''The Chipmunk Adventure'' is a 1987 American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

based on the

Saturday-morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

series ''

Alvin and 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 ...

''. Directed by

Janice Karman Janice Felice Karman is an American actress, producer, writer, and director. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Early life Karman was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father was psycholo ...

and written by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr., it stars the voices of Karman, Bagdasarian, and

Dody Goodman Dody Goodman (October 28, 1914 – June 22, 2008) was an American character actress. She played the mother of the title character in the television series ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', her distinctive high-pitched voice announcing the s ...

, and follows

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 ...

and

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 ...

as they go on a hot air balloon race around the world that is the cover for a diamond smuggling ring.

Plot

When their guardian

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 prior ...

goes to Europe on business,

—Alvin, Simon, and Theodore—are left home in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with their babysitter, Ms. Miller. Later, the Chipmunks and

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 f ...

—Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor—play the

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

''Around the World in 30 Days'', and Alvin and Brittany argue over which would win an actual race around the world. They are overheard by international diamond-smuggling siblings Claudia and Klaus Furschtein, who have $5 million worth of diamonds to distribute to buyers but no couriers who are unknown to their nemesis, police inspector Jamal. Claudia tricks the children into being unwitting mules, offering to arrange a real race around the world between the Chipmunks and Chipettes for a $100,000 prize. To participate, Alvin records a phone call to Dave and edits it to trick Ms. Miller into believing that Dave wants the Chipmunks to meet him in Europe. The two teams set off 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 ...

, each given a different route and twelve dolls made in their likenesses, which they are to exchange at designated locations for dolls in the likenesses of the other team to confirm they visited the locations. Unbeknownst to them, their dolls are filled with diamonds, and those they are receiving contain cash. The Furschteins' butler, Mario, is secretly an informant for Jamal, who dispatches two of his men to acquire the dolls. The Chipmunks' first stop is

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, where they join in a fiesta. In

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, the Chipettes

scuba dive Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

to make their first exchange and Brittany is almost eaten by a

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

. The teams continue their journeys, exchanging their dolls in various countries along the way. Jamal's men tail them, but fail to get the dolls due to various mishaps. The teams cross paths in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where they try to outperform one another in a musical number at the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

and are almost spotted by Dave. Frustrated by his men's failures, Jamal enlists the aid of a young

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

who has his mercenaries capture the Chipettes in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

. Rather than turn them over to Jamal, the prince desires instead to marry Brittany, and gifts her a baby

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

. The girls perform a song to charm the cobras guarding their dolls, escape in their balloon, and detour to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

to return the baby penguin to its family. Learning that they have deviated from their route, Claudia sends her thugs after them. The girls escape, but discover the diamonds and cash inside the dolls, realize they have been deceived and set out to find the boys. Meanwhile, the Chipmunks take a shortcut through a jungle, where they are captured by a native tribe who name Theodore their "Prince of Plenty" and force Alvin and Simon to be his slaves. They soon learn that they are to be sacrificed by being dropped into a pit of

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

s. By performing the song "

Wooly Bully "Wooly Bully" is a song originally recorded by novelty rock and roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1964. Based on a standard 12-bar blues progression, it was written by the band's frontman, Domingo "Sam" Samudio. It was released as a sing ...

" to entertain the natives, they stall their execution and are rescued by the Chipettes. Claudia discovers Mario passing information to Jamal, who is revealed to be an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

Inspector. The children land at

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

at the same time as Dave's returning flight, and are chased by the Furschteins, who get them to surrender by falsely saying that they have kidnapped Ms. Miller. Dave sees them being taken away in the Furschteins' car, and joins Jamal in pursuit. Ms. Miller is absentmindedly driving the wrong way on a one-way street on her way to pick up Dave, and accidentally runs the Furschteins off the road. They are arrested by Jamal, and the children are reunited with Dave. Alvin and Brittany argue over who won the race, much to the adults' frustration.

Voice cast

* Ross Bagdasarian Jr. as Alvin, Simon, and

as Theodore Seville, and Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor Miller *

as Ms. Miller *

Susan Tyrrell Susan Tyrrell (born Susan Jillian Creamer; March 18, 1945 – June 16, 2012) was an American character actress. Tyrrell's career began in theater in New York City in the 1960s in Broadway and off Broadway productions. Her first film was ''Shoot ...

as Claudia Furschtein *

Anthony De Longis Anthony Charles De Longis (born March 23, 1950) is an American actor, stuntman, and fight choreographer. Life and career De Longis was born in Glendale, California. He attended California State University, Northridge where he was initiated ...

as Klaus Furschtein *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Sophie, Baby Penguin, Native Chief, and additional voices *

Ken Sansom Frank Kenneth Sansom (April 2, 1927 – October 8, 2012) was an American actor. Among his best known roles, Sansom voiced Rabbit in animated television series, television specials, and films for Disney's ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise from 1988 t ...

as Inspector Jamal *

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...

as the Arabian prince

Production

After the success of his animated cartoon series on NBC, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. began developing a concept for a full-length feature film. The box-office failure of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's '' The Black Cauldron'' in 1985 had led to the layoff of a number of Disney animators (such as

Glen Keane Glen Keane (born April 13, 1954) is an American animator, author and illustrator. He was a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Aladdin'', ''Pocahonta ...

Dan Haskett Daniel A. Haskett (born August 20, 1952) is an American veteran animator who, according to ''Variety'', was one of a "group of young animators trained by Disney's 'Nine Old Men' that were confined to one small room in the Disney Feature Animatio ...

and Dave Pruiksma), whom Bagdasarian promptly hired to work on the film.

already was a part of the 1983 series by the time he was hired to work on the film. Bagdasarian and his wife

decided to finance the project themselves, having generated so much revenue from the ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' TV series. While much of the work of the film was done in New York, most of the animation was done in Hollywood. The Ink and paint however were done over in Korea. Their decision to work with several overseas studios led to major production delays. By late 1986, production had fallen far behind schedule, and a shortage of time and money resulted in major cuts being made to the film. One deleted scene had the Chipmunks go to Russia.

Music

The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of ''The Chipmunk Adventure'' was performed by

and

and includes a mix of original tunes and covers. The film's score was composed by

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...

, who also contributed some of the songs for the film. Several songs throughout the film were performed by both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes. On April 1, 2008, the soundtrack was re-released as a bonus CD with the film's DVD.

Songs

Release

The film was promoted one year before its release, at the 1986

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Though initially scheduled for Christmas 1986, ''The Chipmunk Adventure'' opened on May 22, 1987 through

The Samuel Goldwyn Company The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978. Background The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films fro ...

and Bagdasarian Productions. With an opening weekend take of $2,584,720, it ultimately grossed $6,804,312 in North America alone.

Critical reception

In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

commentated that the film is enjoyable for both parents and children. In his ''Family Guide to Movies on Video'',

Henry Herx Henry Herx (June 29, 1933 – August 15, 2012) was an American film critic who specialized in creating brief capsule reviews intended for Roman Catholic moviegoers. During his 35-year career, Herx reviewed thousands of films for the Media Review O ...

deemed the film a "charming, lighthearted diversion for the younger set", and remarked that it resembled "a musical revue of pop tunes". Johanna Steinmetz of ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' gave the film three stars out of four, stating that the inclusion of the minor characters (especially the villains) would " eepan adult viewer from insulin crisis." Charles Solomon of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', commented "listening to six little characters talk and sing in speeded-up falsetto voices for 76 minutes becomes a real test of the viewer's endurance." Solomon also said that the villains resembled those from a

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...

film and did not fit with the world of the Chipmunks.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

commented that the animation is slightly better than the TV series', but criticized the film's "dumb and predictable" story, while

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

criticized the plot for being right out of a Saturday morning cartoon, especially through the film's introduction of the Chipettes. Both Ebert and Siskel also criticized the plot and the Chipmunks' voices, with Ebert comparing them to "fingernails on the blackboard". Siskel and Ebert ultimately gave the film two thumbs down. On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.

Home media

The film was released on VHS by Lorimar Home Video in 1988,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

in 1992, and

Universal Studios Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

on March 17, 1998. On May 23, 2006, the film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

digitally remastered from the original

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

film and presented with 5.1 surround sound. A special edition DVD re-release of the film with a bonus CD (which is the same soundtrack disc) was released on April 1, 2008, which matches that of the

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

'' and another DVD volume of '' Alvin and the Chipmunks Go to the Movies''. On March 25, 2014, the film was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

for the first time.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chipmunk Adventure Alvin and the Chipmunks films 1987 films 1987 animated films 1987 soundtrack albums 1980s adventure films 1980s American animated films 1980s musical comedy films 1980s English-language films Alvin and the Chipmunks albums American adventure comedy films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated musical films American musical comedy films Animated coming-of-age films Children's music albums Films about child abduction Films about princes Films about slavery Films scored by Randy Edelman Films directed by Janice Karman Films featuring underwater diving Films set in Antarctica Films set in Athens Films set in Bermuda Films set in Egypt Films set in jungles Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Mexico City Films set on balloons Jukebox musical films Animated films based on animated series The Samuel Goldwyn Company films 1980s children's animated films Comedy film soundtracks 1987 comedy films Films with screenplays by Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Films produced by Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Films with screenplays by Janice Karman