Alvin and the Chipmunks

A struggling songwriter named Dave Seville gets an unexpected chance at a career when three chipmunks cross his path. Alvin, Simon and Theodore arrive in his life through a Christmas tree that is cut down in the forest and delivered to a record company building in Los Angeles, where Dave has gone to pitch a song. He discovers the animals can talk and, more importantly, sing, and he starts writing material for them. Their rise brings them to the attention of a record executive who is an old acquaintance of Dave's, and his interest in the trio complicates the arrangement. The three chipmunks have distinct personalities, and managing them proves difficult even as their act takes off.

Tim Hill directed the film, which came after his work on Muppets from Space, Max Keeble's Big Move and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Jon Vitti, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi wrote the screenplay, and Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian produced. Jason Lee plays Dave, David Cross plays Ian, and Cameron Richardson and Jane Lynch appear in supporting roles, while Justin Long and Matthew Gray Gubler voice Alvin and Simon. The production cost about 60 million dollars and took in roughly 361 million dollars worldwide.

Audience response was mixed. On IMDb the film holds 5.3 out of 10 from about 105,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 5.8 out of 10 from around 4,830 votes. A critics' rating of 4.7 out of 10 from 107 reviews places it below both audience scores.