Beverly Hills Chihuahua (U)

Alison Rowat's Review

A heart-warming tale from Disney that’s guaranteed to induce severe indigestion, if not full blown distemper, in non-dog lovers.

Drew Barrymore gives voice to Chloe, an obscenely pampered chihuahua from LA that gets lost on a trip to Mexico. With the help of a former police dog and other abandoned mutts, Chloe discovers that what is important in life is not fancy collars but good friends.

Supremely daft and deeply weird due to the number of talking animals around the place, but sweet all the same. Very small cinemagoers will adore it.

Paul Greenwood's Review

Ah, the talking dog movie, that prince among sub-genres.

The Beverly Hills Chihuahua of the title is Chloe, voiced by Drew Barrymore, a pooch constantly pampered by owner Jamie Lee Curtis, who leaves her in the care of her irresponsible niece (Piper Perabo) when she goes on a business trip.

Chloe ends up lost in Mexico where she gets mixed up with dognappers and, with the whole of Mexico seemingly coming to a standstill to find one American dog, we're treated to that Disney staple, the cross country animal trek.

Chloe is protected on her journey by a noble German Shepherd (Andy Garcia), and the canine actors easily outdo the humans, who spend much of their time humiliating themselves by making doggy noises.

Some of the adventures will please youngsters but many of the references intended to keep parents awake will leave you wincing, not to mention the patronising life lessons Chloe learns about not being spoiled and being nice to Mexicans.