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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: February 10, 2009 Distributor: Paramount Grade: B

If you're looking for a last minute addition to those Easter baskets, you may want to consider this DVD release. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk" is a compilation DVD that includes the half-hour title feature as well as four shorts from the Alvin and the Chipmunks Saturday morning cartoon series.

"The Mystery of the Easter Chipmunk" finds Alvin, Simon and Theodore visiting their grandfather at a retirement home populated by other talking critters. While they're there, Mr. Hoppity -- the official Easter Bunny himself! -- visits his aging aunt, and the kids are agog with hero worship. The only blight on the day is when Gramps tells the kids that he used to be the original Easter Chipmunk, leaving Alvin convinced that grandpa may be a few acorns short of an oak.

But when Alvin later visits Mr. Hoppity's Aunt Bunny with an ingratiating gift for the Easter Bunny, he learns that Mr. Hoppity isn't the original egg-hider after all, which leads Alvin to believe that grandpa must have been telling the truth.

What follows is a farcical caper as Alvin tries to convince Simon and Theodore of his conspiracy, even going so far as to file a lawsuit against the Easter Bunny to reclaim the family title, with every avenue of investigation turning up more and more circumstancial evidence that all is not altruistic with Mr. Hoppity's business dealings. Of course, what is actually happening is far more benign, but that won't stop Alvin from pursuing victory (if not justice) in court, even as brainy Simon researches the origins of Easter at the Holiday Institute (the origins of the Easter Bunny, at least, if not the actual holiday) and Theodore interviews Aunt Bunny for the complete story.

The four additional cartoon shorts on this disc include "Snow Wrong" which finds the Chipmunks and the Chipettes participating in a school play of Snow White, with Britanny landing the lead. But the director's bratty daughter wants the starring role for herself, and takes measures to ensure Brittany can't perform.

A real standout episode here is "Special Kind of Champion." Alvin is slacking off at track and field, despite being a great player at all the other sports. He admits to the coach that he isn't a runner, and if he can't be the best at something he doesn't see why he should bother. To change his perspective, the coach asks Alvin to coach another runner -- a boy named Louie with cerebral palsy. Louie is a runner in the Special Olympics, and his positive attitude despite not being a first place finisher begins to rub off on Alvin, and soon they're coaching each other. This is a really bright, positive cartoon short that shines in this collection.

In "Thinking Cap Trap," Simon is frustrated at the constant interruption of his studies by the rest of the family, who all need him to answer questions because they're not as smart as he is. He invents a "thinking cap" to temporarily boost all their IQs, then enters the family on a television quiz show. But when showtime approaches, he forgets to give them each a boost with the cap, and Alvin, Theodore, and David Seville are left to answer questions with only their natural level of intelligence.

Finally, there's "Luck o' the Chipmunks." This one's another teaching moment, as the Chipmunks meet Mickey O'Dell, a new student in school who likes to entertain with magic tricks. Mickey wants to make friends so badly that he lies about having a leprechaun that grants wishes. Soon, Mickey has his hands full trying to make the wishes of everyone in school come true. When Theodore learns Mickey's secret, he tries to impress on Mickey that he only needs to be himself to make friends.