From 1981, this is an early incarnation of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Not only are they not cgi, they are much more crudely drawn than the cartoons I remember watching. Wikipedia informs me that there was an animated series prior to this, which ran from 1961 to 1962. The series I remember came after this special, and had a much longer run, from 1983 to 1990.
The special begins with a doctor visiting a sick boy's home. The boy has pictures of Alvin and the Chipmunks taped above his bed. Then we cut to the chipmunk home, where the chipmunks wake Dave up singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." Somehow this rude awakening results in Dave having shoes on his hands, a belt around his chest, and a pillow on his head with a hat on top of the pillow. I'm not even going to try to figure that one out.
Dave and the chipmunks are on their way to a recording session, and Alvin is very grumpy about having to work over Christmas vacation. Do the chipmunks go to school? I guess they do. Alvin's spirits brighten when Dave tells him he can play his harmonica. For some reason, while window shopping, Alvin wants to show his harmonica its "twin brother" in the display window. As he does this, he overhears the mother and sister of the sick boy we saw at the beginning. Apparently, Tommy (that's his name) wants this harmonica more than anything, and the sister doesn't understand why they can't get it for him. The mother is trying to explain they have to save everything they can to see that Tommy makes it through Christmas, and the sister has no idea what that means. "Make WHAT through Christmas?" Pretty naive, even for a child.
At the recording session, Alvin is sad. He takes off and literally FLIES down the road, his legs going like a propeller. I didn't know chipmunks could do that. Somehow he knows where Tommy lives, so he rushes in to give Tommy his harmonica, making up a story that Tommy won it in a drawing.
Alvin tells his brothers that he gave the harmonica away, but does not tell Dave. This becomes a problem when Dave books the chipmunks for a Christmas Eve performance at Carnegie Hall, which is to include a harmonica solo. Rather than come clean, Alvin dresses up as Santa Claus and rounds up some dogs to play the reindeer so that he can charge kids to have their picture taken. For some reason, this involves Theodore lowering Alvin onto Santa's chair with a pulley. Dave is angry when he discovers this, but seems to get over it quickly, as in the next scene he's reciting a poem in front of the fireplace, and waxing poetic about giving. But Alvin STILL doesn't tell Dave that he did give something important, he just worries about getting the money to replace the harmonica. Understandably, Dave thinks Alvin is being selfish and sends him to his room.
ETA: This just in! Omitted scene alert! After I posted this blog to facebook, my brother commented, "How did you skip over the crazy dream sequence with the mad professor and Lincoln Claus? That's the part that's stuck with me the most." To which I could only say, holy crap. I had a vague feeling that something was missing, but I wasn't sure what. That'll teach me to watch on ABC Family instead of locating my bootleg copies. So, tonight, I found the bootleg dvd-- which may have involved an argument with my husband about where it was and how dare he mess with something so sacred as my bootleg Christmas specials, because when all you want to do is watch cartoons about love and kindness and being with your loved ones, God help the loved one who should put any sort of obstacle in the way of that. But, it turned out that the dvds in question were in a perfectly safe place, so all is well.
Anyway, after Alvin gets sent to his room, he has a dream about walking along a path alongside a star and moon with faces, which makes me think of Care-a-Lot. Instead of Carebear territory, Alvin walks into Crashcup inc, mistaking it for a loan department, and talking to a long-nosed professor in a white coat who is working on inventing the spirit of Christmas. His incarnation of it so far features Abraham Lincoln dressed like Santa Claus, sitting in a pumpkin being pulled by a pink elephant with antlers. In other words, this is when the writers of Alvin and the Chipmunks took a smoke break. No wonder ABC Family deemed it family-unfriendly. The dream sequence is over quicker than I expected, and then we're back to where we left off. This concludes your Omitted Scene Alert.
The truth finally comes out when Tommy's mother calls Dave to say that the harmonica is doing wonders for Tommy. How did she have his phone number? Alvin misses this phone call, as he's busy staring at the harmonica in the store window. Then a little old lady appears out of nowhere and buys it for him for absolutely no reason. I'm guessing-- this is vaguely implied-- that she's a very lonely lady with no family, and she just wants to give something to a child so that she can pretend for a moment that she has grandchildren. Although a harmonica seems like an odd choice in that situation. Maybe she saw him staring at it. He plays "Silent Night" for her and a gathering crowd, and by the time Dave, Simon, and Theodore show up, there's no sign of the lady.
Tommy is off his sickbed for the show at Carnegie Hall, and plays the harmonica solo. So Alvin didn't really need the deus ex machina harmonica at all, did he?
Randomly, the special ends with Santa. He listens to the chipmunks singing as he flies over the city, then lands back at home. Mrs. Claus has her back to the viewer as she asks how it went. He says it went fine, and then suggests that she come out with him some Christmas. She says "Making children happy is your job; I guess I'm just an old homebody." She then winks at the viewer as we see that Mrs. Claus is, in fact, the old lady who bought Alvin the harmonica. Huh. I had completely forgotten that part.
Bit of a convoluted story for half an hour, but it's sweet.
Visuals: 3 out of 5
Spirit: 4 out of 5
Nostalgia: 3 out of 5
Humor: 2 out of 5
Music: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5
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