Chloe, voiced by Drew Barrymore, is the spoiled-rotten canine of the title, and is owned by a fashionista played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis dotes on the dog, but makes a mistake when she has to go on a working vacation and palms the dog off on her irresponsible niece (Piper Perabo). Perabo takes the dog with her for a Mexican vacation of her own - and soon Chloe is dog-napped by human scum who run dogfight rings. Chloe and her weary protector, a German Shepherd voiced by Andy Garcia, have a wild series of misadventures as various characters take off after them - including a fearsome Doberman named El Diablo (voiced by Edward James Olmos).
Some people are being awfully harsh on what is essentially supposed to be a *family film*. I personally found it to be very cute. It's a lively, sometimes silly, but sometimes funny talking-animal movie with a steady assortment of adorable four-legged stars, good work by the actors on screen, and spirited performances by the big name cast doing the voices (also including George Lopez (as the fiercely loyal Papi), Placido Domingo, Loretta Devine, Luis Guzman, and Cheech Marin & Paul Rodriguez, who are the biggest suppliers of comedy relief as a conniving rat & iguana who are a scam artist team).
The script does poke gentle fun at those rich people who treat breeds like Chihuahuas as fashion accessories, and who adorn them with "booties" and diamond collars, and the movie even functions as a loving ode to all things Chihuahua.
Something like this may NEVER be taken for "great cinema", but I say it does its job pretty well, even if the story is ultimately formulaic. All in all, it's fairly charming. Chihuahua lovers have a head start.
Followed by two sequels.
