Review: Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks “The House on Cedar Lane; Bathroom Bully”

Overview

“The House on Cedar Lane”
When classmates claim a local haunted house isn’t that scary, Alvin decides to prove them wrong…

“Bathroom Bully”

When Miss Smith praises Simon’s grades in class, Derek bullies him by not allowing him to use the boys’ bathroom…

Our Take

For the first episode, this felt like your by-the-numbers Halloween Special as much of the story itself takes place on Halloween in an abandoned house with many cliché jokes and scenarios that mostly involve lots of screaming. From a subtle Charlie’s Angels Parody to Theodore dressed as a female ghost pressured by Alvin, to the funniest moment being Simon’s costume being an Iconic horror movie villain that must be seen to be believed.

As for 2nd one, it was very Simon-focused with Simon spending a good chunk of the episode holding it in bathroom-wise (which I’m surprised Simon didn’t piss himself at that point through all the elaborate and contrived ways he had to go use the bathroom) or later wearing a diaper which was frequently spoiled in the promos of this episode. However I feel like this could’ve been a much shorter story if Simon reported Derek’s ass to a Teacher or something, but despite Alvin trying to look out for Simon, Theodore did something quite unexpected…

Overall, while both episodes were passable, I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the decent writing the first half had. And the weirdest part? Theodore arguably stole the show indirectly in both episodes. Whether it was being pressured by Alvin to pretend to be a little girl ghost and dance around in exchange for snacks in the first half, or Theodore unexpectedly doing what he did in the other half, sometimes without even realizing it, he has more courage than knows…