时间:2025-04-03 16:56:45 来源:网络整理编辑:熱點
Creature features have a long, lucrative history in cinema, usually erring on the bloodier side of t
Creature features have a long, lucrative history in cinema, usually erring on the bloodier side of things. But Netflix's Chupatakes a vampiric mythical beast and makes it the cutest little chirping koala-cat-griffin around, with a sprinkling of Spielberg on top.
Director Jonás Cuarón hinges his family-friendly fantasy film around the terrifying Latin-American legend of the chupacabra — the literal translation for the Spanish word "chupacabra" is "goat sucker." But instead of a horror film in which many a caprine soul is vanquished, Chupa is a sweet, thoughtful adventure about family, celebrating heritage, and flipping the bird to bad guys who'd pursue magical creatures for money.
iRobot Roomba Combo i3+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum and Mop—$329.99(List Price $599.99)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet—$178.99(List Price $219.99)
Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Gen With MagSafe USB-C Charging Case—$199.00(List Price $249.00)
Eero 6 Dual-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (Router + 2 Extenders)—$149.99(List Price $199.99)
Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 41mm, Midnight, S/M, Sports Band)—$299.00(List Price $399.00)
Set in 1996, Chupacenters around Alex (Evan Whitten), a 13-year-old kid from Kansas City who finds himself embroiled in a wild adventure while visiting family in Mexico. Alex stumbles upon a strangely adorable (and thankfully not too bloodthirsty) winged creature hiding in the barn of his abuelo Chava, a delightfully melodramatic former luchador played by Demián Bichir. The young chupacabra is all alone, afraid and separated from its family.
Alex and his cousins Memo (Nickolas Verdugo) and Luna (Ashley Ciarra) must keep Chupa safe from a conniving scientist who's working for some ambiguously no-good investors. As Richard Quinn, Christian Slater is middlingly evil, with some serious Alan Grant vibes; he's curious about Chupa as a scientist, but his employers have much more nefarious reasons for snagging the little critter.
SEE ALSO:13 best monster movies of the decadeOf course, the real star of the show is Chupa itself. Cuarón and the visual effects team have created a very cute interpretation of the legendary being, rumors of which made an impression on the director as a child. "The chupacabras [were] first seen in the early '90s in Puerto Rico. After this, there were sightings of the creature all over Latin America... It was believed this creature fed on the blood of goats," Cuarón told Netflix's Tudum.
Instead of a hairless, blood-sucking monster, Chupa is a furry, chirping, chittering, cooing cub that's like a cat-meets-koala-meets-griffin, pouncing all over the joint before letting out deep, mournful howls for its mum.
Surprisingly for a creature feature, the film reveals the teeny tiny chupacabra almost immediately, with the first glimpse of the little feathered friend quivering and whimpering under the flashlights of the evil scientists. The film's opening scenes, in which the chupacabras are pursued by the bad guys, are reminiscent of monster movie expeditions like The Mummy, or the Sea Whip sequence in Shadow and BoneSeason 2 — a group of bumbling intruders disturb a wild animal's lair intending to dominate or kill it. Right at the top, Chupareminds us humans would inevitably treat magical creatures like absolute shite.
Slater is fittingly PG evil as the antagonist. Chupakeeps it pretty vague as to who these bad guys are, exactly — just impatient investors wanting their valuable beastie caught and delivered. Slater leans into the whole moustache-twisting villain of it all as Quinn but keeps it clean for younger viewers. "Son of a..." is as curse-filled as this script gets.
One of the core themes running through Chupais the disconnect between Alex's life and identity in America and his family heritage in Mexico. Cuarón establishes early in the film that Alex is being bullied at school and made to feel shame for his Mexican heritage in Kansas City, suffering racist taunts and harassment over things as everyday as his lunch. Alex brings this frustration home, taking his anger out on his mother and resenting the trip to San Javier, declaring, "I don't care about Mexico, OK? I don't care about the music. I don't care about the food."
Alex's renouncing of his Mexican heritage is steeped in social shame, as he laments, "No one speaks Spanish in Kansas City." He reactively plunges into seemingly all-American interests like Goosebumps, Beavis and Butthead, McDonalds, Jurassic Park, Ninja Turtles, Looney Tunes, and video games — only to realise his young cousins in Mexico like the same things too. Luna chastises Alex when he's surprised she's obsessed with the Beastie Boys: "What? You think Mexicans only listen to mariachi?"
Throughout Chupa, Alex's trip to San Javier sees him slowly appreciating, then celebrating his Mexican heritage — including his abuelo Chava's fame as a famed lucha libre wresting legend. When Alex lands, Chava instantly speaks to him in Spanish and is disappointed to find his grandson doesn't speak it, despite his father's teaching attempts.
"He tried, I just didn't see the point," Alex says.
"What?" responds Chava. "That's your heritage, something to be proud of."
Chupais undeniably drenched in what Mashable's Caitlin Welsh describes as "Amblincore" and the cinematic hallmarks of Steven Spielberg; if you're not thinking about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrialwhile you're watching this, then you might want to revisit the director's 1982 classic. Alex's connection with Chupa in the barn, learning to sing and howl together, shares undeniable parallels with Elliott (Henry Thomas) and E.T., and Memo teaching the baby chupacabra to fly feels akin to Gertie (Drew Barrymore) teaching E.T. how to talk.
Director Cuarón acknowledges Spielberg's influence on Chupra, too. "I’ve always been a huge fan of E.T. and believe that stories like that are so powerful because they play on the idea of kids being misunderstood by adults," Cuarón told Netflix's Tudum. "Chupa might be a monster but he's the only one that truly understands what Alex is going through. The bond between a boy and a creature is so pure, like with a pet, it transcends language."
Cuarón directly references the Hollywood director's work through props: Alex's room is stacked with action figures and posters from Jurassic Park, as well as a plush mogwai from Gremlins. Moments of Carlos Rafael Rivera's whimsical score sound almost identical to "Across the Stars," Anakin and Padme's theme from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clonesby John Williams, Spielberg's longtime favourite composer. Plus, thanks to director of photography Nico Aguilar, Chupais filled with both windshield shots and moments showing the cast in realisation, awe, or wonder, all of which could be considered nods to "The Spielberg Face":
As the evil scientist, Slater gets multiple little Spielberg moments: When pursuing the mama chupacabra and her pup in the film's opening, he picks up a claw in a moment that reeks of Dr. Alan Grant's (Sam Neill) velociraptor monologue in Jurassic Park. Later, when the clients helicopter in to check in on their investment, throwing Quinn's paperwork everywhere, it feels like a direct nod to John Hammond's (Richard Attenborough) dust-conjuring entry into the dig site.
One of Spielberg's signatures is also themes around absent fatherhood and loss (see: E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hook), and you'd better believe Chupaticks that one off. Alex is mourning the loss of his father, which fuels his character's arc through the story to find support through his family.
Chupa is a very cute fantasy adventure and Spielberg-like creature feature that touches upon deeper themes of grief, heritage, and family. While it doesn't reinvent the genre, the film keeps it simple and effective, letting its cast create genuine connection with a CGI mythical beastie. Come for the sweet goat-sucker, stay for the genuinely heart-warming family moments.
Chupapremieres on Netflix April 7.
TopicsNetflixStreaming
Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary2025-04-03 16:38
韓喬生:20年了“我們出線了”好像真成了一段傳說了2025-04-03 16:29
武磊連續失單刀顏駿淩被評最低分 李鐵稱球員表現拘謹2025-04-03 16:06
中沙兩國足協簽署合作備忘錄 強化足球交流共享管理經驗2025-04-03 15:48
Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream2025-04-03 15:42
足協連開3罰單 :黑龍江官員禁賽6場 大連人小將被罰2025-04-03 14:42
歸化球員成國足唯一希望 單一使用不佳需齊上陣才有效2025-04-03 14:42
亞伯拉罕出場16分鍾受傷離場 可能缺席羅馬對尤文2025-04-03 14:38
Teacher absolutely nails it with new homework policy2025-04-03 14:25
國足下輪若負阿曼將提前退出競爭 取勝形勢還有轉機2025-04-03 14:11
Uber's $100M settlement over drivers as contractors may not be enough2025-04-03 16:44
森保一哭紅眼眶喊破喉嚨暫保帥位 未來兩場必須全勝2025-04-03 16:37
搜狐體育獨家連線肖赧:中國隊回國因心理達到臨界點2025-04-03 16:28
李鐵:很滿意隊員的表現 戰勝強大的對手需要主場優勢2025-04-03 16:14
Twitter grants everyone access to quality filter for tweet notifications2025-04-03 16:07
搜狐體育獨家連線白國華 :國足繼續輸球李鐵都不會下課2025-04-03 15:52
萊萬:我能與哈蘭德共存 瓜帥對我的影響非常大2025-04-03 15:51
西班牙人官方:武磊在結束國家隊比賽後 已返回球隊2025-04-03 15:42
'The Flying Bum' aircraft crashes during second test flight2025-04-03 15:32
12強賽積分榜:沙特四連勝領跑 國足仍列倒數第二2025-04-03 14:11