Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Though it certainly seems possible that small children will thrill to the exceedingly silly antics of the various characters, Beverly Hills Chihuahua‘s dearth of attributes geared towards older viewers ensures that the movie is ultimately about as enthralling as a low-rent Saturday morning cartoon. The storyline follows a wealthy businesswoman (Jamie Lee Curtis’ Vivian) as she entrusts the care of her beloved chihuahua (Drew Barrymore’s Chloe) to her irresponsible niece (Piper Perabo’s Rachel), with chaos ensuing after Rachel’s carelessness eventually leads to Chloe’s abduction by a ruthless dognapper. The bulk of the film subsequently follows Chloe’s efforts at finding her way back home, in a journey that pairs her with a grizzled former police dog (Andy Garcia’s Delgado) and ultimately teaches the spoiled pooch a series of valuable life lessons. It’s a predictable set-up that’s employed to pervasively hackneyed effect by director Raja Gosnell, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Analisa LaBianco and Jeff Bushell, consistently bogs the proceedings down with some of the hoariest cliches one could possibly imagine (eg Buster Poindexter’s “Hot Hot Hot” accompanies Rachel’s arrival into Mexico). Far more problematic, however, is the relentless emphasis on precisely the sort of hopelessly juvenile elements that’ll surely leave even the most open-minded viewer rolling their eyes, with Garcia’s surprisingly strong work (ie he’s giving an actual performance here) the one highlight within a film that’s otherwise entirely disposable.

** out of ****