In the afternoon I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Mm, an immortal theme — family.
The male lead, Dave Seville, loves music but can’t catch a break at work — a talented guy nobody recognizes, broke, and unemployed. Then there are three chipmunks who bounce around and talk like humans: Alvin, in red, is the leader of the trio — handsome, brash, and fond of pulling pranks; Simon, in blue, is the brainy one; Theodore, in green (well, he doesn’t wear anything) is round and chubby, a lively, lovable little glutton who’d rather lie around than move. The three chipmunks can not only talk, they’re also seriously musically gifted — they sing and dance, and before long their special talent has taken over Dave’s house and his career. Thanks to them, Dave’s career takes off too. But the three little chipmunks are naive about the world and easily dazzled by short-term gain, so they run away from home… yeah, that plot is pretty educational… The story follows them going from strangers to colleagues, then to friends, and finally to family. Like Stuart Little, it’s a kids’ movie about animals and humans living together in harmony as one family…
Watching it, I found the plot a bit dull, and the music, which should have been the big highlight, just wasn’t my taste. What the story mainly shows is the power of family. The climax in one sentence: a bunch of clueless kids want treats and fun and won’t listen to their parent, get lured away from home by the bad guy, and in the end the prodigals come home for a happy ending. At the start Dave thinks he doesn’t like kids, and at the end he declares they’re a family — which reminded me of The Mask 2. Ugh, so similar.
Most American kids’ movies use this kind of comedy to get children to value family, love the people around them, and cherish what they have. Watch enough of them and it gets boring — it’s all the same formula. Just like Japanese anime is forever preaching and dispensing motivation; these days the moment I hear “gambatte” in Japanese I get goosebumps.
Tomorrow I’ll watch The Chronicles of Narnia (1). Hopefully it won’t be too disappointing.