The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
2009-year-end-review-see-all

 

In playing evil ex-Chipmunk-band manager Ian Hawke, comedian David Cross draws the Short Straw of Irony, being dealt the line "At least I still have my dignity." No one even remotely involved in director Betty Thomas's joylessly wretched rodent turd can claim to hold onto a shred of such. Six actors — among them Christina Applegate, Amy Poehler, and Justin Long — do enjoy the benefit of being almost completely incognito (save for those pesky closing credits), hiding their identities behind irritating animated woodland creatures and voices so stretched beyond recognition via grating chipmunkization that it's equivalent to cinematic waterboarding.

Compound the torturous voices with cliché violence (groin crunch!), puerile fart jokes (well, if a fart in a bed can be a "joke"), and cringe-worthy stabs at street culture and you have the formula for what could be the most aggressively terrible movie of the year. But wait, when an elderly woman in a wheelchair slips down the stairs, one step at a time, is it a clever reference to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin? Nah.

Related: , , , More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Entertainment,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

ARTICLES BY LANCE GOULD
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL  |  December 22, 2009
    In playing evil ex-Chipmunk-band manager Ian Hawke, comedian David Cross draws the Short Straw of Irony, being dealt the line "At least I still have my dignity."
  •   REVIEW: THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD  |  October 21, 2009
    Is capitalism on the ropes, or what ?
  •   INTERVIEW: JANE GOODALL  |  September 23, 2009
    If only there were more trees to be torn down, we could utilize them . . . to fill newspapers with the endless depressing stories out there about the environment and all its hapless inhabitants.
  •   INTERVIEW: JUDD APATOW  |  July 29, 2009
    Behind every successful comedian, there's . . . a personal assistant. Who, given how egomaniacal and utterly misanthropic the funnyman in question is, is probably his best friend, too.
  •   REVIEW: AFGHAN STAR  |  July 28, 2009
    The Russians couldn't conquer Afghanistan, and to this point neither have the Americans, but it seems a televised singing-competition has.

 See all articles by: LANCE GOULD

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group