Beverly Hills Chihuahua

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. Meanwhile, Rachel is searching for Chloe with Sam (Manolo Cardona) and Papi (George Lopez), landscaper and dog before Aunt Viv gets home.
When Delgado was talking to his friend from when he was in the Mexican Police, Chloe encounters a pack rat named Manuel (Cheech Marin) trying to steal Chloe's diamond collar. She is tricked into giving him the collar, which was going to be used to get her home. When Delgado and Chloe was smuggled by a Coyote in a train, Delgado created a diversion to so that Chloe wouldn't get caught by the train crew. But after Delgado jumped off the train, Chloe jumped with him. When they walked across the Chihuahua Desert, Delgado told Chloe how he lost his sense of smell, when Delgado and his partner were searching for a suspect, he was ambushed by El Diablo and his owner. When he woke up his partner was seriously wounded and was never the same after that night. Neither was Delgado because the next morning, he completely lost his sense of smell. El Diablo (Edward James Olmos), a fierce Argentinan mix Bolivian Doberman Pinscher, is sent by the dog fight ringleader to capture Chloe for the reward.
Later on, Manuel is seen with the collar by Delgado, so Manuel switches sides and helps Delgado find his sense of smell. Delgado sniffs the collar and gets his sense of smell back. He finds Chloe. Papi and Chloe try to escape from El'Diablo, in which case Papi is placed in a cage. Chloe rescues him and finds her inner bark. However, El'Diablo chases thm. Delgado tries to save her, but Chloe jumps on El'Diablo's back. She is thrown into a wall, which Papi thinks must have hurt her. Delgado finally evens out with El'Diablo, after jumping on top of him. Chloe awakens and she returns to Beverly Hills. Delgado gets a job with the police, and El Diablo runs away. Chloe and Papi go on a date by the gazebo and Chloe licks him on the face. 




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
Voices
Drew Barrymore as Chloe - Chihuahua
Andy García as Delgado - German Shepherd
George Lopez as Papi - Chihuahua
Edward James Olmos as El Diablo - Doberman Pinscher
Placido Domingo as 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.




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..




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. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, it was reported that 50% of critics gave positive reviews based on 16 reviews. 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.
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."[6] 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.




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.[8] On its second weekend, the film arrived number 1 again with $17,502,077.[9] 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.




Sequels


Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2


A direct-to-video sequel has been announced by Disney and is currently in post-production for a February 1, 2011 release to DVD and Blu-ray by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. It was filmed in October 2009 in Los Angeles and George Lopez will be returning as the voice of Papi. Manolo Cardona, Drew Barrymore and Andy García have been confirmed not to be reprising their roles. It has been said that Marcus Coloma will be playing Sam Cortez, You Again's Odette Yustman will be voicing Chloe, Miguel Ferrer will be voicing Delgado and Zachary Gordon will be voicing the role of Papi, Jr. A third film (Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3) is possible and has been announced by George Lopez. It will possibly release in 2012 or 2013.