Alvin and the Chipmunks (2014)

Film Type:

Feature

Language:

English

Colour Info:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby, Dolby Digital

Frame Rate:

24 fps

Aspect Ratio:

1.85:1 (Flat)

Stereoscopy:

No

Taglines:

Here comes trouble.
They're back & bigger than ever. Christmas
The Last Man Home.......Is Not Alone.
Things are going to get messy.
Watch out, cause here they come
Get your squeak on!

Filming Locations:

Goofs:

Errors in Geography
When the Chipmunks go on tour and cities are listed, it says, "Phoenix, NV," not, "Phoenix, AZ," when it was clear from the map that they were in Phoenix, Arizona.

Continuity
When Simon attempts to catch the toaster waffles, two are seen flying through the air, but only one lands.

Continuity
When Dave throws the muffins away, the garbage bag partly falls in. It is fixed in the next shot.

Continuity
Just before throwing out his keyboard, Dave takes off his jacket and drops it in an egg crate in his bedroom. It is gone when he gets back.

Continuity
The position of Dave's music equipment when he is retrieving it out of the rain is different from the position it landed when he threw it outside.

Continuity
The "coloring" that the chipmunks did on Dave's presentation posters depicted Simon with glasses. But the drawings were done before it was discovered that he needed glasses.

Continuity
In the scene after Dave loses his job he writes a letter explaining that things aren't working out, and prepares a box for the chipmunks. He closes the box and pokes five random holes in the top. Moments later he changes his mind, and goes to the closet to put the box away on a high shelf. As he lifts it, you can clearly see seven neatly spaced holes.

Continuity
In the kitchen cupboard scene, Theodore chews a large hole in a box of Lucky Charms and eats some of the cereal. Seconds later Alvin dumps the bag of cheese balls on Theodore and the Lucky Charms box can be seen again without a hole chewed in it.

Continuity
When Dave throws the basket of muffins in the metal trash can, one of the trash can handles is clearly visible as the camera zooms out. Moments later the camera zooms back in on the trash can and the handle cannot be seen.

Continuity
When Dave is lying on the couch watching television, two large jars can be seen on the counter top behind him. When he gets up moments later to investigate the noises in the kitchen, the jar with the white lid is no longer there.

Continuity
When Alvin is playing with the toy rockets, he throws a few of them in one shot and the launcher is empty. In the next shot there is a fresh trio of rockets.

Continuity
When Ian takes Simon's glasses away and gives him new ones, Simon has the old glasses in the following montage.

Continuity
The morning Dave gets up and finds the chipmunks making toaster waffles, he finds a stack under the rug. He picks them up and they are drenched in syrup. From there he goes to sing his song and never washes his hands but his hands are clean when he starts playing the piano.

Continuity
You can see a poster on a record store with the chipmunks wearing their sweaters before Dave makes them.

Continuity
In the lobby, when the chipmunks climb out of the tree, they run past a girl in a pink top twice.

Continuity
When Dave is late for work and almost forgets his pants, his old Pro Stereo skateboard is against the wall to the left of the front door. When he returns from his meeting, the board is to the right of the door and leaning in the corner.

Continuity
When Dave is discovering the chipmunks, the bowl in the middle (while upside down) changes position between camera shots.

Character Error
During the premiere party Simon says if he continues to eat he will go into insulin shock. Insulin shock occurs when a diabetic does not eat for an extended period of time. Given that there is never any other indication that Simon is diabetic (in fact he'd never survive in the wild if he was), he probably said it simply because it "sounds cool", without really understanding what he was saying.

Character Error
Ian tells Dave the Alvin doll speaks Spanish, but it is speaking Japanese. The doll says "Konbanwa. Watashi wa Alvin desu." which means "Good evening, I am Alvin".

Character Error
an says the Chipmunks are going on a tour "coast to coast in 5 days". However, the schedule shown during the montage shows at least six cities, starting with Los Angeles, CA - July 4th, and ending with Austin, TX - July 28th.

Audio/Video Mismatch
As Dave's car drives away with the Chipmunks getting to drive, beep the horn and work the wipers, the sound for the wipers can be heard, but the wipers aren't visible through the windows.

Trivia:

Ross Bagdasarian named the Chipmunks after executives at Liberty Records, who released Seville's and the Chipmunks' original albums. Alvin was named for company president Alvin Bennett, Simon for company vice-president/record producer Si Waronker, and Theodore for recording engineer Ted Keep.

In some areas, release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake names 'Simon' and 'Hairy Beast'.

One of Jason Lee's original professional stereo skateboard decks can be seen leaning up against the wall in Dave's house after he arrives home from his meeting with the music executive.

The phrase the Japanese Alvin doll says ("Konbanwa. Watashi wa Alvin desu") translates to "Good evening. I am Alvin." The Spanish doll ("Hola! Me llamo Alvin y yo quierro un hula hoop!") says "Hello! My name is Alvin and I want a hula hoop!"

Ross Bagdasarian Jr. was originally set to portray David Seville; however, due to his age (58 at the time of filming), the younger Jason Lee was chosen.

Alvin wears the signature red baseball cap twice in the film.

The car Dave drives throughout the movie is a mid 1960's Triumph TR4, British sports car.

Dave's house number is 1958, the year Ross Bagdasarian created the Chipmunks and released "Witch Doctor" and the "Chipmunk Song."

Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Tim Allen and John Travolta were all offered and declined the role of Dave. Jason Lee states that he was so excited the producers offered him a role they originally offered one of his biggest influences, Bill Murray, that he did back flips.

The animators made it so that the chipmunks frequently scratch their ears to make them seem more realistic.

Justin Long (the voice of Alvin) went hoarse frequently during the recording sessions due to the fact they had to pitch up each sentence of dialog so that the voice altering methods would sound more natural.

According to Ross Bagdasarian Jr., the name-sake son of the Chipmunks creator, in an Associated Press interview, the piano seen in the movie where Dave and the Chipmunks sing "The Chipmunk Song" is the actual piano that Ross Bagdasarian Sr. used to write and perform the song (as well as "Witch Doctor") that launched the Chipmunks franchise.

Comedian David Cross was criticized by his fanbase as well as fellow comedians, notably Patton Oswalt (who, along with Brian Posehn, had been offered and rejected his role in the film) for acting in this movie. Cross responded on his blog where he admitted to taking the role primarily for the money and that he hadn't seen the movie (as he generally dislikes children's films) although he enjoyed working on the film and had "absolutely no regrets at all."

David Seville is a stage name of Ross Bagdasarian, and he was originally supposed to portray the character in the film. He took the name "Seville" from the area in Spain, where he had done military service.

Initially, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his wife Janice Karman portrayed Alvin, Simon and Theodore in the film, but were replaced at the studio's insistence with younger actors Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney respectively. (However, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. does provide Alvin's singing voice.)

When Dave is looking for the Chipmunks outside of his apartment, the camera shows his apartment number "1958" (to the viewers left) for a long time. In December, 1958, the Chipmunk Song was the number one hit in America.