ohmidog!

      I don’t usually go in for movies with talking dogs (or horses, or cats), but Beverly Hills Chihuahua seems to be racking up some decent reviews as it opens across the country. 
     Carrie Rickey, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, gave it three bones (well stars, actually): 
     “Sublimely silly and oddly poignant, Beverly Hills Chihuahua – that’s right, the one with the talking canines – is Lady and the Tramp for lap dogs, Roots for pooches, Legally Blonde told from Bruiser’s point of view.

“Graced with unusually expressive and seamless voice work by Drew Barrymore and George Lopez, the best of its kind since Babe, BHC is about Chloe (Barrymore), a citified, prettified, bootie-wearing, diamond-swathed, 90210 Chihuahua dognapped on a jaunt to Mexico.”

“A filthy-rich fantasy for these cash-strapped times,” penned Peter Debruge of Variety. While the movie “peddles tacky stereotypes in thick Hispanic accents,” Debruge says, Barrymore’s voice is ”endearing” and “she plays the role with helpful nuance: She is polite in her bigotry, naive in her self-entitlement and gracious toward those small kindnesses other characters show her.”

Michael Rechtshaffen, of The Hollywood Reporter was slightly more lukewarm, saying BHC lacks the pedigree of such Disney favorites as Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians. Even though the writing could have been “punched up” a bit, he said, the movie’s “spirited voice cast delivers the whole enchilada.”