YMMV / The Chipmunk Adventure

• Awesome Music: The movie's soundtrack, which helps greatly that most of the music is original work for once.
  • "The Girls (and Boys) of Rock and Roll." For any fan of '80s pop, this song is just plain awesome.
  • Also, "My Mother", as far as slower songs go.
  • "Diamond Dolls".
  • Randy Edelman's contributions in terms of underscore and original songs aren't too shabby either. Witness "The Chipmunk Adventure Theme Song" the only score piece on the soundtrack album (which plays over the opening titles on the movie itself, and "Flying With The Eagles" a song Edelman wrote for the film.
• Best Known for the Fanservice:
  • The movie is often remembered for the Chipettes. More specifically for their several panty shot scenes and when Brittany and Jeanette, in Sultry Belly Dancer outfits, have to get past a swarm of snakes charming them and singing a song named "Getting Lucky".
  • Then there's Alvin and Simon in their skimpy native loincloths.
• Covered Up: "The Girls of Rock and Roll" first appeared in the movie The Malibu Bikini Shop, but people might have stronger memories of The Chipmunks and The Chipettes singing it.
• Cult Classic: Was only modestly successful at the box office, but has earned itself an appreciative following among many Chipmunk fans.
• Designated Hero: Jamal's co-agents use some rather unheroic ways to retrieve the Chipmunks, Chipettes and diamonds. For example, they ambush the children and scare them, one of them opts to retrieve one of Brittany's dolls instead of saving her from a Threatening Shark, and they essentially sell the Chipettes as sex slaves to an Arabian prince to recover the diamonds later.
  • To be fair on the latter point, it's made clear that Jamal wanted the Chippettes to be returned and the prince's aide tells him Jamal would be unhappy with the idea of the girls being kept in Egypt. We simply didn't get a chance to see what his response would've been since the girls ultimately escaped under their own power.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: While the diamond smuggling ring is portrayed as bad, it still leads to the Chipmunks and Chipettes having a big and exciting hot air balloon trip around the world, an adventure that they clearly enjoy. Alvin and Brittany demanding their prize money at the end doesn't help.
• Moment of Awesome: The final car chase at the end. All set off with one line: "INSPECTOR JAMAL! LET'S GO!"
  • Heck, the Bait-and-Switch with Jamal alone was pretty cool.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Klaus and Claudia are quite intimidating. Especially Claudia once she starts having her Villainous Breakdown showcases that her temper can turn her into a fury.
  • The shark attack sequence and how close the Chipettes (especially Brittany, whose air tank the shark destroys) come into becoming chow.
  • Dave emerges from the airport, thinking his sighting of Alvin was just a figment of his imagination, then looks up to see his adopted son, screaming for help as their kidnappers' car speeds away.
• Older Than They Think: The standout song from The Chipmunk Adventure, "Girls of Rock and Roll", originally appeared in a 1986 b-movie called The Malibu Bikini Shop. Listen to it here.
• Retroactive Recognition: Glen Keane (Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, and Tarzan) was a lead animator on this film while still a freelancer, shortly before joining Disney full-time.
  • Jamal’s VA, Ken Samson, would be far better remembered as the VA for Rabbit starting with The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh onward until Winnie the Pooh (2011).
  • The Child Sultan was played by Nancy Cartwright in another early role of hers before she became famous for The Simpsons.
• Signature Scene:
  • “The Girls (and Boys) of Rock and Roll” battle between the Chipmunks and the Chipettes.
  • The infamous “Getting Lucky” song number.
• Special Effect Failure: In the otherwise Heartwarming/Tear Jerker song, "My Mother", it becomes especially apparent that only one actor is voicing all three Chippettes, as they pass the melody between each other without any tonal change.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: All in all, a very downplayed case of such. However, the facial expressions on all the human characters can at times look quite exaggerated and awkward, despite them all being drawn in a realistic manner.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Various scenes show the Chipettes with exposed panties, they get in a tornado that gives them Clothing Damage in one scene, and they sing the aforementioned "Getting Lucky". Considering they're supposed to be still children, these scenes would obviously be rejected for the film. Some thought "Getting Lucky" was inappropriate even for its day, and it really couldn't be in the film if it was made today.
  • The Hollywood Natives, and the orientalist depiction of the Arabian prince, would be much less likely to fly in a modern movie.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This Cracked article talks about the themes of implied Brother–Sister Incest, the Broken Aesop about diamond smuggling, the cops being too threatening or ignorant of the children's safety, most non-American characters being portrayed as villains or lunatics, and the apparent pedophilia going on with the Chipettes^note which isn't helped by their humanoid design.
  So, to recap, The Chipmunk Adventure is a movie about incestuous villains tricking children into going on an awesome diamond-smuggling adventure while murderously neglectful cops chase them, people of all races try to kill them, and little girls sing about doing it with animals. On second thought, maybe those CGI movies aren't so bad.

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