Everyone involved with “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” came to the project with a ton of respect.
Respect for the history of this franchise, respect for the family audience who would see it and respect for these iconic characters that first burst onto the scene over half a century ago in 1958.
KidGlue spoke with some of the filmmakers and stars of the blockbuster holiday film at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and that respect was the prevailing theme of the day.
That day started with Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman. If you are saying to yourself, “Who?” then you really don’t know your Chipmunks. Ross Bagdasarian’s dad created the Chipmunks all those years ago and, after he passed away in 1972, his son and wife took on the mantle. They are responsible for the popular ’80s TV show, “The Chipmunk Adventure” movie, these latest computer movies and everything Chipmunks since the ’70s.
For “The Squeakquel,” Ross and Janice wanted to keep their characters current, but also give them a purpose and advance them in the eyes of the audience. They did this by treating Alvin, Simon and Theodore as brothers that everyone can relate to.
“Kids are people relating to the characters and situations that they would find themselves in,” Karman said. “So we don’t treat the [Chipmunks] as cartoons, we treat them as kids with emotions and feelings in situations we’ve all dealt with.”
One of the ways they do that is by keeping the language a little more modern in each version.
“We’ve never been adverse to keeping the vernacular current,” Karman said. Bagdasarian Jr. they added, “But it needs to feel believable…from a talking chipmunk.”
Some of the people working on those voices are Amy Poehler as Eleanor and Christina Applegate as Brittany, two of the Chipettes. Both explained that doing the voices is a very weird process because you are recording all alone and doing each line up to 10 times to get the tone and speed right so that, once it’s fed into a machine, it comes out with that perfect Chipmunk tone. ” I thought you just did what you did and they messed with your voice after but that’s not the case,” Applegate said.
Poehler agreed that while that process was weird, when it comes to being a part of a property like the Chipmunks, it’s worth it. “Animated work is weirdly satisfying because you do stuff that lasts for a really long time and that people really enjoy,” she said. “Kids come up to you and when you say you are the voice of something they have a new found respect for you so it’s all good.”
The other person we interviewed was actually one who would be seen on screen, Zachary Levi, best known as “Chuck,” who plays the Chipmunk’s new guardian, Toby. For him, while working alone on a set was weird, it was worth it because the characters provided such a nostalgia.
“It’s amazing that the Chipmunks have been around as long as they have. They are old. When my mom was 8, she knew the Chipmunks. Me, when I was 8, knew a whole new idea of the Chipmunks. To be part of Chipmunk dynasty, it really is an honor. There aren’t many things like this that have lasted and stood the test of time and are still relevant no matter how you slice it. Parents, their kids, their kids, that’s 3 generations of Alvin, Simon and Theodore.”
And if it’s up to the Bagdasarian’s, that legacy is going to live on on the big screen.
“We are toying around with the Treequel, where they go back to find their roots,” Ross Jr. said.
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” is in theaters now. For our review, click here.
