I vividly remember watching “Rockin’ with the Chipmunks”back in the very early nineties where I recall loving the scenes of Alvin dancing along with Michael Jackson to “Beat It” and “Smooth Criminal.” Mostly a cash grab for the fans, “Rockin with the Chipmunks” is a brief history of the novelty group, spliced in with comedy skits and the members singing vintage rock and roll in their modern animation. The animation for the most part is dicey and fuzzy at best, allowing for a hazy series of music videos, but back then if you were a Chipmunks fanatic, you didn’t care.
The chipmunks just had an infectious appeal, not to mention a very entertaining and occasionally sweet animated series. Along with Will Smith hosting during his “Fresh Prince” moniker days, there are also a ton of appearances from people like Raven Symone, Ben Vereen, Little Richard, Shelley Duvall, Kenny Loggins and anyone else who made a resurgence during the late eighties to the early nineties. I guess you could also count Michael Jackson, but he only appears in archive footage. “Rockin’ with the Chipmunks” has everything from minor eighties celebrities, and twenty minutes worth of Chipmunks history sped through and squeezed in.
Who can forget Will Smith hosting in what was probably a must since he was experiencing tax problems with the IRS during this time… but I digress. “Rockin’ with the Chipmunks” arrived at the right time during that period in the eighties when the chipmunks were humongous once again. All they really did was sing rock and pop music in high pitched voices. What was once a novelty group, turned in to a life changing revolution for little kids of that decade. Even my brother and I were swept up in Chipmunks fever for a short time before the Ninja Turtles stole our attention away.