The chipmunks travel through a series of adventures in different countries while being hunted down by the diamond smugglers, Claudia and Klaus Furschtein.

[3] The Chipmunk Adventure was released on May 22, 1987, and grossed $6.8 million at the box office, making it a moderate box-office success.

When Dave Seville goes to Europe on a business trip, the Chipmunks—Alvin, Simon, and Theodore—are left home in Los Angeles with their babysitter, Miss Miller.

They are overheard by international diamond-smuggling siblings Klaus and Claudia Furschtein, who have $5 million worth of diamonds to distribute to buyers but no couriers who are unknown to their nemesis, Jamal.

Claudia tricks the children into being unwitting mules, offering to arrange a real race around the world between the Chipmunks and Chipettes for a $100,000 prize.

In Bermuda, the Chipettes scuba dive to make their first exchange in the sunken ship and Brittany is almost eaten by a great white shark.

Frustrated by his men's failures, Jamal enlists the aid of a young sheikh who has his mercenaries capture the Chipettes in Giza.

The girls perform a song to charm the cobras guarding their dolls, escape in their balloon, and detour to Antarctica to return the baby penguin to its family.

The girls escape, but discover the diamonds and cash inside the dolls, realize they have been deceived and set out to find the boys.

Meanwhile, the Chipmunks take a shortcut through a jungle, where they are captured by a native tribe who name Theodore their "Prince of Plenty" and force Alvin and Simon to be his slaves.

The children land at Los Angeles International Airport at the same time as Dave's returning flight, and are chased by the Furschteins, who get them to surrender by lying that they have kidnapped Ms. Miller.

Ms. Miller is absentmindedly driving the wrong way on a one-way street on her way to pick up Dave, and accidentally runs the Furschteins off the road.

After the success of the animated cartoon series on NBC, several studios were interested in financing the movie based on Alvin and the Chipmunks.

[10][17] According to Anne Thompson of Special to the Register, it was initially predicted to outperform The Care Bears Movie, which was the most successful release distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company at the time.

[23] The film got a new re-release on March 17, 1998, by Universal Studios Home Video for the 40th anniversary of Alvin and the Chipmunks, pricing at $19.98.

Rick Bentley of The Town Talk was enthused about the film, praising the animation as "first-rate", the story as "interesting", and soundtrack as "near-perfect".

[33] In his Family Guide to Movies on Video, Henry Herx deemed the film a "charming, lighthearted diversion for the younger set", and remarked that it resembled "a musical revue of pop tunes".

"[34] Johanna Steinmetz of Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four, stating that the inclusion of the minor characters (especially the villains) would "[keep] an adult viewer from insulin crisis.

"[8] Richard Freeman of Newhouse News compared the film to An American Tail as "less gloomily pretentious" and the Care Bears and Rainbow Brite cartoons as "less sickly-sweet".

[37] Lou Cedrone of the Baltimore Evening Sun praised the soundtrack, score, and voices, but stated that the animation "looks like [a] Saturday morning variety.

He was questionable about the Chipettes' voices and their human form, but praised the soundtrack and its Dolby Stereo sound quality.

[40] A review on Madison Capital Times' Books & Video recalled the film as "one of the rare cartoon features that is hip enough for adults", but warned that some songs can be "too cutesy" for an older audience.

[41] Scott Cain of Cox News Service commented that the "[fans] will have difficulty [with the Chipmunks' shrill voices]", though he called the film an "unfailingly cheerful enterprise".

"[45] Charles Solomon of The Los Angeles Times commented "listening to six little characters talk and sing in speeded-up falsetto voices for 76 minutes becomes a real test of the viewer's endurance."

He questioned about the Chipettes and their human form, criticized the animation for losing most of the "romantic glamor" of the pyramids and cities, described the songs as "very mediocre", and praised the "Wooly Bully" sequence as "one magic moment".