Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney) isn't terrible. OK, it's kind of terrible, but it's a talking-dog movie, and anyone who goes to a talking-dog movie without being prepared to step in poop deserves to ruin his shoes. Indulgent parents and animal lovers, steel yourselves for pooches done up in couture outfits (who is the canine Edith Head, I wonder?), quadrupedally modified one-liners ("Talk to the paw!"), and a plot that's like a succession of "Yo quiero Taco Bell" commercials minus the fast-food come-on. And owing to the film's message that every stray dog's dream is to get taken in by a loving family, it's probably wise to give the pound a wide berth on the drive home.Nevertheless, there are moments when, to borrow from the movie's doggie-modified parlance, Beverly Hills Chihuahua is "off the leash." (Note to Disney: I'd appreciate it if "Josh Levin: Beverly Hills Chihuahua is off the leash!" doesn't appear in upcoming newspaper ads. Please read on.) Drew Barrymore nails the rich-bitch inflection of pampered lap dog Chloe, making barked-out commands like "I have a mani-pedi at 11 and you have to make my waffles" sound just as grating and odious as they read on the page. It's Barrymore's pleading voice that makes Chloe's downward spiral upon getting lost in Mexico—her diamond-encrusted Harry Winston collar gets stolen, and she's forced to sleep in a cardboard box under a park bench and fight off a pack of strays for a discarded churro—actually amusing at times. Andy Garcia, too, brings depth and pathos to the role of a jaded ex-police dog—his character, the German shepherd Delgado, has the best movie-animal flashback since the chimp Elijah in Being John Malkovich—and Luis Guzmán does his best dog-voicing work in years as a pit bull caught up in the dog-fighting racket.
Source : http://www.slate.com/id/2201448/
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