Reasons I went to an 11 a.m. showing of Beverly Hills Chihuahua today:
1. It’s the No. 1 movie in the country.
2. It’s a slow news day, and I have a blog shift.
3. I’m fascinated by bad ideas, and I was certain this film was one. (Read EW’s official review.)
4. I hadn’t thought about how I’d feel handing my ticket to an usher.
That is the story of how I ended up being one of eight adults, each sitting alone, in a theater in Times Square, watching a film starring live-action talking dogs and Coyote Ugly’s Piper Perabo. But here’s what’s really unfortunate: THE MOVIE DIDN’T TOTALLY SUCK.
As you might have gathered from the trailer, the film follows spoiled Beverly Hills Chihuahua Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore), who ends up in Mexico with Rachel (Perabo), the irresponsible niece of her out-of-town owner (Jamie Lee Curtis). What you don’t know: Chloe gets kidnapped by men running a dogfighting outfit and ends up in the ring with the evil Doberman Diablo (voiced by Edward James Olmos). A German Shepherd named Delgado (voiced by Andy Garcia) saves her and reluctantly agrees to help the lost dog get found. This isn’t an easy task, even though the police have, for some reason, agreed to help Rachel, her aunt’s hot gardener, and the gardener’s lovestruck Chihuahua, Papi (voiced by George Lopez), look for Chloe. Diablo and his master are always on Chloe’s tail, you see, and Chloe is naive: She gets conned by a rat (voiced by Cheech Marin), who, for some reason, wants her diamond collar. (Seriously, what was he gonna do with it?)
Anyway, there aren’t many laughs in the film — unless you count the dramatic, ominous close-up shots of Diablo running; or the playing of Enrique Iglesias’ "Hero" as Papi looks out onto a city where his love has gone missing; or me, almost getting misty when Delgado, a former police dog who was fired because he psychosomatically lost his sense of smell after a bust gone bad, gets offered his badge back in the end. But I don’t know that there’s supposed to be. I think the film wants to teach kids about dogfights? about kindness toward animals, which means not putting their paws in booties. (Apparently, dresses, however, are totally fine, since Chloe is still wearing one of those when she’s finally back in Cali. Did she not hear Monte, the Placido Domingo-voiced leader of the Chihuahuas who rescue who her from mountain lions, when he said that Chihuahuas are not toys or fashion accessories?) The movie also wants kids to know that even the tiny can be mighty if they find their own bark/voice, and that loyalty, like the kind Papi shows to initially unreceptive Chloe, is of greater value than looks or money. How do you make fun of that? (Especially when this production number isn’t even in the film?)
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I only saw it because my boyfriend really loves chihuahuas. I thought it was really unfunny. I tried to hide everytime they use a bad pun or everytime time they rellied on racist mexican puns(I was born in Mexico). But at least I got to see some of my beloved Mexico City, which I haven’t seen in almost ten years.
Good grief, Mandy, I hope you were reimbursed for your ticket. . . and your time!
It is the end times, the Dow below 10,000 and BHC no. 1 at the box office…what more can befall us?
What is wrong with you all people? This was a very entertaining movie. For a dog lover like myself, seeing dogs talk and go through a series of trouble to survive was very hilarious. I went with to see it with wife and 4yr old kid and we had a blast. Please stop finding negativity in everything, this movie was made for kids and families and all the kids that watched the movie in the theater that day had a blast and even applauded in the end.
So wait, NONE of the dogs said “yo quiero Taco Bell”?!? Total Bummer.
The ads for that movie totally made me querer comer taco bell. I’m getting hungry for Gorditas and that new big “manly” platter just thinking of all those talking chihuahuas.
BTW, will this movie mean that tons of kids are going to ask their parents for Chihuahua’s now? Because that would be kind of cool.
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For real, this isn’t 1983, who cares about Rolex watches anymore? Anyway, Edward James Olmos provides one of the dog voices? That’s pretty badass. But I think I saw enough of this movie when one of the dogs said, “Talk to the paw!” in the trailer.
Mandi, you’re officially my favorite person ever. I can’t believe you saw this (but it is your job, so?)! Even when I have little kids, no WAY are we seeing movies like this. I hope Pixar will still be cranking out hits…
but anyways. Thanks for seeing this. When will Piper Perabo get her act together and do a good movie?
LIGHTEN UP, PEOPLE! This movie was hilarious, well-made, and showed a lot of beautiful scenery from Mexico, which is where my family is from. The actors did a commendable job lending their voices to the characters. I found myself being moved during many of the scenes. I took my two children and they loved it, too! Listen, I’m not “above” a good cheesy flick and this was just that! Who needs to see a serious movie worthy of the academy’s praise every time??? I highly recommend it!
OK. I’m going to do like Carlos Mencia and say what everyone is thinking. You won’t like this movie unless you’re Mexican. Bottom line. Expect more of these movies too because this is the kind of stuff we get.
I thought that Beverly Hills Chihuahua was great. It was cute and light and funny. It’s time that Disney did not kill one of the characters for a change. It was just a fun loving movie. In this day and age we need something fun to laugh about. I don’t go to movies very often but this one I saw three times. I loved it, what a cutie for sure. I will buy the DVD when it comes out for sure.
I thought that Beverly Hills Chihuahua was great. It was cute and light and funny. It’s time that Disney did not kill one of the characters for a change. It was just a fun loving movie. In this day and age we need something fun to laugh about. I don’t go to movies very often but this one I saw three times. I loved it, what a cutie for sure. I will buy the DVD when it comes out for sure.
I recently saw the movie with my 3 kids , and i have to say that it wasn’t that bad. I thought it was a good movie for the KIDS. So for all you complainers out there, do you have any kids? I DON’T think so, cause if you did, you would’ve seen alot of kids show and would’ve relised this one was a good one!!!!
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