Do you suppose there's a day where a group of people sit in a room, contemplating whether they should make a film live action or animated? I'm guessing it happens a lot over at Disney. For the most part, Disney can be right on their choices. For Beverly Hills Chihuahua, they should've gone in another direction.

The hapless story is about a pampered Beverly Hills chihuahua named Chloe (voice of Drew Barrymore), complete with designer booties and a diamond collar, gets stuck in the care of carefree Rachel (Piper Perabo), the niece of Chloe's owner, Vivian (Jamie Lee Curtis). One night, Rachel and her friends go partying in Mexico, taking Chloe along for the ride. Chloe escapes the hotel room and finds herself in foreign territory. She's never been outside of Beverly Hills. Soon, Chloe gets snatched up by a group of dog-nappers, who use them for underground dog fights. Chloe narrowly escapes with the assistance of a german shepherd named Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia). Together they attempt to get back to California. Meanwhile, back in Beverly Hills, another chihuahua, Papi (voice of George Lopez), who's been pining over Chloe since day one, finds out that she's been dog-napped and sets out to rescue her, along with his owner, Sam (Manolo Cardona) and Rachel. While out in the wild, Chloe discovers her heritage, is confronted by the usual array of strange animals (including a thieving rat (voice of Cheech Marin) and iguana (voice of Paul Rodriguez), all the while being chased down by the head ring-leader, who discovers how valuable Chloe is and plans to hold her for ransom.

It's the same old story...one that we've heard and seen numerous times. While the voice cast does a great job (the largest collection of Latino actors and comedians to be in a movie, I'm sure) and the dogs are cute, they story is as stale as week-old popcorn. The adventure is unexciting and uninspiring. Why do they have to make the dog's mouths move when they talk? Why couldn't it be like how they did it in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. It still looks creepy to see an animals' mouth moving. If you want to see a better Disney flick about dogs, check out Oliver & Company. You can leave this one in the kennel.

1 1/2 stars