Mike Mitchell’s seemingly witless second sequel to the 2007 part-animated hit, derived from a bit of ’50s pop-culture debris, bears a surprising resemblance to Jean Luc Godard’s “Film Socialisme.’’
It’s not only the cruise-ship setting, but a blatant contempt for conventional narrative and American culture. (The opening shot is so shameless, it ends up mocking Hollywood product placement.)
Godard-style subtitles might actually make it possible to occasionally understand what the Chipmunks and the Chippettes are saying. Or possibly explain why human female lead Jenny Slate sometimes breaks into a random French accent while mugging her way through a sentence.
By this point, the movie has switched to channeling Luis Bunuel’s “Robinson Crusoe’’ — that is, if Bunuel had thought of throwing in references to “Cast Away,’’ “Top Hat’’ and, so help me, “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,’’ along with the occasional rap number.
Seriously, you usually have to go to an Adam Sandler movie, or the Quad Cinema, to see something as incompetently made as “Alvin and the Chipmunks.’’ It really couldn’t have been easy for Jason Lee (“Almost Famous’’) to keep a straight face while saying, “I’m not in this for the money.’’