Saw the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie, Chipwrecked with my daughters yesterday. We’d already read the novelization, so we were prepared. Except the novelization doesn’t include any incidents of singing, dancing or sight gags, so it’s rather more existential about the whole trapped-on-a-desert-island thing.
You’d think there’d be little of interest in Chipwrecked for fans of live stage entertainmen (i.e. NHTJ readers) since the stars are animated chipmunks and most of the action takes place on boats and a desert island.
Yet of the three key human actors in the film, two are inspired stand-up comedy experimenters.
David Cross returns to the series as nasty music industry agent Ian Hawke. He’s clad for the entirety of the film in a pelican costume. When Jason Lee (as David Seville, the chipmunks’ protector) asks Ian why he won’t take off the outfit, Cross says he’s not wearing anything otherwise. Those who know Cross as the “Never Nude” Tobias Funke on Arrested Development” can appreciate the acting range evident here.
This is likely Cross’ last Chipmunk experience, judging from this story on IndieWire.
The other key real-live comic presence in Chipwrecked is Jenny Slate, who lasted one season on Saturday Night Live (2009-10; she’s the one who said “fucking” instead of the scripted “freaking” on-air during her very first episode) and created Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (now a bestselling book as well as a web series). Slate is also the co-creator and co-host (with Gabe Liedman and Max Silvestri) of Big Terrific, the live Brooklyn-based variety event which Time Out magazine deemed “Best Stand-Up” in its Best of New York honors for 2010.
Finally, I know you’re wondering if the Glenn Berger credited with co-writing Chipwrecked is the same guy who wrote the longrunning Wandering Jew musing Underneath the Lintel and the Spider-Man musical. It’s not. The Lintel/Spidey writer is Glen Berger with one “n.” The two-“n” Glenn Berger—credited for Chipwrecked alongside his usual writing partner Jonathan Aibel—is known for the Kung Fu Panda films. Both Bergers have written for TV cartoons: Glenn for King of the Hill and Glen for the PBS series Arthur.
Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel co-wrote the previous Alvin and the Chipmunks film, The Squeakquel, as well. Will Robb and Chris Viscardi wrote the first of the current series of Alvin and the Chipmunks movies in 2007, and I miss their human touch—these are the guys who created the sensitive yet absurd children’s series The Adventures of Pete & Pete for Nickelodeon in the early 1990s. My girls and I read the novelization of the second Alvin movie too, and Robb & Viscardi are given some sort of acknowledgement in that, though they did not get a screenplay credit in the film.
Well, I can check the Chipmunks off the holiday must-see list. On to Tintin!