Film Reviews

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

• Rating:
• Director: Raja Gosnell
• Starring: Drew Barrymore
• Details: USA/Mexico / 91mins / (G)

Before taking the youngster in your life to see this film, you have to ask yourself 'Just how funny can a film about talking Mexican dogs be?' If the answer is 'moderately', then there's a decent chance you'll enjoy this latest outing from the mouse house. Beverly Hills Chihuahua has enjoyed stellar American box-office takings thus far, despite cinematic intellectuals throwing their eyeballs to the skies at the premise alone. Make no mistake: this is a very silly kiddie flick, but it's an occasionally charming one, too. Director Raja Gosnel has experience directing dogs of the talking variety - having previously called the shots on the two Scooby-Doo outings - and here, keeps things moving along at a brisk enough pace to avoid drawing attention to the nonsensicality of it all. Drew Barrymore voices demanding bitch Chloe, who is used to a life of bottled water and having someone else pick up her crap after her; but when her adoring owner (Curtis) goes on an important business trip, she's left in the incapable hands of Rachel (Perabo) who loses her while living it up in Mexico. Chloe must learn to take care of herself as she is pursued by a gang of Mexican wrong-sorts and a hungry Rottweiler called El Diablo. With a script and director that knows exactly the type of tongue-firmly-against-cheek material that they're dealing with, this has more than a few laughs for the kiddies, and it may just have you chuckling along, too. Tackling the class divide in jovial fashion, this isn't a patch on All Dogs Go To Heaven, but is still the best talking dog film of the year... so far.

Review by Mike Sheridan