Ay Chihuahua
Putting things into perspective "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is a movie for children, young children who probably won't get any of the jokes but will just laugh at talking dogs and over pampered pooches. And as such "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" works, those young children will be entertained and job done. But I can't but help find myself being disappointed because "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is one of the most vacuous children's movies I have ever watched and comparing it to other family movies featuring animals going on an adventure it is a poor imitation. What this means is basically if you want to show your children a movie which whilst entertaining them also make them use their imagination then "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" will come up short.
Chloe (voice: Drew Barrymore) is one pampered Chihuahua and her own Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis) treats her like a little child. When Viv has to go away on business and the dog nanny is unavailable Viv persuades her niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) to look after Chloe. But a trip with her friends to Mexico leads to trouble when Chloe goes missing having been dog napped and finding herself at the start of an adventure to get home with her new friend Delgado (voice: Andy Garcia), a former police dog who protects her.
So to put this simply, children under the age of 8 who probably won't get much of the humour will enjoy this simple adventure story of a pampered pooch ending up lost in Mexico. It has all the components from good dogs to bad dogs as well as other animal characters plus a few humans to offer a bit of variety. The humour of the dogs being dressed up and being pampered during the opening will make them smile and the whole series of escapades that Chloe the Chihuahua goes on with her guardian Delgado as they run from the fearsome El Diablo will keep them distracted. And so job done, a children's movie which will make its target audience laugh through some simple, inoffensive humour.
But then there is the problem that where once these animal adventures movies would fuel a child's imagination there is nothing to fuel anyone's imagination here. It basically is very shallow and even the message it tries to get across about Chihuahua's not being toys you dress up is worthless. And whilst "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is a movie aimed at young children it has to be said that it offers little for anyone else in the family, there are a few jokes which seem to be aimed at adults but it means older children and young teens are going to be left with nothing. And those jokes aimed at adults are so unoriginal that there is almost a groan factor to them.
What is quite surprising is the well known names who either appear or lend their voices. It does mean that when it comes to the various talking animals you can have the fun of name the actor with the likes of Drew Barrymore, George Lopez, Andy Garcia and even Plácido Domingo amongst other well known names.
What this all boils down to is that if you just want something to entertain a young child then "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" will work. But it is very vacuous and offers nothing to fuel a child's mind like those older animal inspired adventure movies did.
Tags: Dog Movies
