Beverly Hill Chihuahua

by Pepe
B+ Rated PG
91 min
When my human dad, Rick Grant told me about Beverly Hills Chihuahua, a film starring Chihuahuas, I jumped up and down and threw a fit. Yes, I wanted to go. Rick, who kept saying no, finally relented and smuggled me into the theatre inside his wife Elaine’s large pocketbook. I was so excited when I saw so many of my breathren on the big screen-all shapes and sizes-but I couldn’t make a sound. We Chihuahuas love to bark, so it was hard not to express myself.
Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) is a pampered white Chihuahua living in a mansion in Beverly Hills. Her human mom, Vivian (Jamie Lee Curtis) buys her expensive designer outfits for every occasion. Coincidently, Chloe looks like me, only I’m a light brown male, and she’s white.
Let’s get this straight, dogs do not wear clothes. I hate wearing anything except in the winter when it’s cold and Rick makes me wear a warm sweater. So, to me, Chloe looks ridiculous and funny in all those frilly outfits. And, she’s wearing a Harry Winston diamond collar and pink leather booties. Vivian must be crazy to let Chloe walk around with a diamond collar worth thousands of dollars.
The story involves Vivian’s niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) who is asked by Vivian to dog-sit Chloe while she’s off on one of her trips. Chloe hangs with an upscale crowd of other pampered dogs who gossip around the pool. The landscaper’s dog Papi (voiced by George Lopez) hits on Chloe but he’s too rough around the edges for high and mighty Chloe. Personally, I liked Papi. He’s cool and more worldly than Chloe and her uppity crowd.
Rachel is a terrible dog-sitter and neglects poor Chloe. Then she and her gal pals decide to go to Mexico to have fun. Once in Mexico, Rachel is more into having fun than watching out for Chloe. One thing leads to another, and Chloe gets separated from Rachel and her friends. Inevitably, (like in most Disney dog movies) Chloe is dognapped by bad men who run dog fights. She’s thrown into a cage with the other dogs. Imagine this pampered Chihuahua in with the rough street dogs of Mexico. “Oh Chihuahua!”
After nearly being killed in the dog fighting ring by a blood thirsty Doberman called Diablo, Chloe meets a street dog–a depressed German Shepherd named Delgado (Andy Garcia) who had been a police dog but got hit in the snout and lost his sense of smell. So he was kicked off the police force.
For me, the funniest scenes were with a rat named Manual (Cheech Marin) and an iguana named Chico (Paul Rodriguez) who are into conning tourists. Manual pretends to be eaten by Chico, with half his body sticking out of Chico’s mouth.(even I know that iguanas are vegetarians). But, Manual cons the necklace from Chloe. It’s a hilarious scene. Manual and Chico appear in another scene later in the movie.
The two unlikely canine pals Delgado and Chloe roam the streets looking for Rachel with no luck. The woe-begotten dogs set out into the deadly desert and run into some mountain lions. Just when it looks like Chloe and Delgado are going to be the mountain lions’ dinner, a large army of Chihuahuas show up and scare off the lions. Consequently, Chloe and Delgado find the spiritual land of Chihuahuas. It’s Mecca where thousands (all types) of Chihuahuas live in old Mayan ruins. Wow, I never imagined there would be so many of my kind living there.
. And so, the two bedraggled homeless dogs find adventure in the desert and catch a train to the border. Of course, Vivian is frantically trying to find Chloe. Finally,she goes to the Mexican police with a poster offering a reward to find Chloe. If she doesn’t find Chloe, she faces the wrath of Vivian. Chloe means everything to Vivian and she would go mental if anything happened to her precious little darling.
As for my opinion of this film? I loved it and I know Rick loved it also because he kept laughing and saying “ahhh.” It was a wonderful adventure film for my species and I fell in love with Chloe, especially when she got some street smarts. It’s a heartwarming film for the whole family. I feel special that I got to see it. Now I’m even more proud to be a Chihuahua. Hey, maybe they can hire me for the next doggie film. Scratch that, I don’t have the discipline to take direction. But I’m happy with Rick and Elaine who don’t over pamper me-thank goodness. They feed me good chow and give me plenty of time to sleep, which is my favorite thing to do.