Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman! (2000)

Better than Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, but still cartoon nonsense. Alvin, obsessed with monsters, is sure silver-cane-carrying next-door-neighbour Lawrence Talbot (Maurice LaMarche) is a werewolf (yup!), and Dave throws out all his monster memorabilia. In a lift from Fright Night, Alvin consults a horror hostess for useless tips about the crisis – which gets complicated when Theodore is bitten and turns into a werewolf puppy, prompting a lift from Teen Wolf as he gets back at a bully (voiced by Elizabeth Daily), does well in the school play rehearsals (as Mr Hyde) and becomes mildly unpleasant until biting Talbot cures them both (!). It climaxes with the messed-up school play, featuring real monsters and improv and role-switching – which, of course, turns out to be a big hit.

The usual dud songs are included, and the trio of Chipmonks get female counterparts, Chip-ettes. The horror hostess raises the rarely-mentioned fact that the chipmunks are, well, chipmunks – apparently, chipmunk werewolves transform every night rather than just on the full moon.
KIM NEWMAN

First published in this form here.

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