I am genuinely surprised (if not shocked) by the IMDB reviews of "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked". I honestly don't know what movie those people were watching. "Chipwrecked" is a very entertaining movie. It has a lot of laughs and some nice music. It has a great villain in David Cross. Cross has one funny line after another. But it's the love that Dave has for the chipmunks that makes this movie so good. They make him crazy but he loves them anyway. What's wrong with that?

While the other Chipmunks movies did have some things going for them, this is just a mess. It really should be the death nail of the franchise, but I think they'll come up with something else in time. Still while there seems to be no real new addition (apart from one very crazy character, that just does not work in the family environment it is put in and may be a strange move by the producers to make this more accessible to grown-ups).

The title pretty much gives away what you are going to see. But even with the familiar faces (or because of them) you will feel alienated. And while this still might work for most of the kids crowd this is aimed at, it also feels like an assault on your senses and your sanity. The other move to try to make the Chipmunks "grow up" does not work either (as portrayed here) and will surely be revised come Chipmunks 4

Dave (Jason Lee) takes the Chipmunks and the Chipettes on a cruise ship. Ian (David Cross) is bitter for losing his job and is now the pelican mascot. Alvin's irresponsible ways get the Chipmunks stranded on a tropical island where they encounter Zoe (Jenny Slate) who has been stranded for 8 or 9 years. Dave and Ian get thrown overboard and washed up on shore.

This is pretty horrible for the first third. The Chipmunks are so fake already. Putting them on cruise ship only adds to the glaring artificially of the whole enterprise. This seems hopeless but the movie adds Jenny Slate to joke about 'Cast Away'. It should be a straight shot to spoof that movie. Zoe could ask the Chipmunks about the world in the last 8 year and they could make up a lot of fun misunderstood news. There are a million ways to add comedy to this but I don't think the writers care. This is strictly for the littlest kids and any real jokes are superfluous.