…although there is no beast that walks on earth and no bird that flies on its two wings which is not [God's] creatures like yourselves: no single thing have We neglected in Our decree.
And once again: Unto their Sustainer shall they [all] be gathered.
AL – AN’AM (38)
MOVIES AND FILMS
Sofiya, my oldest cucu has suggested I write about movies!
I think this is a jolly good idea knowing how much I loved to tengok wayang when I was her age (12) and how much I still do half a century on!
Then we had single cinemas, the Cathay, Capitol, Rex and Plaza being the popular ones in Seremban. The first class seats were only $1 -$1.20 and the cheap ones right in front were 60 cents.
But I was lucky because my Dad was given a free pass for 2 cinemas, so I didn’t have to save and scrimp to enjoy my favourite leisure activity. So off my best friend Lee Ha and I would troop ever so often to watch the magnificent epics like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, the period American ones like Gone With The Wind and Raintree County, the war Hemingway classics like For Whom The Bell Tolls or the soppy Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue love stories. The English Shakespearean tragedies like Hamlet and Victorian classics like Jane Eyre were unforgettable.
There were great lessons to be learnt from each one of them, however badly produced. And the actors and actresses were beautiful and brilliant. My favourites were of course Sandra Dee, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck and Dirk Bogarde.
I still go to the movies now in modern cineplexes strategically located in the shopping complexes, my favourite being the KLCC. My movie span has extended to kids movies, the animes as well as the ones starring perky animals and humans.
Recently, I was thrilled to bits watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua with five of my ten cucu. It’s a wonderful movie, brilliantly edited and dubbed – full of speed and action as the doggy friends and acquaintances of the posh and lost heroine Chloe go looking for her.
There’s a poignant lesson to be learnt about friendship, loyalty and the importance of our roots and heritage. The movie finale with the whole dog community united and in unison is something that One Malaysia can learn from.
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Beverly Hills Chihuahua | |
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Raja Gosnell |
|---|---|
| Produced by | David Hoberman Todd Lieberman John Jacobs Ricardo Del Rio |
| Written by | Analisa LaBianco Jeffrey Bushell (screenplay) Jeffrey Bushell (story) |
| Starring | Piper Perabo Manolo Cardona and Jamie Lee Curtis with the voices of: Andy Garcia George Lopez Edward James Olmos Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo Cheech Marin Loretta Devine and Drew Barrymore as the voice of “Chloe” |
| Music by | Heitor Pereira |
| Cinematography | Phil Meheux |
| Editing by | Sabrina Plisco |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | Mexico: October 1, 2008 United States, Canada: October 3, 2008 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 Million |
| Gross revenue | $117.9 million (worldwide) |
Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a 2008 comedy film by Walt Disney Pictures directed by Raja Gosnell and released October 3. A trailer of the upcoming Disney film Bolt was seen at the beginning. The plot centers around a Chihuahua who gets dognapped in Mexico and has to escape from an evil Doberman, El Diablo, with help from a lonely German Shepherd, Delgado, and a hyperactive male Chihuahua, Papí, who has a desperate crush on her.
Contents[hide] |
Plot
Vivian Ashe (Jamie Lee Curtis) leaves her pet chihuahua Chloe (voice of Drew Barrymore) with her irresponsible niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) to watch the dog. However, when Rachel decides to go to Mexico with her friends, Chloe gets lost and bonds with Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia), a lonely German Shepard who used to be a police dog, and goes on the run from a ruthless Doberman called El Diablo (voice of Edward James Olmos). Meanwhile, Papi (voice of George Lopez), a hyperactive chihuahua who falls in love with Chloe, attempts to find his love in Mexico while El Diablo attempts to capture Chloe and get her colar to his owner, a dog fight ringleader.
Cast
Humans
- Jamie Lee Curtis – Aunt Viv
- Piper Perabo – Rachel Ashe Lynn
- Manolo Cardona – Sam
- Maury Sterling – Rafferty
- Jesús Ochoa – Officer Ramirez
Voices
- Drew Barrymore – Chloe
- Andy Garcia – Delgado
- George Lopez – Papi
- Edward James Olmos – El Diablo
- Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo – Rafa
- Placido Domingo – Monte
- Paul Rodriguez – Chico
- Cheech Marin – Manuel
- Loretta Devine – Delta
- Luis Guzman – Chucho
- Eugenio Derbez – Storekeeper
Visual effects
Cinesite in London, using their specially developed pipeline for creating digital muzzle replacements, animated the many talking dogs. The in-house visual effects supervisor is Matt Johnson, and the animation supervisor was Alexander Williams.
Music
The music to Beverly Hills Chihuahua was written by composer Heitor Pereira, who recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros..[1]
Home release
Beverly Hills Chihuahua was released on March 3, 2009 on Disney DVD and Blu-ray.
Reception
Critical reception
Beverly Hills Chihuahua received mixed reviews from critics. As of October 17, 2008, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 41% of critics gave positive reviews based on 71 reviews. [2] Among Rotten Tomatoes’ Cream of the Crop, it was reported that 50% of critics gave positive reviews based on 16 reviews. [3] Metacritic reported that the film had an average score of 41 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, placing it under the “Mixed or Average” category. [4].
Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times wrote in his review that “One could try to overlook the film’s view of Mexico as an either-or land of resort poshness and street-level poverty, chiefly populated by criminals and hustlers of all stripes, except that view forms the entire film, driving the narrative impulse by which the spoiled puppy makes her journey.” Olsen also wrote “Think of it as the Paris Hilton Complex, that idea of young people as little princesses and princes who get what they want, and what they want is easy pickings and a life without engagement.” [5] Walter Addiego of the San Francisco Chronicle gave a positive review saying the film combines the themes of dignity and empowerment – “We are tiny, but we are mighty”, says the leader of a vast Chihuahua pack – with a story of a spoiled rich canine who learns not to be so high and mighty, the film hits all the typical Disney notes. There’s even a politically correct message at the end advising would-be dog adopters to make sure they know what they’re getting into. [6]
Box office
Despite mixed reviews from critics, Beverly Hills Chihuahua was a commercial success. The film grossed $29,300,465 on its opening weekend from 3,215 theaters, averaging about $9,114 per theater, and ranking #1 at the box office for that weekend.[7] On its second weekend, the film arrived #1 again with $17,502,077.[8] As of January 11, 2009, Beverly Hills Chihuahua has grossed $94 million in domestic and $23.8 million in other territories leading up to a total of $117.9 million worldwide.
References
- ^ Dan Goldwasser (2008-09-23). “Heitor Pereira scores Beverly Hills Chihuahua“. ScoringSessions.com. http://www.scoringsessions.com/news/158. Retrieved on 2008-09-23.
- ^ “Beverly Hill Chihuahua Movie Reviews”. Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008587-beverly_hills_chihuahua. Retrieved on 2008-10-07.
- ^ “Beverly Hill Chihuahua (Cream of the Crop)”. Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008587-beverly_hills_chihuahua/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved on 2008-10-17.
- ^ “Beverly Hills Chihuahua – Reviews”. Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/beverlyhillschihuahua. Retrieved on 2008-10-17.
- ^ “Beverly Hills Chihuahua – Los Angeles Times”. Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-chihuahua3-2008oct03,0,5440860.story. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
- ^ “Beverly Hill Chihuahua – San Francisco Chronicle”. San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/03/DDQI139K9H.DTL. Retrieved on 2008-11-06.
- ^ “Weekend Grosses from 10/3-10/5″. Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2008&wknd=40&p=.htm. Retrieved on 2008-10-17.
- ^ “”Chihuahua” Is Top Draw at Box Office”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/movies/13box.html?ref=business. Retrieved on 2008-10-17.
External links
- Official website
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the Internet Movie Database
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua at Allmovie
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua at Box Office Mojo
- Scoring Session Photo Gallery at ScoringSessions.com
| Preceded by Eagle Eye |
Box office number-one films of 2008 (USA) October 5, 2008 – October 12, 2008 |
Succeeded by Max Payne |
Nini Hollywood!