When David Seville, the guardian/parental figure of the chipmunks, takes a business trip to various places around the world, this leaves the chipmunks Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in the care of Mrs. Miller who's the guardian of the chipmunks female counterparts the chippettes, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor. After a heated exchange involving bragging rights involving a video game based on Around the World in 80 days between Alvin and Brittany, the two groups attract the attention of brother and sister diamond smugglers Klaus and Claudia who decide to use their boasts as a way to transport their illicit cargo. This sets off the two sets of Chipmunks on a race around the world that neither of them are prepared for.

Alvin and the Chipmunks has endured itself and shown remarkable staying power considering its origins. From their prototype appearance in the novelty song Witch Doctor, to becoming the more well known incarnations throughout the 60s, the Chipmunks against all odds have become pop culture icons who've shown remarkable resilience in the face of fickle audiences and changing tastes. While the franchise will often go dormant for one reason or another, it always comes back in one form or another. The Chipmunk Adventure was produced during the height of the second wave of the Chipmunks popularity following their success in the 1981 prime time Christmas Special which in turn lead to the creation of the new TV series that became a staple of NBC's Saturday mornings from 1983-1990. Production on the Chipmunk adventure was tumultuous beginning development in 1985, self financed by the Chipmunks' rights holders the Bagdasarians, and a reliance on foreign animation studios and schedule lags that resulted in many sequences being cut from the final product. Despite all this, the movie turned out quite well, but certain cultural attitudes have made the movie age somewhat less gracefully than one would hope.

In terms of story it's essentially a travelogue for both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes with the two trios embarking on what they think is a race with a massive cash prize when in reality they're delivering smuggled jewels via hot air balloon. Needless to say plot is not this movie's strong suit as the diamond smuggling plot is often forgotten about for long stretches as we follow the Chipmunks or Chipettes encountering various scrapes or misadventures in the cities they visit for as part of their "race" which don't factor all that much into the main plot and make the film feel very episodic. One of the criticisms levied at the movie is that it feels like episodes of the TV series stapled together in theatrical form and I really can't disagree. WIth some very minor edits the movie could easily be chopped up into 3 episodes and shown as part of the TV show and aside from the smoother line work and polish on the animation you'd be hard pressed to say it wasn't intended to be shown this way. With that said the movie knows where it's strengths lie and that's in showing off the environments and the music.

The movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The film had the good fortune of being released shortly after the box office bomb of Disney's The Black Cauldron which resulted in massive layoffs in the company's animation division. The Bagdasarians saw this as an opportunity and hired many ex-disney animators to work on the project and it definitely shows on screen. The Chipmunks and Chipettes have never looked better than they do in the movie. From graceful movements during action sequences and dance numbers to gorgeous backgrounds detailing the various cities the group visit the colors and animation really pop and easily approach the level of products the Disney company and Don Bluth were making at the time. There is some noticeable truncating in certain spots which I suspect is due to production problems that lead to at least one major sequence set in Russia deleted from the final film, but these aren't too distracting and are luckily fairly well hidden.

Being a Chipmunk movie, it shouldn't be surprising the film is a musical and the songs (at least if you enjoy the chipmunk style) are really fun and enjoyable. Easily the best song/sequence in the film is a scene where the two groups briefly come together in Athens, Greece and sing probably the most iconic song from the film, The Girls of Rock N' Roll (which actually came from the movie Malibu Bikini Shop, but that's neither here nor there). The sequence is near pitch perfect (save for one awkward pose and animation in a group shot) and the music and animation feel pitch perfect with an energized score, and strong projected vocals complementing the imagery on camera.

There's a lot good in the movie, but there's also some rather dated elements that make themselves very hard to ignore. The movie is a travelogue very much inspired by around the world in 80 days, and like many it carries the cultural and racial sensibilities of the era. Some scenes aren't too bad such as a sequence in Mexico (even if it is a little Disneyland in its portrayal) but others such as a sequence in Papua New Guinea involving savages hollering tribes people, or a sequence in the Middle East where the chipettes are kidnapped by a pre-pubescent Sheik in a cringey parody/homage to the 1921 melodrama The Sheik are incredibly uncomfortable to sit through.

The Chipmunk Adventure is a well made movie that delivers exactly what it sets out to do. It has the Chipmunks (and the Chipettes) going on adventures and singing a collection of new and classic songs. It's a very loosely structured movie as its built upon episodic encounters more than it is a through plot, but the movie keeps momentum up so that it never feels like it drags. Some song sequences are better than others and the animation can be a little spotty on some of the human models, but more often than not it brings the needed visceral energy to the screen to make music and animation sync up in unique and beautiful ways. Some of the travelogue scenes have a slightly more cringey feel to them in hindsight, but for better or worse The Chipmunk Adventure encapsulates the best and worst of the 80s Chipmunk revival and there's thankfully more of the former than the latter.