Alvin and the Chipmunks

In the Chipmunks’ 1960s salad days, creator Ross Bagdasarian (a.k.a. their mentor, ”Dave”) sounded fearsome as he upbraided the mischievous lead singer. In this update, Jason Lee just seems genially stoned yelling ”Al-vinnnnn!” David Cross makes a satisfyingly smarmy record mogul (remember those?), but the waxy-looking critters are too blandly animated to allow much true endearment. EXTRAS The soundtrack’s producer shows us how to get that squeaky helium sound. But didn’t anyone think to film celeb Chipmunk voices Jesse McCartney and Justin Long enunciating at half speed? C