The fictional animated singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks created by

Ross Bagdasarian Ross S. Bagdasarian (; January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), known professionally by his stage name David Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor, best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmun ...

have appeared in eight feature-length films since their debut.

Films

Theatrical animated film

''The Chipmunk Adventure'' (1987)

When

David Seville David "Dave" Seville is a fictional character, the producer and manager of the fictional singing group '' Alvin and the Chipmunks''. The character was created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who had used the name "David Seville" as his stage name prio ...

goes off to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

on a business trip,

the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, are left at home with their babysitter, Miss Beatrice Miller. While the three are playing an arcade game of ''Around the World in Thirty Days'' with

the Chipettes The Chipettes are a group of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor who first appeared on the cartoon series ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as fem ...

, Alvin and Brittany argue over which would win an actual race around the world, since Brittany beat Alvin in the video game.

Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

smugglers Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

Claudia and Klaus Furschtein overhear the conversation and approach the children, telling them that they will provide them with the means for a real race around the world by

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

, with the winner receiving $100,000.

Theatrical live-action films

''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' (2007)

In a tree farm, three musically inclined

chipmunks Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks may be classified either as ...

, Alvin (

Justin Long Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. Long is known for his film roles, notably appearing in '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001), ''Dodgeball'' (2004), ''Accepted'' (2006), ''Idiocracy'' (20 ...

), the mischievous troublemaker, Simon (

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, filmmaker, fashion model, painter, illustrator, director, and author. He is best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal M ...

), the smart one in the trio, and Theodore (

Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama ''All My Children'' as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo mus ...

) the chubby sweethearted chipmunk, find their tree cut down and are transported to Los Angeles. Once there, they meet frustrated songwriter David Seville (

Jason Lee Jason Lee may refer to: Entertainment *Jason Lee (actor) (born 1970), American film and TV actor and former professional skateboarder *Jason Scott Lee (born 1966), Asian American film actor * Jaxon Lee (Jason Christopher Lee, born 1968), American v ...

), and despite a poor house-wrecking first impression, they impress him with their singing talent. Seeing the opportunity for success, both human and chipmunks make a pact for them to sing his songs. While that ambition proves a frustrating struggle with the difficult trio, the dream does come true after all. However, that success presents its own trials as their unscrupulous record executive, Ian Hawke (

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

), plans to break up this family to exploit the boys. Can Dave and the Chipmunks discover what they really value amid the superficial glamour around them?

''Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel'' (2009)

Pop sensations Alvin (

), Simon (

) and Theodore (

) end up in the care of Dave Seville (

)'s twenty-something cousin Toby (

Zachary Levi Zachary Levi Pugh ( ; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for starring as Chuck Bartowski in the series ''Chuck'', and as the title character in '' Shazam!'' and its 2023 sequel, as a part of the DC Ext ...

). The boys must put aside music super stardom to return to school, and are tasked with saving the school's music program by winning the $25,000 prize in a battle of the bands. But the Chipmunks unexpectedly meet their match in three singing chipmunks known as The Chipettes—Brittany (

Christina Applegate Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an American actress. As a child actress, she gained recognition for starring as Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997). Applegate established a successful film an ...

), Jeanette (

Anna Faris Anna Kay Faris (; born November 29, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her work in comedic roles, particularly the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has appeared in a number o ...

) and Eleanor (

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

). Romantic and musical sparks are ignited when the Chipmunks and Chipettes square off.

''Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked'' (2011)

Dave (

), the Chipmunks, and the Chipettes enjoy fun and mischief on a luxury cruise before their seafaring vacation takes an unexpected detour to an uncharted island. Now, the harder Alvin (

) and friends search for a way back to civilization, the more obvious it becomes that they aren't alone on this secluded island paradise.

''Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip'' (2015)

Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin (

), Simon (

) and Theodore (

) come to believe that Dave (

) is going to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami...and dump them. They have three days to get to him and stop the proposal, saving themselves not only from losing Dave but possibly from gaining a terrible stepbrother.

Direct-to-video films

''Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein'' (1999)

When the Chipmunks take a break from their concert, they get lost, and eventually get locked inside the park. They find their way to the "Frankenstein's Castle" attraction, where a real Dr. Victor Frankenstein is working on his

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

. The monster is brought to life, and the doctor sends it in pursuit of the Chipmunks. In their escape, the monster retrieves Theodore's dropped

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, ...

. Now it's up to the Chipmunks to get back his teddy bear and do something to the monster.

''Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman'' (2000)

When Alvin has nightmares of meeting the

Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely o ...

, which led him waking up screaming in horror, Simon and Dave conclude that Alvin's been watching too many horror films at night. Alvin says that it is because their new neighbor,

Lawrence Talbot Lawrence Stewart "Larry" Talbot, also known as The Wolf Man, is a title character of the 1941 Universal film '' The Wolf Man'' and its sequels, created by Curt Siodmak. He was portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr. In the 2010 remake of the film, he is po ...

, creeps him out and speculates that he is hiding something. Theodore is having trouble with Nathan, a bully, and will not go to the principal, who plans to retire due to Alvin's daily mishaps, for help; Alvin sticks up for him, however.

''Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks'' (2003)

La-Lu, a friend of David Seville, has put up a banner saying "Welcome Chipmunks" on the porch of her magic cottage. One of her friends, Gilda (a talking pessimistic

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the ord ...

) believes that having children around is a bad idea. PC (a talking laid back

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

with a surfer dude accent who believes he is one kiss away from being

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, incl ...

) says that his mom used to say "nothing warms up a home like children's laughter". Dave arrives with Alvin, Brittany, Simon, Jeanette, Theodore, and Eleanor. Dave needs the weekend to himself to write a new song, and La-Lu is happy to have five pre-schoolers and a baby stay with her and her friends. Sam and Lou, two gophers, report to the viewers at home about the feelings the characters are experiencing via going into their heads and viewing an abstract inner visual manifestation of what the characters are thinking and or feeling. Alvin doesn't like that Dave is gone, and La-Lu explains that she felt the same way when she was little and reassures him that Dave will return for him and the others soon.

Reception

Box office performance

The live action animated films are the highest-grossing live-action/animated film series and 6th highest-grossing musicals film series of all time. The first film ranks as the 7th highest grossing live-action/animated film of all time, with its sequels being ranked 4th, 11th, and 21st of all time.

Critical and public response

Cast and crew

Cast

;List indicator :A dark gray cell indicates the character was not featured in the film. :An indicates a performer stood in as a characters singing voice.

Crew

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvin And The Chipmunks 20th Century Studios franchises English-language films Films about families Films produced by Karen Rosenfelt Comedy film series Children's film series