Clichés dog silly 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua'

There's a difference between a dumb Walt Disney movie for kids, and a parody of a dumb Walt Disney movie for kids.

Except in the case of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

With its cheesy dialogue cranked to Limburger levels and its movie clichés and Mexican stereotypes worthy of an "Airplane!" parody (wait, "Airplane!" was a parody), "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is clearly a Disney film done deliberately dumb.

But instead of poking fun at its own silly, excessive clichés, this movie merely recycles them.

Having duly noted that, indiscriminate youngsters ­­- the obvious and only intended demographic target for this comedy - will laugh up a storm at the cute, animated characters and be highly amused by the story's nonsensical portions, which are legion.

Director Raja Gosnell, who has inflicted upon us the brain-dead comedies "Home Alone 3," "Never Been Kissed" and two Scooby-Doo entries, uses photo-realistic animation to maximum effect here, producing a talking animal tale technically better crafted than the classic "Babe" movie and its sequel, but far worse dramatically.

"Chihuahua" recycles Disney's "Lady and Tramp" premise with race and a chase as added elements.

Drew Barrymore employs her playful pipes as Chloe, a white pampered pooch owned by the extravagant, superrich Aunt Viv (a slumming Jamie Lee Curtis). Lured away on a business trip, Viv leaves her most precious possession in the hands of nice niece Rachel (Piper Perabo), who promptly carts the Chihuahua and two friends off to Mexico for some fun.

Faster than you can say, "Watch the dog!," Rachel loses the elite little lassie.

In short order, the coddled canine gets caught up with a dog-fighting ring, a villainous Doberman named Diablo (Edward James Olmos), a former K-9 cop named Delgado (Andy Garcia), a larcenous rat (Cheech Marin), a comic-relief iguana (Paul Rodriguez) and a heroic landscaping Chihuahua named Papi (George Lopez), Chloe's puppy love.

Mirroring the cross-national animal instincts of the pets, Rachel falls for Papi's human owner (Manolo Cardona).

"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" skates by on its engaging cast voices and animation technology that creates visual personalities for the animals, who can be really cute (Chloe) or really sad (Delgado) or really scary (Diablo).

Chloe's big adventure south of the border takes her all over the country, even to a Mayan-like temple that supposedly serves as the birthplace for all Chihuahuas, led by a canine high priest named Montezuma (voiced by opera singer Placido Domingo?)

"Find your bark!" Monte tells the timid Rodeo Drive doggy. She eventually does, and she makes Mr. Limpett sound mousy by comparison.

Everything about this movie has been put together with a sledgehammer, from the plot devices to the heavy-handed selection of obvious music that comments on the action. (When poor Chloe is left by herself, the song lyrics confirm it: "Why do they leave me all by myself?")

There are enough zingers in the script to keep the characters sounding clever ("Did you see that?," Chloe shouts. "I barked!"), but Gosnell's film verges on Mexican stereotypes, right down to an angered Papi growling, "I'm going to go all Mexican on him!"

Presumably, "Mexican" means aggressive and violent.

Aye caramba!

'Beverly Hills Chihuahua'

Rating: 2 stars

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Piper Perabo, Andy Garcia, Cheech Marin, Drew Barrymore, George Lopez

Directed by: Raja Gosnell

Other: A Walt Disney release. Rated PG. 92 minutes