For those of you who loved Beverly Hills Chihuahua (including myself), I am sad to report that Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 is not a worthy sequel to its enormously entertaining predecessor. Obviously patched together rather quickly to capitalize on the success of Chihuahua #1, BHC2 is a straight to DVD concoction. All the actors have been replaced except for George Lopez who reprises the voice of Papi. Also missing are stars Jaime Lee Curtis, who had a short but effective role as the dog loving businesswoman, Aunt Viv, and Drew Barrymore who had the starring (voice) role as Chloe.
BHC2 begins right away with the wedding of Papi and Chloe. A few months later Chloe gives birth to a brood of five pups, four girls and a boy. Chloe's owner, Rachel and her mother Aunt Viv, are off on a trip to the Amazon rain forest and have even lesser roles here than in the original 'Chihuahua'. The audience is further short-changed when Delgado, the German Shepard former police dog, is relegated to a supporting role as he attempts to locate his long lost 'sons' who are now police dogs for LAPD.
It takes a very long time before we break into 'Act 2' in BHC2 and that occurs when Sam and his parents (the Cortez's) are faced with losing the family home. While BHC1 had a menacing and realistic drug cartel member as an antagonist (coupled with his equally scary canine counterpart, 'El Diablo'), all BHC2 can muster up is a buffoonish bank executive, entrusted with taking possession of the Cortez family home.
Sam needs to come up with $50K cash so they decide to enter a prestigious dog show. Somehow, the dogs are allowed to enter the contest without any investigation into their pedigree. It's only after Papi ends up winning (by arranging flower petals into the shape of a heart) that it finally occurs to the stuffy lead judge, that Papi isn't a full pedigree. Papi is disqualified and Sam is back to square one, trying to figure out how to get the cash to prevent foreclosure of their home.
The 'dark moment' at the end of the Second Act occurs when the puppies follow Delgado who's still looking for his long lost sons. Sam, Papi and Chloe are frantic that the little ones are now lost. The puppies end up in duffel bags containing stolen cash, carried by criminals who have just robbed a bank. Papi's brother, Pedro, finds a cap belonging to the one of the robbers and the scent leads the dogs to a bread factory, where they rescue the puppies and chase the robbers out, into the arms of the police.
Unlike BHC1, which had an extremely inventive plot and all kinds of interesting characters and production numbers (remember that wonderful 'Aztec warrior' Chihauhau dance?), BHC2 is simply a formulaic Disney second-rate comedy. While BHC1 was full of laugh out loud jokes, BHC2 simply expects us to laugh merely by offering up a bunch of talking dogs without the wit of the original. For those who haven't seen BHC1, please pick up a copy; and try to forget the sequel!
BHC2 begins right away with the wedding of Papi and Chloe. A few months later Chloe gives birth to a brood of five pups, four girls and a boy. Chloe's owner, Rachel and her mother Aunt Viv, are off on a trip to the Amazon rain forest and have even lesser roles here than in the original 'Chihuahua'. The audience is further short-changed when Delgado, the German Shepard former police dog, is relegated to a supporting role as he attempts to locate his long lost 'sons' who are now police dogs for LAPD.
It takes a very long time before we break into 'Act 2' in BHC2 and that occurs when Sam and his parents (the Cortez's) are faced with losing the family home. While BHC1 had a menacing and realistic drug cartel member as an antagonist (coupled with his equally scary canine counterpart, 'El Diablo'), all BHC2 can muster up is a buffoonish bank executive, entrusted with taking possession of the Cortez family home.
Sam needs to come up with $50K cash so they decide to enter a prestigious dog show. Somehow, the dogs are allowed to enter the contest without any investigation into their pedigree. It's only after Papi ends up winning (by arranging flower petals into the shape of a heart) that it finally occurs to the stuffy lead judge, that Papi isn't a full pedigree. Papi is disqualified and Sam is back to square one, trying to figure out how to get the cash to prevent foreclosure of their home.
The 'dark moment' at the end of the Second Act occurs when the puppies follow Delgado who's still looking for his long lost sons. Sam, Papi and Chloe are frantic that the little ones are now lost. The puppies end up in duffel bags containing stolen cash, carried by criminals who have just robbed a bank. Papi's brother, Pedro, finds a cap belonging to the one of the robbers and the scent leads the dogs to a bread factory, where they rescue the puppies and chase the robbers out, into the arms of the police.
Unlike BHC1, which had an extremely inventive plot and all kinds of interesting characters and production numbers (remember that wonderful 'Aztec warrior' Chihauhau dance?), BHC2 is simply a formulaic Disney second-rate comedy. While BHC1 was full of laugh out loud jokes, BHC2 simply expects us to laugh merely by offering up a bunch of talking dogs without the wit of the original. For those who haven't seen BHC1, please pick up a copy; and try to forget the sequel!
