DVD Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk

Allllvin! Get ready to scream out the name of the oldest working chipmunk in the business. Alvin, Simon and Theodore are once again coming to DVD in “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk.”

This five-episode DVD release kicks off with “The Easter Chipmunk.” When Alvin, learns that the original Easter Bunny wasn’t a bunny at all, he embarks on another of his wild schemes. This time Alvin aims to prove that his Uncle was the original Easter Chipmunk.

“The Easter Chipmunk” is one of the later less-known Chipmunk episodes that aired before Alvin and the Chipmunks was inexorably taken off the air. These later Chipmunk tales were known for having more vibrant visuals, cleaner animation, and often duller storylines that involved woodland animals outside of the world of the Seville residence and Thomas Edison Elementary School. Though “The Easter Chipmunk” starts off with a slow paced story, it eventually picks up leading to some humorous moments that will surely make you smile.

The next four episodes were plucked from the earlier batch of Chipmunks cartoons and have nothing to do with Easter. “Snow Wrong” and “Thinking Cap Trap” both have the classic Chipmunk flavor and will keep you laughing from start to finish. “Special Kind of Champion,” and “Luck O’ the Chipmunks” maintain the classic Chipmunk look, but come from the stockpile of episodes that tried to teach lessons before making you laugh. These latter two episodes are still funny, but the attempt to blatantly force-feed morality on children takes away from potentially humorous moments.

Once again, there are no added special features on this DVD. It’s sad that Paramount still has not been able or has not tried to pull together any of the original creative team for interviews. Maybe, if a full box set is released, Paramount will invest the time to scrounging up a few cool special features for loyal fans.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk” is a fun filled DVD set that is light on special features, but has enough “make-you-smile” that are worthy of being passed on to the next generation.