very well by today’s standards. The character designs are that of the original animated Alvin and the Chipmunks series so if you love the show or any of the classic cartoon shows of the time, then you’ll love the film.
Overall:
This film is family fun, and actually deals with some serious issues you’d go through as a child, such as Theodore dealing with his bully and learning to face his fears. Since I couldn’t figure out what would be scary for a kid these days, I checked various other online reviews for this film and the majority of them claim that young children have found it more fun than frightening to watch, so it’s definitely a kid-friendly film for all the family to enjoy together, especially if you’re looking for some kid-friendly Halloween films to watch whilst you eat sweets.
Media Mallrat 
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