"B"Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

The good news about Walt Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is that you won't need to wear a disguise while taking your children for fear of being recognized and thereafter ridiculed for the rest of your life. Against all conceivable odds, it actually effectively satirizes the excess of vacuous Hollywood celebrities like Paris Hilton while simultaneously teaching kids the importance of adopting pets from your local animal shelters.

No, I don't want you to interpret this praise as predicting that "Chihuahua" will be taught anytime soon as part of your local state university's sociology curriculum. However, both of my grandchildren, Connor (soon to be 10) and Calen (age 7) loved this movie, and I've got to admit that the story of a lost, pampered Hollywood phoofy dog wandering around back alleys of Mexico created some genuine fun for adults also.

Jamie Lee Curtis vamps her way through a limited role as the Hollywood denizen with more money than common sense. She spends a fortune on her Chihuahua Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore), dressing her up in outfits/makeovers that are as tasteless as they are demeaning to anyone this side of shoppers on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.

Forced to suddenly leave the country on a business trip, she leaves Chloe in the care of her clueless, empty-headed niece, Rachel, played with annoying simplicity by Piper Perabo. Ms. Perabo is a woeful actress, her only apparent asset being the world's largest mouth this side of Julia Roberts. Her continual Kate Hudsonesque "ain't I cute" mugging is grating beyond words, and the only serious drawback of this film is that nothing tragic happens to her.

In any event, the air-headed Ms. Perabo and her two equally vapid friends decide to take a quick trip to Mexico, making the ill-fated choice to take the egocentric Chloe with them. Naturally, Chloe gets lost and then dog-napped by some sinister characters who conduct unlawful killer dog fights, and this otherwise foolish little movie actually picks up a head steam from that point on.

Thrown into the mix is Manolo Cardona, who plays Sam Cortez, Ms. Curtis' hunk gardener from the other side of the tracks. He also has a mix breed hound named Papi (voiced by George Lopez), and for reasons that are unimportant they subsequently join the desperate Ms. Perabo in trying to find the lost Chloe.

The fascinating fact about this film is that the talking dogs exhibit far more believable human qualities than the live actors. Delgado (Andy Garcia) is a German Shepherd with a dark past who, in protecting Chloe from harm, rediscovers his own self-worth. Monte (Placido Domingo) is the leader of a lost pack of Chihuahuas who provides critical help to Delgado and Chloe as they are being tracked down by the killer Doberman Diablo (Edward James Olmos).

The relationship of all of the dogs, as well as that of a thieving rat and a bumbling iguana, is warm and engaging. And while you know that Chloe is going to make it back into the arms of Ms. Curtis, there is some true fun and spunky spirit in the adventure.

In the end, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" succeeds in exposing the superficiality of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears. Known primarily for little more than being well known, they dress up their little dogs and carry them around in their purses as if they were accessories, utterly lacking any concept as to how much they are ridiculed by the masses.

While this is not a movie where the ending will surprise anyone, kids learn a valuable lesson about the importance of authenticity, commitment and caring. It helps to raise the consciousness of adults and children alike to the fact that there are tens of thousands of pets waiting for a home in our local dog pounds and animal shelters. How many films released in the past year can make a loftier claim?