Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Tackling this controversial subject is director Raja Gosnell (who is perhaps getting himself stereotyped as a dog director, having also done the two live-action Scooby Doo movies) and writers Analisa LaBianco and Jeff Bushell. Fortunately, their task was eased by the pre-ordained story arc of a “Beverly Hills” title and they did little to push the boundaries of expectations.

The clueless rich person cast unexpectely among the hoi polloi is Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore), a prissy chihuahua owned and excessively pampered by Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis), a successful fashion designer. The hoi polloi for this movie is Mexico. When Viv goes on a business trip to Europe, the dog nanny is unavailable so Chloe is left in the care of Rachel (Piper Perabo, doing her best Jennifer Garner impersonation), an irresponsible niece. Rachel of course isn’t too concerned with her responsibilities and when she and friends head for a weekend on the beaches of Mexico, Chloe gets separated from the pack—on her own trying to get back to Beverly Hills.

From that point on, the audience is sent careening along with two parralel stories of self-discovery: Chloe finding her roots, Rachel finding responsibility (and the companionship of a hunky landscaper). Chloe’s is definitely the more interesting of the stories, and things would likely have benefited significantly from cutting the human part of the story completely, even if it left barely enough to fill a commercial-filled hour on Disney Channel.

Chloe finds herself repeatedly in peril. Almost immediately, she is dognapped into a dog-fighting ring. Don’t worry, though, this is Disney dog fighting so there will be no signs of blood or actual canine trauma. Chloe gains the protection of a German shepherd named Delgado (Andy Garcia), who helps her escape and accompanies her northward. Along the way they run into just enough dogs (and a rat and an iguana) that the casting agency began to run out of prominent Latino actors. George Lopez gets the second biggest voice role as Papi, the pet of Viv’s gardener who is absolutely smitten with Chloe and dedicates himself to finding her when he learns she’s gone missing. Cheech Marin, Paul Rogriguez, Placido Domingo, Edward James Olmos, and Luis Guzman all get bits in supporting roles.

Interestingly, the only female dogs in the movies are all voiced by white actresses. Drew Barrymore is, in a way, surrounded by swarthy Mexican men throughout. If this movie ever garners any attention in academic circles, I’m sure there is at least a small term paper in that somewhere.

Rachel, meanwhile, ditches her friends in a sudden urge towards responsibility and heads to Mexico City in search of the underground dogfights. There, she hooks up—in perhaps the greatest bit of unreality in the movie—with Viv’s landscaper Sam (Manolo Cardona) and a police detective (Jesús Ochoa) to begin a nationwide search.

It is time to admit something about myself, in a spirit of honesty with the reader. The first time I saw a trailer and it ended with the Walt Disney Pictures logo, I audibly groaned. Why? Because I find it creepy when human babies and animals have their mouths animated to look like they’re talking. Movies with talking animals are OK. They can talk through narration (Look Who’s Talking Now, Homeward Bound), they can use natural mouth movement and pretend it is talking (Babe), they can just animate the whole move (hundreds), but when it is a live action animal with computerized mouths, that’s simply creepy to me. I think it may be because the animation never extends beyond the mouth, leaving the rest of the face, particularly the eyes, disconnected. Creepy,

So when I say that I didn’t care much for Beverly Hills Chihuahua, know that it was starting in a hole. I’m pretty confident I wouldn’t have cared for it regardless, but who am I to say how successfully I ignore my prejudices. I must acknolwedge, however, that two positives really stand out. Papi, a largish chihuahua, somehow projects a lot of character. With him I didn’t notice so much the mouth animation; there was a better sense that the dog was actually acting. George Lopez also provides a great voice for Papi, somehow restraining his accent without hiding it; resisting the urge to be a complete charicature.

The other positive is that in the third act, the northward trek by Chloe and Delgado takes a turn from the merely unrealistic to the beautifully absurd. Suddenly events put you in the of the historic homeland of the chihuahua and grand speeches are made about chichuahua pride. If the absurdist tone of these two scenes had pervaded the entire movie I’d be more than happy to ignore the creepy. It doesn’t though, and the rest is simply bad stupid rather than good stupid.

A lot of parents are going to find this one hard to sit through. Kids will love it however; the under-12 set left my screening singing along with the song playing over the closing credits. They found Chloe precious (I’m not entirely sure they got that the movie was making fun of Beverly Hills consumerism) and Papi romantic. Ideally, children’s entertainment offers something for the adults, too, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is horrible when it doesn’t. Even young children should be able to go along with the gags and the only moment of real peril is over quickly.

You adults watching can distract yourself by wondering just how insensitive it is, during one particular scene, for a Disney movie to turn human trafficking into a sight gag. Maybe that is another term paper.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a Walt Disney Pictures release

• Wide release on Friday, October 3, 2008
• Directed by Raja Gosnell
• Screenplay by Analisa LaBianco and Jeff Bushell
• Starring: Drew Barrymore, Andy Garcia, Piper Perabo, Manolo Cardona, George Lopez
• Rated PG for some mild thematic elements.
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Alex’s Rating: 5 out of 10