''Chupa'' is a 2023 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Jonás Cuarón Jonás Cuarón Elizondo (born 1981) is a Mexican film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, Film editor, editor and cinematographer. He is the son of the Academy Award-winner Alfonso Cuarón and his first wife, Mariana Elizondo. Cua ...

, and starring

Demián Bichir Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in '' A Better Life''. Early life Bichir ...

and

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...

. Produced by 26th Street Pictures, it was released on April 7, 2023, on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, and received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Plot

In 1996, scientist Richard Quinn is hunting down the

chupacabra The chupacabra or ''chupacabras'' (, literally 'goat-sucker', from , 'sucks', and , 'goats') is a legendary creature, or cryptid, in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's purported vampirism the chupacabra is ...

, a supposedly mythical creature, in San Javier. A government doctor, he believes that its healing powers will help revolutionize medicine. Locating one with a cub in an old mine, he chases it. Injured by a passing vehicle, she leaves her cub hidden to lure the pursuing scientists away. Meanwhile, following the death of his father Beto from cancer, 12/13-year-old Alex flies from Kansas City to Mexico where he met his extended family for the first time, a trip his father had planned for them both. Alex meets his grandfather Chava, a former

lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

champion, energetic wrestling-obsessed younger male cousin Memo, and fearless hip 14-year-old older female cousin Luna. Just as Alex begins to get his bearings, on his first night he discovers a young chupacabra cub. He wakes to find it licking a cut on his hand. As Alex realizes they are not positively regarded, he says nothing. A short time later, Luna drives Memo and Alex into town to search for Chava. She explains that he often wanders off (he may have

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

). In the market, Alex sees a miniature colorful figure, which the seller tells him is a chupacabra, which he says is not such a bad creature. Back on the road, the kids find Chava walking with a billy goat. He bought it, but cannot explain why. On their return to the ranch, they come across some men carefully searching an area where Quinn finds evidence of what he believes is the chupacabra. At the ranch house, they watch yet another news report on the feared full-grown Chupacabra, fabled to feed on

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

. Chava turns off the TV, saying it is nonsense and lies. Once he goes out, Alex tells Luna that their grandfather is hiding something. He shows her a small music box he found him playing in the barn. She chalks it up to more evidence of his suspected Alzheimer's. Alex plays the music box in the doorway of the barn later. Hearing a mix of cooing and other sounds, he turns to see a strange creature: a small cat-like animal with bird-like wings and small but sharp fangs. Alex gets it a plate of sausages from the house to see if it is hungry. When a thunder storm rolls through, he promises to protect it. Alex wakes to Memo looking for him. He tries to usher him out of the barn, but the young Chupacabra presents himself as Alex befriended him. He has just gotten Memo calmed down when Luna shows up. Also initially screaming, they show her that he is friendly. Luna thinks they should put him out, but Alex insists they must protect it as it is a cub. Chava comes in, agreeing with Alex. Chupa, as Alex has named it, approaches him. Chava explains that he had accidentally hit its parent with his car some nights ago and had found it hiding nearby. He keeps it a secret as he knows people are looking to exploit it. Returning to the house, Quinn introduces himself, explaining he is from an American government agency that seeks rare species for medical purposes. Finding a license plate from the crash site, he has traced it to him. Despite Quinn's seemingly generous agenda, Chava refuses to let him snoop around, offering to demonstrate a lucha libre move if he does not leave. After Alex promises Chupa he will find his family, Memo comes to teach it to fly. Taking it to the barn roof, Memo fearlessly 'flies' into a haystack below. Encouraging it to follow, Chupa gets the wings to work a bit before also falling into the hay. In the house, Chava shows Alex a video of El Perico Verde doing his signature move suplex, which he had taught him himself. He reveals that Beto was the fighter, but never became professional because he met Alex's mother and moved to the States. Once Chava talks about Beto enough to sadden Alex, he pulls out his Game Boy. He recognizes it is his way of avoiding his feelings. Taking the video console, Chava tells Alex he must fight him for it. Donning his Relampago Azul mask, and Alex his father's, he gets him to express himself. Having learned that his new friend, Chupa, has a secret history with his family and is being hunted by the determined Quinn to try to harness his powers, Alex and his family set off on the adventure of a lifetime to protect Chupa from impending danger.

Cast

as Chava * Evan Whitten as Alex *

as Richard Quinn * Ashley Ciarra as Luna * Nickolas Verdugo as Memo

Production

In August 2020,

was set to direct a

Chupacabra The chupacabra or ''chupacabras'' (, literally 'goat-sucker', from , 'sucks', and , 'goats') is a legendary creature, or cryptid, in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's purported vampirism the chupacabra is ...

film he co-wrote with Marcus Rinehart, Sean Kennedy Moore and Joe Barnathan. Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe produced the film under their 26th Street Pictures banner for

. In June 2021, the film was titled ''Chupa'', with

, Evan Whitten, Ashley Ciarra and Nickolas Verdugo joining the cast. Filming took place in multiple locations throughout

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

starting in August and running through October 2021. The film was scored by Carlos Rafael Rivera. The screenplay is credited to Sean Kennedy Moore, Joe Barnathan, Marcus Rinehart, and Brendan Bellomo, with

Michael Dougherty Michael Patrick Dougherty (born October 28, 1974) is an American writer, director, animator, and producer known for his work in a variety of genre films, both big and small. Beginning his career as an animator and illustrator, Dougherty’s a ...

, Timothy J. Sexton, and Zach Shields receiving "additional literary material" credit.

Release

Netflix revealed that the film was set to release in early 2023. In March 2023, a release date of April 7 was announced. The announcement of the name was met with some criticism due to the word "chupa" being a slang term for

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

in Spanish.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 48 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

* * {{Chris Columbus 2023 films 2023 adventure films 2023 fantasy films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s fantasy adventure films American fantasy adventure films English-language fantasy adventure films Netflix original films Films about cryptids Film controversies Films based on folklore Films directed by Jonás Cuarón Films produced by Chris Columbus (filmmaker) Films produced by Michael Barnathan Films scored by Carlos Rafael Rivera Films set in 1996 Films set in Mexico Films shot in New Mexico