This document is a compare and contrast essay on the musical films Alvin and the Chipmunks and Mamma Mia. It summarizes the key plot points, settings, soundtracks, and main characters of each film. While the films have different settings, stories, and characters, they are both musical comedies that effectively use music and location to enhance their narratives. The essay concludes that choosing appropriate genres, settings, songs, plots, and characters is important for creating interesting musical films, even if they differ in other ways.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
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NAME : LOVIE TEY YIQING
STUDENT ID NO : 0318155
FILMS SELECTED : MUSICAL
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS
MAMMA MIA
WORD COUNT : 1038 WORDS
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ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1 : COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURE : CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE : 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014
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2. ‘ Do not judge a book by its cover ’ , the same goes to movie , we shouldn’t judge a
movie by its name. For this essay, i am going to talk about a contrast essay of a musical
film . The movie that i had chosen to compare are ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ by Tim Hill
and ‘Mamma Mia’ by Phyllida Lloyd. Alvin and the Chipmunks were released in the year of
2007 while Mamma Mia were released the year after, which is 2008. Alvin and the
Ch i pmu n k s u s e s d i f f e r e n t c omb i n a t i o n o f g e n r e s u c h a s f a n t a s y ,
animation ,family ,comedy and most of it, contains musical. As for Mamma Mia, the
director chose to use the genre of romance, comedy and of course, musical. The biggest
similarity between these two films is the genre, musical comedy.There are many
interesting scene in these two movie . What i will be doing will be , the setting of the movie,
the soundtrack or the songs used, plot of the movie and the characteristics of the main
character.
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First of all, the setting of the movie. For Alvin and the Chipmunks, they had
their movie taken in a city, which is USA. While for Mamma Mia, it is a completely different
place, as their movie were taken on a colourful Greek Island. The places that the main
character appeared most for Alvin and the Chipmunks is David Seville’s house. That was
the place where the chipmunks and David live. Besides, it is also the place where the
chipmunks are adopted and treated by David as his own sons. The location at the Seville
House is at Los Angeles, California. They also had their movie filmed at places such as
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Canoga Park, Sunset Gower Studios, Downtown, Hidden Valley,
June Lake and even Mammoth Mountain. On the other hand for Mamma Mia, the place
that the main character appear most in the movie is Villa Donna. Villa Donna is the name
of the hotel run by Donna , who was played by Meryl Streep. The villa doesn’t exist in
Greece because Villa Donna was a movie set and the exact hotel does not exist. While

3. some exterior sets were built on site on Skopelos. They were removed after the filming
was complete.
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Next, the soundtrack used in the movie or the songs that the singers sang. In Alvin
and the Chipmunks, the chipmunks sang a few nice song and they were quite impressive.
The examples of the song are ‘ Bad Day’ , ‘ The Chipmunk Song ‘, ‘Witch Doctor’ and ‘
Funkytown’. These songs were then released as singles and were on the billboard for
quite a few times. As for Mamma Mia, their song was a bit different from the Chipmunks
but they are as good as well. For example, ‘I have a Dream’ , ‘ Honey, Honey’ , ‘Mamma
Mia’ , ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘ Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’. Their song received good review
and their song was nominated for several prizes until the year of 2009. Other than that, the
bride-to-be , Sophia Sheridan , tried to find his real father using hit songs by the popular
70’s group ‘ ABBA’.
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On the other hand, the plot of the movie is also a great theme to be explored. In the
beginning of Alvin and the Chipmunks, they were actually three musically inclined
chipmunks who found that their tree, which was their home, was cut down and sent to Los
Angeles. At Los Angeles, they meet the frustrate songwriter , David Seville, and despite a
poor house wrecking first impression, they impress him with their singing talent. Seeing the
opportunity of success, David and Alvin’s chipmunk gang made a contract and pact for the
chipmunks to sing his song.While that ambition proves a frustrating struggle with the
difficult trio, their dream come true after all. Unfortunately, that success presents its own
trial as their unscrupulous record executive, Ian Hwake, in planning to break up the family
combination of a human and three chipmunks. As for Mamma Mia, the plot of the stories
goes on when the 20- years old bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan found her mother’s diary, and

4. four out three strangers, Sam, Harry or Bill who might be her father. That night, Sophie
dreamed on having her father walking with her to the altar on her wedding with Sky in the
Greek Kalokairi Island and she invited three men to her wedding as if she were her mother
Donna. When Donna saw her three former lovers together in her hotel, she gets stressed
and confused with the situation while Sky is upset with Sophie’s attitude.
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As for the characteristics of the main character, Alvin of the chipmunks is counted
as the main characters in the movie. Alvin Seville is one of The Chipmunks and the titular
protagonist of the series and movies.He is the leader of the group as well as the self-proclaimed
“ awesomest’ one. Alvin greatly relishes his role as band front man and his
antics and ego regularly get him and his brother, sometimes even David into trouble. As for
Mamma Mia, Sophie Sheridan is sweet, fun-loving girl who is getting married to the guy of
her dreams. Other dreams include getting walked down the aisle by her father. However,
growing up with a single mom and no dad seems more inconvenient than it did when
Sophie finds her mother’s diary. Sophie is a clever girl, at the same time, a curious
teenage girl. Her curiosity leads stresses to her mother and disappointment to Sky.
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As for conclusion, i can conclude that Alvin and the Chipmunks and Mamma Mia
are two different kind of movie, with different stories, different characteristics but a movie
with the same genre. Besides, i also get that sometimes musical movies can be very
interesting if we plan well. On the other hand, choosing a place as the setting of the movie
is also very important as it reflects what are we expressing. The songs what we picked as
our background music is important as well as it shows our feeling. However, we must not
forget to plan the plot and the characteristics of the main character as it will decide the
type of story and movie we are going to do.

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REFERENCES
1. IMDB (N.D) Filming Locations, retrieved 19 September 2014,http://www.imdb.com/title/
tt0952640/locations
2. De Traci Regula (N.D)Villa Donna- Mamma Mia Filming Location, retrieved 19
September 2014,http://gogreece.about.com/od/greecemovies/a/mammavilladonna.htm
3. Wikia (N.D) Seville House, retrieved 19 September 2014.http://alvin.wikia.com/wiki/
Seville_House
4. Wikia ( N.D) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, retrieved 19
September 2014 http://alvin.wikia.com/wiki/Alvin_and_the_Chipmunks:_Original_Motion_Picture_Soundtrack
5. IMDB (N.D) Mamma Mia Soundtrack ,retrieved 19 September 2014http://www.imdb.com/title/
tt0795421/soundtrack
6. Kenneth Chisholm (N.D) Plot Summary, retrieved 19 September 2014 http://www.imdb.com/
title/tt0952640/plotsummary
7. jojo.acapulco@gmail.com (N.D) Plot Summary, retrieved 19 September 2014 http://
www.imdb.com/title/tt0795421/plotsummary
8. Wikia (N.D), Alvin Seville, retrieved 19 September 2014 http://alvin.wikia.com/wiki/Alvin_Seville
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