Alvin and the Chipmunks

"Glides effortlessly past bad, sashays gleefully through terrible and passes through the other side of awful to emerge as utterly reprehensible."

"The under-10s will doubtless succumb to the stuffed-toy cuteness of Alvin (the leader), Simon (the brainy one) and Theodore (the fat, needy one) as they invade the life of loser songwriter Jason Lee. But anyone older, will quickly tire of a pencil-thin plot that leaves Lee looking bemused (read: semi-comatose) when the ‘Munks parlay the success of their first festive hit into crass corporate whore-dom (ahem…)..."

"Unfortunately, as rendered here by the average-looking CGI effects, the characters are underwhelming in their appeal, lacking the charm of their previous animated incarnations...."

"At times funny, and even occasionally witty, Alvin and the Chipmunks is a lively, entertaining romp that will certainly bring smiles to the young ones this holiday season...."

"There is sweetness here. The scene in which Dave and the boys decorate the tree is charming, and the Chipmunks' excited presentation of gifts to their human dad is actually sort of touching. And dang it, the little animated rodents are cute..."

"Fun musical numbers and cartoonish humour give way to a bland sermon about the evils of the music industry..."