Image: Netflix
Netflix’s latest family adventure movie, sucknow it’s streaming, but should i give it a watch?
Inspired by Amblin’s films from the ’80s and ’90s, suck is the story of a shy 13-year-old Alex (Evan Whitten) who flies from Kansas City to Mexico to meet his late father’s family for the first time.
There he meets his grandfather and former wrestling champion Chava (Demián Bichir), his energetic and wrestling-obsessed cousin Memo (Nickolas Verdugo), and his intrepid and modern cousin Luna (Ashley Ciarra). But just as Alex begins to get his bearings, he discovers a mythical creature living under his grandfather’s shed: a young chupacabra cub, which he recognizes from stories of the dreaded adult chupacabra, which according to legend feeds on farmers’ cattle.
Alex soon learns that his new friend Chupa has a secret history with his family, and that headstrong and dangerous scientist Richard Quinn (Christian Slater) is hunting the misunderstood creature to try to harness its powers. To protect Chupa from imminent danger, Alex embarks on the adventure of a lifetime with him.
During the time of quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, director Jonas Cuaron, son of Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Rome), spent a lot of time watching the family adventure movies of his youth with his children: ET, The Goonies, Gremlins, Jurassic Park, etc.
In an interview with «Manny the movie guyon YouTube, Cuarón talked about how that experience inspired him to make Chupa:
“I suddenly became very excited about the idea of making a family film that I could share with them (their 2 children)…and when this script came to me and it was a film about a chupacabra but told as a family adventure, I became very excited because I grew up in Mexico in the 90’s and as a child the myth of the chupacabra was all over the news and there were sightings near where I lived so I was very excited about this creature. So the idea of being able to make an Amblin-style movie for my kids but showing the context that I grew up in became very exciting to me.»
Certainly, Chupa includes many of the ingredients of the Amblin movies I grew up with. Parent lost by death or divorce. Feeling that a child becomes whole after recovering from that lost parent. A mystical creature who brings the lonely and isolated boy back to life and unites the family left behind. Government/authority figures who want to take said creature for their own benefit or out of fear of the unknown. It’s all there… on paper.
But the secret ingredients that you just can’t get into the script are largely missing from this movie: emotional ties, great childish performances, dealing with real-life loss factors, and of course, the impeccable design of a creature that can instantly make us want to be close to her and protect her at all costs.
Image: Netflix
The connection between Alex and Chupa feels flat and uninspired. Between the fake ring of a CGI creature instead of straight up animatronics or a combination of both and the performance of a pedestrian child actor, the scenes featuring the two together don’t elicit enough genuine and heartfelt feelings that lead you to the adventurous attempts at rescuing or saying goodbye.
It could be argued that the movie is at its best without Chupa. The moments in which the cousins become closer through experiences in the car or on the streets of San Javier or moments in which the grandfather talks about his son with Alex seem to work better because they are more relatable and authentic and the children Actors seem to respond better in those situations. .
The wacky details in Chupa also serve to bring a bit of life to a mostly plodding story. The use of Lucha Libre’s family history brings out some entertaining scenes with ex-legendary wrestler Grandpa Chava in full suit or cousin Memo jumping off furniture to randomly attack Alex. Maybe they should have taught Chupa some wrestling moves to take on Christian Slater and his team.
Image: Netflix
The 90s works sometimes too. A Gameboy, cassette player, ninja turtle t-shirt, and tie-in to the Beastie Boys all add up to some nostalgic sentiments to give the backdrop some added interest.
Overall, Chupa feels like a direct-to-VHS rental attempt to recapture the prominence of Amblin’s classic films from the ’90s time period in which the film takes place. Families and young children, especially those from Spanish-speaking homes with their own immigrant histories, might hold on to this film more than someone around me, but I also believe that it does not provide enough quality performances or emotional impact to satisfy even the demanding people of your target audience.
Watch Chupa on Netflix if you want
- The Adam Project
- we are heroes
- gremlins
- Eastern Time
- Harry and the Hendersons
- batteries not included
Netflix Chupa MVP
Demian Bichir as Grandpa Chava.
While it may be debatable to enjoy exploiting a traumatic brain injury, Demian Bichir makes the most of the role of Grandpa Chava by being an emotional bridge for Alex to his father’s past and comic relief as a happy-go-lucky fighter breaking free from those who get in the way the path of his family or wish Chupa harm. I’ve always liked Bichir ever since I first saw him as the charming but deceitful Esteban Reyes on Showtime’s “Weeds.”
PLAY, PAUSE OR STOP?
PAUSE.
Inspired by Amblin from the ’80s and ’90s, but can’t quite hit the emotional highs or generational characters those movies created.