Le Chihuahua de Beverly Hills

As a "co-owner" of two Chihuahua's, I was dragged to the theater to see this disastrous film. It's not my typical fan fare, one usually consisting of international dramas and intellectual plots. And on all of these measures, this movie utterly fails. But somehow I was OK with this and have come to slightly appreciate the film through the lens of it's audience.

It is a quaint family film which transcends our four legged friends celebrating the love and struggles in life. The movie is a triangulation of ideas - It plays on the differences in people, it's a coming of age story, it plays on loyalty, and has an innocent love dynamic. These themes are portrayed allegorically through some of American's purist companions - dogs. This is a painfully light hearted film about a "stuck up" female dog who ends up on an unexpected journey in Mexico which leads to love and change. It's an tired old theme, and as it delivers laughs very sparingly, but it still manages to deliver family fun and has some redeeming qualities.

This movie at best is seen through the lens of a 5 year old's mindset and aptly was aimed at and delivered to that demographic in spades. We have grown spoiled with "childrens" movies containing complicated subtexts for adults, this one does none of these things, if you want something better, watch WALL-E.

I have been using IMDb to obtain feedback on movies for several years now, and what I find is that people here tend to be a little too bias toward A-list, blockbuster movies. Chihuahua does not fall into that category by any means, but that does not warrant dismissing it outright. It is true that the film's cast could have been put to better use, but given the parameters set by the Disney-style writing, they did what they could and it was enough to let me enjoy their performances. I read a review on here that commented on the inaccuracy of geographical information. I agree that if Disney is going to make a film like this, it is unfortunate that they do not take the time to educate their young audiences a little. We wouldn't be talking doctorate level research here, just basic fact-checking.

The plot of this movie was not deep, but not many Disney movies NEED to be in order to cater to their young audience and family demographic. I am a twenty-something and I am able to tolerate Disney's material, because I accept it for what it is: shallow, vapid entertainment designed to convey squeaky-clean ideals to impressionable youth. Sometimes, they take that squeaky-cleanliness too far, like making light of the dog fights, but overall, it is all rooted in the same objective: to maintain their target demographic and intake revenue.

To the people who reference the different caliber of Disney's entertainment ten or more years ago, I concur with you. It would be good for Disney to trace its roots a bit and return to basics, but it would take a lot of cutting through green to accomplish that.

I enjoyed this movie. There was a comment on the discussion board mentioning that the trailer distorted people's initial impression. I am one of those people. Once I got into the movie though, I applied my usual preconditions for judging Disney films and had a good time. It was cute and in Disney's typical fashion, it contained half-baked attempts to teach the kids a thing or two (inaccurate or vague as they were).

Go into it knowing it's Disney and will thus inherit the characteristics of all their work, and you'll be fine.

Granted Beverly Hills Chihuahua is not a perfect movie, the story is predictable and the script while a vast majority of the time cute and funny was occasionally a little too clichéd, silly and frothy. But hey for a family movie I think it worked. I am a 19 year old girl, and have a soft spot for family movies, so this was ideal and I enjoyed it. The scenery is superb, the soundtrack is suitably upbeat, the dogs are pitch perfect with the lip movements surprisingly not too sloppy, Drew Barrymore and George Lopez are touching and believable together and hearing the amazing Placido Domingo as the voice of Monte is a major plus and make anybody's day, whether you are an opera fan or not(by the way, I am). All in all, I liked it very much for what it was. It is hardly Oscar-worthy, but it never tried to be, it aimed to be undemanding fun and that's what it was. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I agree with some of the previous reviewers - how can you rate a movie without even seeing it?!? Well, guess that gives us the right to rate THEM without even knowing them! I give those people a 1.5.

This is a KID'S movie and to rate it a 2 is ridiculous. It's not the best movie but it sure is much better than A LOT of recent kid's/animated films. My kids, 4 & 5, loved this movie and that's really my biggest requirement. There are many others where they were bored and wanted to leave in less than 30 minutes.

To the people voting it so low (especially ones who vote without viewing) - GET A LIFE!

This movie has a lower rating than "Superhero movie". And that was absolutely crap. I am not a child and not a dog lover. Still i found myself liking this movie.And no I am not suffering from any mental illness or something like that. Honestly the nerve of people to say something like that. I wonder if most of the reviewers actually have seen the movie. If so what did these people expect from a movie like this. A talking Chihuahua reciting a poem from Shakespeare or just a cute dog mixed up in some little adventure. Compared to previous Disney movies about animals it is on the same level. So what if it isn't original. What movie is these days. This movie hasn't got one dull moment. I sat through the movie without ever looking at the clock. And I can tell you that a lot of the big titles that came out this year wished they had the same effect on me.Most of the box office titles made this year have disappointed me much more because I had high expectations. For "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" i had no expectations whatsoever and got rewarded with fun.