Rodents Singing

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox with the family. I'm toying with the idea of a real movie review, but since I mostly liked it, I don't have too much to say--it's full-on Wes Anderson, complete with cute title cards, and awkward dialogue between family members with gobs of unspoken tension. I personally love Anderson's style, so I was almost able to overlook the Daddy Issues storyline that they wedged into the film; although really, between this & Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that seems to be the standard procedure for turning Road Dahl books into movies. The books are fine on their own, movie dudes! The whole point is that they're whimsical and don't get bogged down in the serious.

But I'm not really here to write about Fantastic Mr. Fox. It's a different movie creature that's bugging me this time, and I've only seen the trailer. For Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. First of all, that title? Jesus fuck, that is twee. So, back to the movies this weekend: I'm sitting there, watching the Chipmunks trailer, irritated as ever, and at the end, the lady chipmunks do a cover of "Single Ladies." I almost hurt myself rolling my eyes, and to my horror, the people around me started laughing. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Alex. And you, Dad.

Anyway, my damage is that "Single Ladies" parodies are already sooooo played out, there's no room for any more of them. It's impossible for a movie that takes months in production to be more topical than the brilliance available on TV & online, so I can't really blame the Chipmunks crew...but that movie looks fucking stupid, so I don't care. Here are three riffs on Beyonce's "Single Ladies that are exponentially more amazing than those rodents.

Clip One, featuring the lady herself.

Clip Two, reveling in cognitive dissonance.

And Clip Three, whose title just says it all.