Alvin and the Chipmunks 2

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There's a short list of sequels that better their predecessors - Godfather Part II, Aliens, The Empire Strikes Back, etc - and Alvin and the Chipmunks II: The Squeakquel can rest easily in that pantheon.

Alvin (voiced again by Justin Long) and the rest of the Chipmunks are now pop sensations; as the movie opens, they are wowing crowds at a charity event. Through some mishap of Alvin's making at the gig, Dave (Lee) winds up in hospital and the chipmunks stay with Dave's gamer nephew Toby (Levi). Shunted off to high school, the chipmunks at first find the place frightening and concentrate on the school's Battle of the Bands competition. However, Alvin befriends the jocks of the school football team and has little time for Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), Theodore (Jesse McCartney) or the band. Making matters worse, nemeses Ian Hawke (David Cross) is back and he has taken The Chippettes - a female chipmunk band made up of Anna Faris, Christina Applegate and Amy Poehler - under his slimy wing and plans to enter them into the school competition.

I like Alvin and the Chipmunks - it brings out the socialist in me. I've voiced my opinion before on unneeded and unrecognisable celebrity voices crowding animated movies but with the Alvin franchise, where the voices are speeded up beyond recognition, it was never more the case. Faris, Applegate, Poehler and Long have steady work in live action and if they can't bring a performance to their voices (and it's not their fault considering the nature of the movie) surely it would be better to let some struggling actor have a go. They'd certainly need the money more than these stars' and especially in today's economic climate. The argument is that you have to have a marquee name, but kids looking to go to a movie called Alvin and the Chipmunks II: The Squeakquel aren't going to care if Rudolph Valentino, Robert De Niro or Justin Long is voicing the lead. Well, rant over. On with the review...

Two things must have happened since 2007's first outing - either I've mellowed or The Squeakquel is just a better movie. Alvin and co.'s madcap antics are trimmed back in favour of story, heart and life lessons for the wee ones, which is always a good thing. This is fun, light-hearted entertainment that (very young, it has to be noted) kids should get a bang out of, and dragged-along parents shouldn't be as irritated by the helium-voiced forest rats this time around. Girls, who might have felt left out with the male-heavy original, will delight in The Chippettes too; this sequel is trying to cover as much ground as it can. Dave fans will be disappointed that Lee is reduced to the odd phone call from the hospital bed, though, and although Levi does his best to fill the void, he's sidelined in favour of the school plot. Again, this is a good thing - the writers giving more than just a rethread of the first instalment. Not brilliant, but better.