Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a 2008 comedy film by Walt Disney Pictures directed by Raja Gosnell and released October 3. A trailer of the upcoming Disney film Bolt was seen at the beginning. The plot centers around a Chihuahua who gets dognapped in Mexico and has to escape from an evil Doberman with help from a lonely German Shepherd and a hyperactive male Chihuahua who has a desperate crush on her.

Plot
Vivian (Jamie Lee Curtis), chihuahua Chloe's (voice of Drew Barrymore) owner, leaves the pooch with her irresponsible niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) to dog-sit. Rachel decides to go to Mexico with her pals, leaving Chloe in the room; the dog sneaks out and gets stolen. Chloe ends up tossed into a dog fight ring, left to defend herself from dog El Diablo (voice of Edward James Olmos). Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia) rescues her from the fight, unleashing the other dogs from their cages and unlocking the ring to allow the two dogs to escape. Delgado was planning to just walk away, but he feels bad and decides to help Chloe get back home. The leader of the dog fights realizes that Chloe is worth something and sends Diablo to find Chloe. Rachel stays in Mexico to find Chloe, Rachel's friend sneaks into Vivian's house to get a picture of Chloe when she is caught by the landscaper, Sam (Manolo Cardona). He and his dog Papi (voice of George Lopez) from Beverly Hills, who is in love with Chloe, go to Mexico to find her. Rachel and the landscaper team up and set off to find Chloe. On their journey to Beverly Hills, Chloe and Delgado find themselves in many situations that they manage to escape; they make it to a national park in Mexico, where Chloe is regonized by an employee. Rachel and the landscaper go to get Chloe but Delgago beats them to her. They end up in an old ruin where Chloe gets locked in a cage; Papi helps Chloe to escape. Chloe finds her bark and with the help of Papi and Delgado, and they get Diablo to surrender. Delgado becomes a K9 Unit and Rachel and Sam take the dogs home. Back in Beverly Hills, Vivian likes Chloe's new smell (an earthy smell). Papi and Chloe relax on the patio. Chloe thanks Papi for his help and she tells him that she loves him in Spanish and she licks him down to the ground as her way of showing her love. Before the end credits, Papi explains what happens to the dogs (Chloe's friends that she met in Mexico), he and Chloe have puppies and Sam begins dating Rachel.

Humans

 * Jamie Lee Curtis - Aunt Viv
 * Piper Perabo - Rachel Ashe Lynn
 * Manolo Cardona - Sam
 * Maury Sterling - Rafferty
 * Jesús Ochoa - Officer Ramirez

Voices

 * Drew Barrymore - Chloe
 * George Lopez - Papi
 * Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo - Rafa
 * Andy Garcia - Delgado
 * Placido Domingo - Monte
 * Edward James Olmos - El Diablo
 * Paul Rodriguez - Chico
 * Cheech Marin - Manuel
 * Loretta Devine - Delta
 * Luis Guzman - Chucho

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 music to Beverly Hills Chihuahua was written by composer Heitor Pereira, who recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros..

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." 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 #1 at the box office for that weekend. On its second weekend, the film arrived #1 again with $17,502,077. As of January 11, 2009, Beverly Hills Chihuahua has grossed $94 million in domestic and $23.8 million in other territories leading up to a total of $117.9 million worldwide.