Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

I'm going to come clean with you, dear reader, I was a little reluctant to see this film. I don't exactly "squea" over seeing any movie, let alone a live action/animated morph about a trio of singing woodland creatures. Suffice to say, I dragged my heels. Perhaps even to a point where it's a fairly safe bet that those of you who frequent the same cinema as I do may well find two trails of heel-sized-gouges in the concrete of the carpark.

You know what though? It's ok. It's mindless, family entertainment. Safe and fairly enjoyable. It had a few eye-rollingly bad bits and a couple of moments of comic genius from David Cross and Wendie Malick. Mercifully, Jason Lee spent most of the film off-screen.

I found that if you let go of your cynicism and just go with the flow, it makes for a much more enjoyable ride. Like riding a tire-inner down a river. Sure you panic a little as the first rapid and try to paddle your way to the shore only to be stopped by a 3-foot tall cinema usher carrying a 4-foot long torch, but after that you just relax back into the tire and enjoy the feeling of the sunshine on your face, the soothing lap of the water against your shins and the gentle nip of the carp as they nibble your bum.

(in fact, I think I might just tag 'bottom nibbling' in my post in the hopes of snaring some porn-seekers through Google.)

It's not high entertainment no, but it's inoffensive and the kids around me seemed to enjoy it. I won't go as far as to say I'd buy the soundtrack or DVD, but when Alvin and the Chipmunks the threequel rolls around, I wont scuff my shoes quite as much.

__________

3 Stars