Hollywood continues its tired milking of old television properties with Alvin and the Chipmunks, a slick updating of the musical-cartoon franchise created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. in 1958. Remodeled over the years on television and recordings, the ’munks have been given a digital coat of paint this time out, but the movie doesn’t skimp — lasso those nostalgic parents! — on the memories of old.
Jason Lee (doing a perfect “Alvin. Alvin! Alvin!”) plays David Seville, a rejected songwriter who meets the mischievous Alvin, brainy Simon and pudgy Theodore, transplanted tree dwellers who have raided his kitchen. When he discovers their unique vocal harmonies, he’s off to a record executive (a delightfully despicable, movie-stealing David Cross), who whisks the trio away to exploit their talent for all it’s worth.
As fans of the television series know, Dave is the critters’ surrogate dad, and the film concerns his need to embrace that responsibility and save the boys from a showbiz life they’re too young for. The movie gets mileage out of the chestnuts The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) and Witch Doctor (you remember: “Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla, bing-bang”), its digs at the music industry and the cheap laughs of the big-beseeching-eye effect of Puss in Boots in the Shrek movies.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOX
But, alas, its animated protagonists are egregiously eclipsed by the live-action characters. Despite its shout-outs to the holiday season, this is essentially airplane fodder, not a perennial. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the sequel.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOX
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOX
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50