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Watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua Description
(from imdb.com)
I expected this movie to be nothing but childish antics to make the kiddies laugh. Fart and burp jokes, bathroom humor, and nothing more than another movie propaganda that lies to audiences on how great a certain breed of dog are that then get people to impulse buy it, and dump it 6 months to a year later at the shelter (ala 101 Dalmations). Apparently Disney finally listened to the 100s of letters and petitions asking them to stop making the same cookie-cutter dog movie.
First, the trailers make you think Papi is the top dog in this movie. Its actually Chloe, the female chihuahua that the movie focuses on. If not for the supporting cast, the movie would have likely sucked. I was surprised at the heavy issues they dealt with in the movie and how well executed it was.
For one…Chloe is lost and found by a man who brings her to a dog fighting ring. Yes, dog fighting in a Disney movie. Though don’t be getting memories of White Fang. This dog fighting ring is not shown so bloodthirsty. You KNOW its a bad place. There are all sorts of dogs there, of several breeds. Pit bulls, German Shepherd, mastiffs, and dobermans. One of the pit bull mixes is sadly praying in Spanish. One of the other dogs says, “he always prays before a fight”. Chloe was brought there to be a bait dog. They never use the words “bait dog”. But they put her in the ring with El Dialbo, a bad-ass doberman. Delgado, a German shepherd breaks out of his cage, and releases the rest of the dogs, then he saves Chloe and all the dogs run for the hills. The owner of the fighting ring notices last minute that Chloe is wearing a diamond collar and knows she’s worth money and sends El Diablo to find her.
Papi and his owner, as well as the woman entrusted to care for Chloe go to Mexico to find her. They come upon two of the former fighters, a mastiff mix and a pit bull mix and they join them. On their journey, both dogs get adopted. We also find out Papi is adopted too. And at the end of the flick, a message to the audience about researching a breed before you get it and adopting over buying.
On stereotyping Mexicans, as a Hispanic American, I was not insulted in the least. You have the hero (human), who is Mexican, working as a landscaper, yes…stereotype, but they used that stereotype deliberately to show you how wrong people are. The heroine (human) insults him by assuming he can only speak Spanish and talks down to him in her own form of Spanish. He goes along with it. But with Jaime Lee Curtis character you see he is not just the hired help, but a member of her family as far as they are concerned. The millionaire seems to look at him as a son or nephew. And she treats his shelter dog, Papi very well too. In Mexico itself, you see people helping them out all the time. Yes, some of the places they go are not the nicer sides of town, but the people are good. I think the only people who have anything to complain about here are Dobermon owners. They kept from stereotyping all the other “dangerous breeds” but them.
It was no award winner, it was never meant to be. But it was a great family flick that doesn’t talk down to youngsters and its side stories were fantastic. Hopefully this movie makes future adopters out of kids and parents.
Watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua Cast
Jamie Lee Curtis = Aunt Vivian Ashe
Piper Perabo = Rachel Ashe Lynn
Manolo Cardona = Sam
Maury Sterling = Rafferty
Jesús Ochoa = Officer Ramirez
Drew Barrymore = Chloe
Andy Garcia = Delgado
George Lopez = Papi
Edward James Olmos = El Diablo
Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo = Rafa
Placido Domingo = Monte
Paul Rodriguez = Chico
Cheech Marin = Manuel
Loretta Devine = Delta
Luis Guzman = Chucho
Eugenio Derbez = Storekeeper
Michael Urie = Sebastian
