The perennial staying power of high, squeaky voices singing along to popular music is astounding. Alvin and the Chipmunks have been singing helium-voiced odes to Top 40 songs for nearly 50 years. They’ll return tomorrow, this time in an animated, big-screen adaptation, with some old standards and some new attempts at hip-hop and silver lamé.

Not since Casey Kasem has such career longevity been built from a vocal oddity. In 1956, a struggling songwriter named Ross Bagdasarian, who used the stage name David Seville, rejuvenated his career by speeding up the vocal track to the chorus of his song “Witch Doctor.” The song gave him the idea to use the sped-up tracks as animal voices, and two years later Bagdasarian hit the jackpot when he recorded “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” with the Chipmunks, for which he won two Grammy Awards in 1959: Best Comedy Performance and Best Recording for Children. Since Bagdasarian’s death in 1972, his son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., has continued to plumb the Chipmunks for new records and television projects.

Tim Hill’s new live-action-animation hybrid mimics the late Bagdasarian’s own biography. The Chipmunks — Alvin (the leader, voiced by Justin Long), Simon (the one with glasses, voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (the chubby one, voiced by the pop star Jesse McCartney) — arrive as stowaways in the life of Dave Seville (Jason Lee), providing the perfect remedy for his stalled music career. Early on they refuse to be singing rodents in a box, but before long they are transported all over the country, singing to the nation for the recording company run by Dave’s boss Ian (David Cross). Ian’s greedy spin-off plans, plush Chipmunk toys, and product endorsements eerily mimic the actual diversification of various Chipmunk products (and the impetus for this film).

But Ian only gets away with his shady dealings long enough to make the Chipmunks drink Frappuccinos and dance with wireless microphones. The singing Chipmunks don’t mind being exploited for their novelty, but they draw the line at silver lamé tracksuits. They have standards.

Reunited with Dave, the Chipmunks are free to sing covers and Christmas songs to their hearts’ content — or until the nation runs out of toaster waffles. The film is filled with the sort of songs and jokes that will keep 3-year-olds in stitches and sing-alongs for hours. Their parents, however, will curse the day they were reminded of — and their children were introduced to — the high-pitched words “Want a plane that loops the loop / I still want a hula-hoop / We can hardly stand the wait / Please Christmas don’t be late.”

Mr. Lee’s presence in the film is inexplicable. Though the “Mallrats” star has added some legitimacy to handlebar mustaches and television sitcoms on NBC’s “My Name Is Earl,” he can manage no such feat here. He tries in vain to react with dignity to the computer-generated rodents invading his home, and he never pulls off a believable “AlvIIINNNNN!” scream — perhaps the only requirement for an actor trying to play Dave Seville.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks” may launch a new generation of children fascinated by helium-voiced songs. But despite the modern costumes and musical numbers, the film does nothing to challenge the subtle bigotry of furry expectation inherent in the story.

Alvin occasionally gets himself stuck in household appliances and proves the prescience of a mid-century character with attention deficit disorder, but little else distinguishes him from his chipmunk brothers or justifies his marquee status. In the end, he leaves the overlooked Simon and Theodore to teach a new generation of children that chubbiness and glasses can lead to a life of poor self-esteem and relegation to backup singer status.

mkeane@nysun.com