DVDs - 18/4/08

Apr 18 2008 Flintshire Chronicle

ST TRINIAN'S (Cert 12, 96 mins, Entertainment In Video, Comedy/Drama/Romance, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Gemma Arterton, Talulah Riley, Lily Cole, Lena Headey, Jodie Whittaker, Russell Brand, Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie.

FOR years, Headmistress Camilla Fritton (Everett) has encouraged the free expression of the 'young ladies' of St Trinian's - the most notorious institution in the country.

Unfortunately, her radical approach to teaching has done little to secure the school's finances and now old flame, Geoffrey Thwaites (Firth), the current Education Minister, is determined to dampen the girls' anarchic spirit once and for all.

Head girl Kelly (Arterton) and newcomer Annabelle (Riley) resolve to save St Trinian's from the bulldozers by stealing Vermeer's masterpiece Girl With A Pearl Earring from the National Gallery, then fencing it to Miss Fritton's art dealer brother Carnaby (Everett again).

To accomplish their daring plan, Kelly and Annabelle must unite the various factions – the Chavs, the Emos, the Geeks, the Trustafarians and the Posh Totties – and engineer the hare-brained scheme during the live televised final of the quiz show School Challenge, hosted by Stephen Fry, from the gallery's Grand Hall.

Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson's revival of the naughty, hockey stick-wielding minxes is a rather tame affair but frothy and undemanding fun all the same, interspersed with snappily edited montages set to pop anthems by Shampoo, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Girls Aloud.

Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft's screenplay demands a total suspension of disbelief, like the Posh Totties discovering their inner Geek or quizmaster Fry accepting drugs from a member of the studio audience. Everett and Firth have fun with their roles, Arterton oozes sex appeal and Riley is appealingly gawky as the new girl who begs her father to take her away from a school she offensively likens to “Hogwarts for pikeys!”.

DVD extras: Cast and crew interviews, deleted scenes, out-takes, Girls Aloud St Trinian's music video.

Rating: ***

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (Cert U, 87 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Family/Comedy/Musical, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Jane Lynch, and featuring the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney.

CHIPMUNK pals Alvin (voiced by Long), Simon (Gubler) and Theodore (McCartney) hoard nuts for the winter, only for their high-rise home to be chopped down as a Christmas tree for the lobby of Jett Records. There, the chirpy trio meets down-on-his-luck musician Dave Seville (Lee) and gatecrashes his modest Los Angeles apartment.

The songwriter turfs out the animals, but has second thoughts when he hears them perform, offering the pals sanctuary if they agree to sing his catchy Yuletide offering, The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) to impress money-grabbing record executive Ian Hawk (Cross).

With Ian masterminding a global marketing campaign, Alvin, Simon and Theodore become superstars overnight and are thrust into a giddy whirl of promotion, live performances, stretched limousines and screaming fans – but at a price.

Alvin And The Chipmunks is an infernal racket based on mischievous characters created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. in the late '50s.

Director Tim Hill conjures an eye-catching conflation of live action and computer-animated mayhem, transplanting the three squeaky heroes from the countryside to the metropolis where they deliver punkified cover versions of Bad Day by Daniel Powter, Funkytown by Lipps Inc and Only You (And You Alone) by The Platters.

The screenplay treats viewers like fools, keeping dialogue to a minimum as the linear plot unfolds at a crawl with yawnsome predictability.

Lee is reduced to screaming ‘Alvinnnnn!!!’ into thin air as his digital co-stars take showers in the dishwasher, hoard syrup-soaked waffles under the carpet and leave small, dark round deposits on the settee.

“It's a raisin,” blurts Simon. “Prove it!” retorts Dave, forcing the chipmunk to nervously eat the unidentified lying object. Yuk!

DVD extras: Chipmunk History featurette, Hitting The Harmony featurette, Dance Like A Chipmunk featurette, The Visual FX Of Alvin And The Chipmunks featurette.

Rating: **