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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Alvin And The Chipmunks

    Featured In Issue 132, June 2008

    Picture4
    SoundNR
    WSR Score2.5
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    2251399
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG
    (Rating Reason):
    For some mild rude humor.
    (Retail Price):
    $39.98
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    91
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    A
    (Theatrical Year):
    2007
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    04/01/08
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    Yes
    (Director):
    Tim Hill
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    DTS HD Lossless 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Three chipmunks find themselves displaced when their home, a spruce tree, is cut down by a Christmas tree company and installed in the lobby of prestigious Jett Records in downtown Los Angeles. The chipmunks stow away in a basket of muffins being carried out of the building by down-on-his-luck musician/songwriter Dave Seville (Lee). Once back at Dave's home, the 'munks run amuck, turning their new digs into a disaster area. Shocked by the state of his house, Dave is even more astounded to learn that these chipmunks can actually talk...and what's more, they can sing. Dave seizes the opportunity to assemble a stage act revolving around his newest talent, Alvin And The Chipmunks. (Stacey Pendry)

    Special features include a nine-minute featurette Hitting The Harmony, a 12-minute Chip-Chip-Horray! Chipmunk History featurette, Fox Blu-ray™ trailers, the soundtrack for the film, and previews.

    The anamorphically enhanced 1.83:1 DVD shows deep black levels and good shadow delineation, which can help create a nice sense of dimensionality. Colors are bold and vibrant, with somewhat oversaturated hues that should appeal to kids. Fleshtones look accurate at times, but there are many times when they are overly orange. Resolution is solid as well, but there are times when the image is somewhat soft. The animated chipmunks generally mesh well with the live-action footage. Edge enhancement is noticeable at times, and edges occasionally look overly digitized. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc still has fleshtones that look overly orange at times. Colors are bold and vibrant and somewhat oversaturated. Resolution is fairly good, but not perfectly detailed. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack rarely uses the surround channels, and even when used they are at such low levels they are easily masked by the front channels. Dialogue is generally played back well, but there are times when it sounds too bright, especially with the chipmunks' high-pitched voices. Music is mixed fairly well across the front stage, and bass is delivered nicely using the front full-range channels. Fidelity is generally good, other than the slight brightness and occasional clipping distortion. The DTS-HD Master Audio™ encoding on the Blu-ray Disc improves fidelity and dynamic range slightly, but the mix is still limited. (Danny Richelieu)

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