DVD Review: Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Rating: 11
Even viewers with low standards can only be expected to chuckle at the novelty of talking dogs a few times before wondering if there might be better use of their time. Still, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” became a huge hit by stretching a computer trick into a feature-length endurance test. Sure, kids will love it, but kids will also eat marshmallows until forced to stop. In that sense, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” is a dog dish overflowing with marshmallow cream.
Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) is a pampered, pedigreed pooch who lives much better than 99 percent of humans, but when she gets lost in Mexico and is stripped of her Harry Winston collar and the comforts of her mansion, Chloe discovers just how out-of-touch she is with her canine roots. And there’s a wrong-side-of-the-tracks love interest for Chloe (Papi, a mixed-breed Chihuahua voiced by George Lopez), some barely written human characters played by Piper Perabo, Jamie Lee Curtis and Manolo Cardona, some mild peril subbing for an actual plot and a truckload of voice talent ranging from Placido Domingo to Michael Urie of “Ugly Betty.”
But beyond the low-rent music choices (George Thorogood must make a killing with soundtrack licenses) and 10-year-old Taco Bell commercial aesthetic, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” trades in some noxious stereotypes about Mexico. It condescendingly makes nice with the nation toward the end, but what country wants to be half-heartedly enabled by a talking dog movie?
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