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DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: March 3, 2009
- Original Theatrical Release: October 3, 2008
- Widescreen and Fullscreen
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- French and Spanish Language Tracks
- Subtitles: Closed Captioned
- Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
The Movie
Beverly Hills Chihuahua is the story of a spoiled little lapdog named Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) owned by Beverly Hills resident and fashion maven Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis) who ends up on an adventure in Mexico, and who, of course, learns something about herself and life along the way. Chloe is left in the care of Viv’s irresponsible niece Rachel (Piper Perabo). One day into her dog sitting, Rachel, with Chloe in tow, decides to take off with her girlfriends to party in Mexico. Chloe is inadvertently lost to the streets and secret dogfighting lairs of Mexico City. There she meets a handful of dogs, kidnapped and fighting against their wills, that help her escape the fights. Chloe sets off on her journey back home aided by a German Shepherd named Delgado (voiced by Andy Garcia). Along the way the two gain a deeper appreciation for each other and their different worlds.
Meanwhile, in an about face from her reckless ways Rachel decides to set out and find Chloe and is eventually joined by Viv’s hunky landscaper, Sam (Played by Manolo Cardona) and his loyal Chihuahua, Papi, who happens to be deeply in love with Chloe. Sparks begin to fly between the landscaper and the rich girl, mirroring the eventual relationship between Papi and Chloe. Rachel, Sam and Papi are after Chloe. The local police are after Chloe. A pack rat and his iguana sidekick are after Chloe’s diamond encrusted collar. A vicious doberman named Diablo, owned by the underground dogfighting boss, is after Chloe. All of their paths intertwine on the chaotic journey through Mexico.
The film takes an unpredictable and odd turn as Chloe and her protector, Delgado, stumble across the birthplace of the Chihuahua breed, a secret world of Mexican ruins overrun with wild Chihuahuas. Here Chloe learns about the history of her breed and gains a deeper appreciation for her roots from the groups leader, Montezuma (voiced by none other than Placido Domingo).
Eventually, all paths lead to Chloe and she is rescued and reunited with Rachel. Papi once again expresses his love to Chloe. For the first time, she truly listens to him and, in her now wiser state, she allows herself to have feelings for this “common” pooch. All’s well that ends well, of course.
For a more in-depth review, take a look at our own Alex Stroup’s review from the film’s initial theatrical release.
The Goodies
The DVD has a few special features.
Legend of the Chihuahua – an all new animated short
Don’t expect a classic Disney short here. This is an odd, barely animated theoretical history of the Chihuahua breed. It’s not heavy on facts, and instead is trying to be cuter than it really is.
Blooper Scooper
A standard blooper reel, Blooper Scooper features some real footage of what it must be like to work with animals as they blow take after take. The humans are also shown blowing lines, but it’s the dogs that are the real focus here, and it’s mildly entertaining.
Deleted Scenes
There are three deleted scenes featuring descriptions from director Raja Gosnell. The first two are extensions of Chloe’s experiences in Chihuahua nation, including a vision quest where our heroine drinks some “magic water” and is transported back in time to ancient Mexico. Here she learns more about her breed’s history. The scenes are interesting to see, but are a little bizarre. The last deleted scene features a sort of alternate ending sequence.
Audio Commentary
This feature is your standard voice-over from the film’s director, Raja Gosnell. It should be noted that the commentary is only playable on the Widescreen version of the film.
Blu-ray Features
I did not review the Blu-ray version, but the following features are exclusive to that version:
- Pen Pals: The Voices Behind the Dogs
- Hitting the Bark: On Set with the Dogs of Beverly Hills Chihuahua
- Even More Canine Capers in Additional Deleted Scenes
- BD-Live
Audio, Video and Interface
No issues here. Clean audio. A good home theater set-up could help you appreciate the song heavy soundtrack. There’s a decent mix of standard movie fare, “I’m Too Sexy” and “Whoomp, There it Is” alongside of a nice mix of Mexican pop music. The picture is clean. It’s nice to have a choice of widescreen and fullscreen available. Don’t forget that fullscreen plays right away when using Disney’s Fast Play option. Nothing fancy about the disc interface. It’s nice looking and easy to use.
The Final Evaluation
Beverly Hills Chihuahua has a who’s who of Latino male actors in the voice-over cast—Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Paul Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Placido Domingo, Luis Guzman, and Edward James Olmos. The movie was pleasantly entertaining. Fully expecting a Beverly Hills setting, it was refreshing to see the Mexican backdrops occupying about 95% of the film. I watched it with my 10-year-old daughter. Neither of us saw the film in its initial theatrical release, but both of us had the same reaction to the film’s marketing campaign (in fact, my daughter brought it up on her own): The commercials for the film’s theatrical release seem to give imply that the movie was about Papi, the male Chihuahua. In reality, the movie was primarily about Chloe, the female dog lead. The marketing campaign featured singing Chihuahuas that are not found in the film anywhere. We both thought it was a bit misleading.
As an adult, I found the commercials annoying, and it turned me off to the film. That said, I was pleasantly surprised with the movie. For a talking animal film, it was entertaining with some great background visuals and some funny moments. It’s not a Disney must-have, but the 10-year-old liked it, and I’m sure your kids will, too. If the film stayed where I thought it would, in Beverly Hills constantly making rich dog jokes, my review would be worse. The Mexican adventure, given the film’s marketing, was a pleasant surprise and increased the watchability quotient quite a bit.
The film is rated PG for some mild thematic elements. I can mostly surmise that this is due to some possibly frightening scenes involving the doberman Diablo in the dog fight sequences, a scene where Delgado has a flashback to his partner on the police force being hurt in an incident, and a scene near the film’s end where it is implied that Chloe is dead after she crashes into a wall. She is, of course, just playing dead in order to hear Papi’s true feelings for her. Nothing too scary here.
| Air Bud: Special Edition (1997) | 98 min. | PG | Reviewed by Chris Barry |
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DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: March 3, 2009
- Original Theatrical Release: August 1, 1997
- 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
- English and Spanish Language Tracks
- Subtitles: Closed Captioned
- Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
The Movie
Air Bud is the story of a lonely 12-year-old boy named Josh, who befriends a stray Golden Retriever. Josh has moved to a new city and is quite distraught over the recent death of his father. He is shy, has trouble making new friends, and since his dad’s death cannot enjoy the one thing he loved to do: play basketball. He finds an old court behind an abandoned church and begins to spend his days shooting hoops there by himself. That is, until he meets a disheveled Golden Retriever he names Buddy. Buddy’s cage bounced off the back of his owner Norm (the late, great Michael Jeter) Snively’s truck. Norm is a hack of a clown, performing—quite poorly—at children’s parties, with Buddy as his sidekick.
Josh’s mom realizes that the dog is having a positive impact on her son’s sad life, and Buddy is welcomed into the family. Josh discovers that not only does Buddy enjoy playing basketball, but he has the amazing ability to shoot baskets. When Josh finally suits up and joins the team, Buddy joins as the team mascot. Of course, Buddy eventually suits up as well, and since there’s apparently nothing in the rule book that says a dog can’t play, Buddy joins the team and leads them to victory with his remarkable abilities.
In hindsight, this turned out to be an important film for Disney, launching four sequels and spurning the wildly popular Buddies movies, featuring Buddy’s purported offspring. Somewhere along the line, someone felt the need to make Buddy’s offspring speak and thus the series has turned exclusively to a talking animal format. I’m not much for talking animal movies and was expecting Buddy to suddenly burst out in speech like his popular children. Luckily, the original Buddy was not about overly cute talking animals. On the contrary, Air Bud really is the story of a boy and his dog and their importance to each other. The gimmick is definitely there and certainly takes over the second half of the film, but the first half is heartwarming and enjoyably simple.
It should be noted that Buddy the dog really could shoot baskets, and was quite a real phenomenon. The Buddies films rely on CG to make the dogs’ mouths move. Their “dad” Buddy, however, didn’t need special effects. He was discovered on the infamous “Stupid Pet Tricks” segment from Late Night with David Letterman.
The Goodies
Considering the “Special Edition” moniker, Air Bud is seriously lacking in the special features department. Given the fact that Buddy has spurned the company’s longest running series of films, there certainly could’ve been more on this disc. No behind-the-scenes features, no deleted scenes, no small feature on the star’s remarkable abilities? Very surprising, indeed.
Dog-U-Mentary with the Buddies
A fairly standard feature with a twist, this optional commentary track doesn’t feature the film’s director. It does, however, feature the ever-popular Buddies commenting on their “dad’s” first big film. While certainly a different approach to the usual commentary track, it’s not so special a special feature.
Original Theatrical Trailer
The film’s original trailer from 1997 is included here. There’s not much to say about it. It’s a nice inclusion, but once again, nothing so special.
Buddy Dog Tag
Included in the packaging is a silver dog tag with a paw print on one side and the name Buddy on the other. My 10-year-old daughter was happy to receive this, but it’s pretty underwhelming.
Audio, Video and Interface
The big deal here is the film’s re-issuance in its original theatrical widescreen format. The previous DVD release was a fullscreen version only, so it’s nice to see the movie in it’s unaltered form. The improved Dolby mix is an improvement as well and sounds just fine. The menus are clean and easy to use, but are nothing special.
The Final Evaluation
Buddy has the honor of his films and spin-offs have surpassed Herbie as Disney’s longest-running franchise. That said, one would think that revisiting the original film that started it all would warrant a fancier special edition. To be honest, it’s not that special at all. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the film. I did and do like Air Bud. I’ll take the silent dog with an interesting talent to his obnoxiously cute and contrite talking offspring any day. If you’ve watched the Buddies movies with your kids over the past few years and are expecting the same thing, don’t. Air Bud is more of a classic “kid and his dog” movie at heart. It’s very watchable. I just wish they gave it a little bit more of a treatment. If you’re going to own it, you might as well own this version with the film presented in it’s original format, but it’s not a true must have.
Air Bud gets its PG rating for some brief mild language, but otherwise is perfectly suitable for the kids.
