The original “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” (2008) made nearly $150 million worldwide. I was a bit disappointed by that Disney dog comedy. However, the new Direct-to-DVD sequel has a little more bite.
Two of the stars from the original – Jamie Lee Curtis and Drew Barrymore, are not back for this follow-up, but comedian/talk show host George Lopez returns, reprising his role as the voice of Papi. He’s the Chihuahua who was found on the streets, and ended-up finding his true love, Chloe, the pampered Chihuahua from Beverly Hills.
In “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2” Papi and Chloe get married and start a family, but Papi soon learns that being a father to five pups is more difficult than it seems. Meantime, Papi’s owner’s parents need to come up with a lot of money, quickly, or they’ll lose their home. So what do they do? They enter the dogs in a dog show in hopes of winning the grand prize. But, as you might guess, things don’t go as smoothly as everyone hoped.
The script is pretty predictable, but there are several plotlines going on, so the story should keep little kids interested throughout. As in the first film, the mouths of the dogs and voices match-up pretty well. And parent will like that the overall theme of the movie is the importance of family.
Sure, there’s some bad slapstick and over-the-top performances (including from some Disney Channel stars), and the jokes are a little corny. But along with all of that the movie has a lot of heart.
“Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2” is rated G. There are a few brief scenes that maybe a bit scary for very little ones but, unlike the original, there are no scenes involving dogfighting.
It’s mostly people falling down and dogs having dog fun.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2” gets a C+.
The first movie’s catch phrases was that it was “The Greatest Chihuahua Movie of All-Time”. Well, out of the two, this sequel is now “The Greatest Chihuahua Movie of All-Time”.