Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

MOVIE REVIEW (Mild Spoilers Ahead)

Merry Christmas to one and all!

I know, it's really not like me to even bother reviewing a movie like this, with all due respect to it.

All the more so with the new Star Wars movie out and smashing box office records everywhere.

About Star Wars - I only just started watching the movies last week, and as of today, I have finished the original trilogy (which is very epic). I've yet to watch the prequels hence I'm not watching The Force Awakens just yet.

Patience, young Jedi.

Right, on to Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.

To be honest, I don't recall watching any other entry in the series excluding the first movie. Hence, I'm not all that sure of what's up with the characters and their individual stories.

With that in mind, let's dive into the movie.

The story was alright and simple enough, with enough drama to keep me awake and plenty of decent humour.

The animation was good - giving plenty of life an energy into the chipmunks.

I thought the humour worked really well too, with some legitimate laugh-out-loud moments here and there.

Some of the characters were really odd though - like Dave's (Jason Lee) love interest Samantha (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), recording artist Ashley Grey (Bella Thorne), and in particular, air marshall James Suggs (Tony Hale).

I didn't really buy the romance that went on with Dave and Samantha. I felt it was pretty forced.

Sure, there were many dates and romantic moments, but no kissing or hugging? 

I find it a bit hard to believe that they claim to mean that much to each other without these signs of affection.

I really feel for Bella Thorne, man. Her role was not just small, it was freaking microscopic.

I think she was on-screen for no longer than five minutes tops.

Such a waste of good talent, really. Plus, she's way hot. And what was with her character flirting with that goofball son-of-Samantha, Miles (Josh Green)? Thought that was uncalled for.

And for the air marshall... Well, he was just a walking cartoon character now, wasn't he?

Although admittedly funny at times, I felt his presence in this movie was just not really necessary and that he was just there for comic relief.

The character of Miles was alright I guess, although I found him to be overly-emotional. And those daddy issues he has... it felt really forced.

Why do I say forced? Well, because these moments in the movie where he talks about "his Dad that left him when he was very young" was just deliberately meant to give some emotion to the movie.

Some unnecessary emotion in a movie so short at just 92 minutes long.

Everything apart from the ending was alright, though. Hence, it's not entirely THAT bad.

The final third of the movie though... Jeez.

I felt as if the filmmakers couldn't decide what ending they wanted out of like three or so.

It had this "fancy buffet" effect on the final ending of the film as it felt like they looked at the "spread", couldn't decide on what to go for as everything looked good, and hence took a bit of each item to try.

That's pretty much the structure of the last third of the movie - bits and pieces mixed together with some cheap garnish and seasoning to create a messy, chunky and all-round poor ending with absolutely no regard to film pacing at all.

Before the final third, the movie flowed just fine.

So yeah, that's the movie for ya, folks - albeit from my viewing eyes.

It's a good time for the family, and it's a good laugh too. Other than that though, it's nothing spectacular.

A decent movie overall, but gravely let down by an awfully messy final third.

5/10.