Movie Review | Chupa: Banal summer escapades of a kid

Kids and animals make a terrific combination when it comes to movies. These movies are liked by youngsters and adults alike.

Aiming for the same effect is Jonás Cuarón’s ‘Chupa’. ‘Chupa’ is the name kids give to their lovable chupacabra cub, a mythical beast which survives on goat blood.

Alex (Evan Whitten) is a Mexican growing up in America. Circumstances force him to spend a summer vacation with his abuelo, Chava (Demián Bichir), a former lucha libre champion and cousins Memo (Nickolas Verdugo), and Luna (Ashley Ciarra) in Mexico.  

What starts as a reluctant bonding trip soon turns out to be an adventure of a lifetime for him, his grandfather and the cousins as they encounter a chupacabra cub. The four decide to shield the winged, four-legged creature from the prying eyes of an American scientist.  

What could have been a heartwarming tale, unfortunately, turns out to be an insipid, predictable and run-of-the-mill summer adventure saga.

Most of the time, it looks like a poor remake of Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Koi Mil Gaya’.
The story fails to dive deep into characters and situations as the writing is superficial. At no point one is able to establish a connection either with the lost cub or the humans.

More meat was needed to flesh out the bonding between Alex and Chupa. Some scenes between him and his cousins do definitely win our hearts though.  
Also, there is an attempt to mix issues by way of frequent reminders to Alex about his roots. The track was not needed as it neither adds to the story nor takes away anything.  It’s a separate plot altogether.  

Thankfully there are not many characters and even the length of the movie is bearable.

Evan Whitten delivers a sincere performance as a pachuco, a young Mexican growing up in America. The way he gets along with his cousins is fun to watch. Nickolas Verdugo, and Ashley Ciarra as the cousins too are good. And so is Demián Bichir, a wrestling-loving grandfather.

Since the attempt is to make people love chupacabras and not fear them, the cub is the central character. However, the vampirish traits of the chupacabras are never established well in the first place. Hence, those who do not know anything about these fabled creatures, develop no feelings for them. On that front, ‘Chupa’ is a failed experiment.

More nuanced writing and deft direction was required to save this product from becoming childish. Writers Joe Barnathan, Sean Kennedy Moore, and Marcus Rinehart overwhelmingly stick to the clichéd.

A better job was certainly expected from Jonás Cuarón, who had written ‘Gravity’. The idea to make people love and not fear chupacabras was good but the team failed to execute it.

For now, this rare, bloodsucking creature can be spotted on ‘Netflix’.

Movie: Chupa
OTT:  Netflix
Director:: Jonás Cuarón
Cast:: Demián Bichir, Evan Whitten