Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a 2008 family comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is directed by Raja Gosnell and released on October 3, 2008. The plot centers around a Chihuahua, Chloe, who gets dognapped in Mexico and has to escape from an evil Doberman, El Diablo, with help from a lonely German Shepherd, Delgado, and a hyperactive male Chihuahua, Papi, who has a desperate crush on her.

A sequel called Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 was released direct-to-DVD February 1, 2011.

Plot

Vivian Ashe (Jamie Lee Curtis) leaves her pet chihuahua Chloe (Drew Barrymore) with her irresponsible niece Rachel (Piper Perabo). However, when Rachel decides to go to Mexico with her friends, Chloe gets dognapped. She is sent to the dog fights, and meets a German Shepherd named Delgado (Andy Garcia). Delgado helps her escape the dog fights and attempts to get her back to Beverly Hills. El Diablo (Edward James Olmos), a fierce Argentinean mix Bolivian Doberman Pinscher, is sent by the dog fight ringleader to capture Chloe for the reward. Chloe and Delgado eventually escape from El Diablo, with Chloe returning to safely to Beverly Hills.

Cast

• Jamie Lee Curtis as Vivian "Viv" Ashe
• Piper Perabo as Rachel Ashe Lynn
• Manolo Cardona as Sam Cortez
• Ali Hillis as Angela
• Jose Maria Yazpik as Angel Gomez
• Maury Sterling as Valeria Gomez
• Jesús Ochoa as Officer Ramirez
• Eugenio Derbez as Storekeeper
• Rusco as Papi ^[1]
• Angel as Chloe ^[2]

Voices

• Drew Barrymore as Chloe - White Chihuahua
• Andy García as Delgado - German Shepherd
• George Lopez as Papi - Chihuahua
• Edward James Olmos as El Diablo - Doberman Pinscher
• Plácido Domingo as Montezuma (nicknamed Monte) - Long-haired Chihuahua
• Paul Rodriguez as Chico - Iguana
• Cheech Marin as Manuel - Pack Rat
• Loretta Devine as Delta - Toy Poodle
• Luis Guzman as Chucho - Great Dane
• Michael Urie as Sebastian - Pug
• Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo as Rafa - Bull Terrier

Production

Chloe was named after writer Analisa LaBianco's dog, a 4-year-old Chihuahua.^[3]

Visual effects

Cinesite in London, using their specially developed pipeline for creating digital muzzle replacements, animated the many talking dogs. The in-house visual effects supervisor is Matt Johnson, and the animation supervisor was Alexander Williams.

Music

The film score was written by composer Heitor Pereira, who recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros..^[4]

Reception

Critical reception

Beverly Hills Chihuahua received mixed reviews from critics. As of October 17, 2008, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 41% of critics gave positive reviews based on 71 reviews.^[5] Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, it was reported that 47% of critics gave positive reviews based on 16 reviews.^[6] Metacritic reported that the film had an average score of 41 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, placing it under the "Mixed or Average" category.^[7]

Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times wrote in his review that "One could try to overlook the film's view of Mexico as an either-or land of resort poshness and street-level poverty, chiefly populated by criminals and hustlers of all stripes, except that view forms the entire film, driving the narrative impulse by which the spoiled puppy makes her journey." Olsen also wrote "Think of it as the Paris Hilton Complex, that idea of young people as little princesses and princes who get what they want, and what they want is easy pickings and a life without engagement."^[8] Walter Addiego of the San Francisco Chronicle gave a positive review saying the film combines the themes of dignity and empowerment - "We are tiny, but we are mighty", says the leader of a vast Chihuahua pack - with a story of a spoiled rich canine who learns not to be so high and mighty, the film hits all the typical Disney notes. There's even a politically correct message at the end advising would-be dog adopters to make sure they know what they're getting into.^[9]

Box office

Despite mixed reviews from critics, Beverly Hills Chihuahua was a commercial success. The film grossed $29,300,465 on its opening weekend from 3,215 theaters, averaging about $9,114 per theater, and ranking number 1 at the box office for that weekend.^[10] On its second weekend, the film arrived number 1 again with $17,502,077.^[11] As of May 10, 2009, Beverly Hills Chihuahua has grossed $94,514,402 domestically and $51,310,495 in other territories leading up to a total of $145,824,897 worldwide.

Home media

Beverly Hills Chihuahua was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 3, 2009 in the US and May 25, 2009 in the UK on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. As of November 1, 2009, the DVD has sold over 3 million copies generating $59,918,764 in sales revenue.^[12]

Sequels

A direct-to-video sequel was released for DVD and Blu-ray in February 1, 2011 by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.^[13] It was filmed in October 2009 in Los Angeles and George Lopez returned as the voice of Papi. Manolo Cardona, Drew Barrymore and Andy García did not reprise their roles. A third film (Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3) has been announced by George Lopez. It is set for Direct-to-DVD release in Fall 2012.

References

External links

• Official website
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the Internet Movie Database
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua at AllRovi
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua at Box Office Mojo
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua at Rotten Tomatoes