3. Alvin and the Chipmunks
Why it was good: The only redeeming quality of the “Chipmunks” trilogy is that it can allow you to plop a young child in front of the TV for 90 minutes while you go play Angry Birds on your smart phone. Fox seemed to have purposely extracted whatever charm was latent in the television series and replaced it with soulless CGI and a cringe-educing Jason Lee who I pray every night will give Kevin Smith a call.
The turning point: The turning point for this franchise should have been in the board room when someone first pitched the idea to studio heads, but alas we got not one, not two, but three instances of embarrassing adventures for Alvin, Simon and Theodore (makes me want to change my name out of shame).
Why it needs to die: If we’re ever going to get fun, intelligent fare for young children outside of Disney – films that don’t include CGI rodents, Chihuahuas, Smurfs or other bastardizations of beloved television shows – a line needs to be drawn. When you discover you have an infestation of vermin you root out the source, and right now this franchise is the chief contributor to the outbreak.