Most critics dislike it, and only one is prepared to recommend it. The praise, such as it is, clusters on the effects: several reviews note that the computer-animated chipmunks sit convincingly among the live actors, and that the bickering between the two sets of rodents gives the film its liveliest stretches. Variety is the lone positive voice, finding it frenetic but funny with some nostalgia for grown-ups, and Radio Times has a kind word for Justin Long and Christina Applegate.
Where they part is on how much to mind. The mixed reviews settle for bland but harmless, a serviceable babysitter over the holidays. The negatives go further. The Guardian finds the shrill soundtrack close to unbearable and objects to how the Chipettes are presented; Slant calls it brain-dead, citing the thin story, wall-to-wall pop and fart jokes; Empire thinks Alvin an unsympathetic lead. Two reviews are only partly visible, though one is a one-star rating. Nobody argues it is for anyone over ten.