Alviiiiin! Ah, there's just something about seeing Alvin, Simon and Theodore sing Funkytown that just brings me back to my childhood, sitting at home with nothing else to do but watch those old Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons. The first trailer for the new, updated version of Alvin and Chipmunks has just arrived over on Moviefone and -- I dunno -- it made me chuckle. Then again, I'm a sucker for these damn chipmunks. Not to mention the hilarious Jason Lee will play David Seville; the chipmunk's (father? owner? slave?). The trailer is more of a teaser than anything else; it starts off with stock footage of what looks to be Beatles mania, followed by some '70s hippie scenes and then a little '80s dance party. All the while a voiceover tells us how "they" captivated the world only to disappear out of the blue. But now they're back ... and jamming like never before. David Cross, Cameron Richardson and Jane Lynch also star, and the film was directed by Tim Hill. Alvin and the Chipmunks will once again take the world by storm on December 14. Look out!

After seeing the new poster for Alvin and the Chipmunks, I just have to start off by asking, "What the hell has happened to the Chipmunks"? The Movie Blog now has the first look at the one-sheet for the CGI and live action update of Ross Bagdasarian's (a.k.a. David Seville) original creation, and while I'm up all for modernization (they were created in the 50's after all), I can't help but wonder why they decided to outfit the trio in thug wear. For God's sake, Simon is wearing what looks like a kangol.

Bagdasarian first debuted the Chipmunks all the way back in 1958 under the original name David Seville and the Chipmunks. At the time, he had already made a name for himself as the composer of a few novelty hits in the 50's including The Witch Doctor -- you can even hear an inkling of the Chipmunk voices to come in the "ooh ee ooh aah aah" portion of that song. Eventually, a cartoon was based on the "group" (The Alvin Show) and Alvin and the Chipmunks was born. There was also a cartoon series that was created in 83' and ran until 1991 -- although I think most of us could have done without the Chipettes.

Back in March, Monika broke the unfortunate news for Jason Lee fans that he had joined the cast as the put-upon manager/father David, who is for some inexplicable reason the guardian of three singing rodents. The movie was directed by Tim Hill, who you might remember was also responsible for Garfield -- and that really isn't making me feel better about the whole idea. Since this is a family film, it's no surprise that Fox has chosen December 14th as a release date -- tis' the season for family fare. Considering what they've done to the Chipmunks' appearance, I can only imagine what they have planned for Christmas Don't Be Late.