Oh, wait, that applies to every A&TC cartoon...AAALVEEEN! YOU EEEDIOT! Heh heh heh. But seriously. I used to watch the '80s show when I was but a wee larva, and I never really liked it that much. The show had its good points, but it just seemed kinda slow. And the character designs didn't appeal to me. This movie, which appears to have been put together by all or most of the original creators & voice actors, keeps all the original charm of the older incarnations while giving us a story that's cute, funny, sweet, & never boring, plus subtly redesigned chipmunks that..I dunno, they just look really good in this movie. More alert, like they've taken some caffeine tabs since the '80s. I can't quite explain it. Maybe it's just a higher budget that I'm seeing. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never felt more affection for 'the boys,' and I even found Dave's obligatory exasperation scenes less grating than usual. Could it be that, as I approach adulthood, I'm starting to identify more with his role as the chipmunks' adoptive father? Am I showing signs of creeping maturity? Oh God, I hope not. Anyway, this movie had the feeling of a real labor of love on the part of its producers; hope I'm not mistaken on that count.. Go ahead and rent it or whatever. Two open questions: (1) Why didn't Dave notice the broken glass in the back door? (2) Assistant Director Yoko Ono? Any relation? I know Simon briefly went to see the Maharishi, but...
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Nicholas Sedillos10 March 2001
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Any die hard fans of the Frankenstein Franchise, go hide in your under- house shed immediately, as for the rest of you, grab a seat and enjoy!
Being the first Chipmunk movie after the Chipmunk Adventure in 1987, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein returns to the Chipmunks of our childhood in a Direct-To-Video release. The basic story is that a mad doctor in a European country of no designation (much the same with the villains of the last movie), is forced to flee his castle with his vicious monster Frankenstein in tow. He then takes up residence in an American theme park in a castle built as a house of horror exhibit, quickly turning it into a new laboratory so he can carry out his sick experiments. Meanwhile, the Chipmunks are playing at a concert in the theme park but end up getting lost due to Alvin's shenanigans. That night the Chipmunks come across the castle and witness the monster being awoken with electricity. After being spotted, a comical chase through the park ensues with the Chipmunks eventually outrunning the monster, but Theodore loses his teddy in the skirmish. Later that night, the monster manages to find where they live using the smell of Theodore on his teddy as a way of tracking them down. Whilst trying to rescue his Teddy, Theodore is captured by the monster and you'd expect him to be torn limb from limb by the monster, but instead, the opposite occurs. And I'll leave you to watch the rest for yourselves.
It's a really good watch I must admit, even though it can be quite silly at times such as how they depict Frankenstein. There's a lot of humour in it as well including this running gag of the Doctor despising the Theme park's mascot with a passion, so much so that he eventually becomes trapped in a mascot suit and is forced to sing the mascot's theme, of which he absolutely detests. A lot of unexpected surprises as well, including Alvin turning into something out of Woody Woodpecker and of course, no Alvin and the Chipmunks film would be complete without the usual array of songs, of which, they are really quite enjoyable, but not as good as those in the previous or the next film.
Overall, a really fun watch and I'd recommend it to adults and children alike, simply as a film you can turn off and watch. :D -
baileycrawly8 September 2020I always liked the Frankenstein film over the Wolfman one personally.
Alvin and the Chipmunks come face-to-face with the creepy Dr. Frankenstein and, by extension, Frankenstein's monster. However, they have a chance to teach the monster to be good, to earn friends and show compassion to those around him. The question is, will the Chipmunks be able to convince the townspeople that he isn't what he appears to be?
This film always had more compassion to me than the Werewolf one; it was about not judging people on their appearance, accepting those who are different in any capacity, and trying your best to include the people who are left out. And it accomplishes all that with some truly fantastic songs scattered throughout.
It's a simple story and concept, but it's something we all need to be reminded of from time to time. Every year around Halloween, when I take this movie out and watch it again, it's always nice to get a reminder of the lessons given in this movie. It has a lot of heart and humanity, which is why it'll always have a place in my heart around the Halloween season. -
crimgost926 July 2008I picked this up as a 2-pack (bundled with "...meet the Wolfman") at my local video store for a bit of Halloween in July. I'd watched the Wolfman cartoon a few days prior and was impressed with the quality -- It was a monster movie made for kids, and it didn't feel the need to lower the spook-factor for their sake -- and I was hoping the Frankenstein feature would be up to the same par.
Looking for some Franken-fun, I popped the DVD back in tonight to watch this film. Unfortunately, on this DVD 2-pack, if the Wolfman feature was the treat, this one was definitely the trick. Whew boy, just minutes into this film and I could tell it was going to be a stinker. Rather than feeling like a monster movie, this one was a poorly-crafted movie that happened to have a monster in it at times. It took a horribly cliché moral lesson that would take only 30 minutes to tell, maximum, and stretched it into a feature length movie, filling the extra time with diversions that lacked any focus whatsoever. The entire story felt disjointed because the film's creators thought that they had to go on wild, manic tangents that had nothing to do with the movie just to keep the kids' attention. Unfortunately, all this did was diminish any interest the audience may have had in its already-weak story.
I understand that it may sound like I'm forgetting that this was aimed at kids, and I may have looked past all of these shortcomings if the other Chipmunk monster movie weren't such a solid film. -
liberty_mks26 August 2011In the Alvin and Chipmunks canon this is probably the least interesting video. However small children would enjoy this flick around Halloween.
As usual any Alvin video is full of really catchy songs that even I can't stop humming.
The theme of this video is on the lighter side so there is no need to worry about scaring your kids with this movie.
The animation is bright and cheerful, I can't help but find Alvin, Simon and Theodore really cute in this, though it's probably a video you want to sit your kids in front of and then leave the room.
If you enjoyed this you'll enjoy these too.
Alvin and The Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman The Chipmunks Adventure. -
maxstenner30 March 2020Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, although not that scary, is still a treat and a great instalment in the Chipmunks franchise
Scariness-3/10 Humour-10/10 Story-8/10 Voice acting-7/10 Music-8/10 -
stephenchase-6350410 February 2021The funniest scene involves making his monster dance!!