YMMV / Chupa

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Other than the intended aesop of "Mexican culture is beautiful", the film can be interpreted as teaching "traffic is a huge danger to wildlife". The most physical suffering inflicted on a chupacabra throughout the film comes not from government exploiters, but a completely accidental car crash. ^note Truth in Television; in many civilized countries, wildlife populations are monitored too closely and give governments too much incentive (in tourism dollars, PR, and medical studies like Quinn's) for bigwigs to go around killing them willy-nilly. Such populations have more to fear from government negligence than government hunters.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Dr. Quinn. He's a nice guy despite his motives and he's threatened by the government to capture the chupacabra. Unfortunately, Chava and the children see him as just a bad guy who wants Chupa for only God knows what.
• Awesome Music:
  • It's scored by the same guy who did The Queen's Gambit, of course it has this.
  • The film also features music from various Mexican artists, including Selena, Cafe Tacvba and Javier Solis.
• Cliché Storm: For the film's detractors, this is a watered-down Mexican version of the E.T. formula.
• Designated Villain: Dr. Quinn in the eyes of Chava and his grandchildren. All he wants to do is use Chupa's powers to revolutionize medicine, but because he never bothers explaining this, he comes off as a typical one-dimensional stock villain who has to be defeated so that Chupa can go home. The kids don't even give him the time of day to ask him about his mission in the first place. And, while chasing the adult chupacabra at the start of the movie, he never drives at full speed, implying he never intended to harm either the adult or the cub.
• Evil Is Cool: Richard Quinn has quickly become one of the more popular characters in the film. The fact he's played by Christian Slater probably helps.
• Just Here for Godzilla: there are several people who watched the film simply for the fact that Christian Slater is in it.
• Rooting for the Empire: There are some people who wanted Doctor Quinn to capture Chupa and use his powers to revolutionize medicine, which would have given the ending an outcome that would help all of humanity, at the cost of separating the poor cub from his family. Of course, it's also entirely possible that Quinn was planning on returning the cub to his family once he was finished with his work.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Doctor Quinn in spades. His job is on the line by the Mexican government and he's not entirely vicious. Had he bothered taking the time to sit down and explain to the kids and their grandfather what Chupa is capable of, including the power to revolutionize medicine, they could have either let him have Chupa...or at least make a compromise as to what to do with him.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: With the exception of Alex's hand, Chupa never uses his healing powers on anyone, not even curing Chava's back. Had Dr. Quinn succeeded in taking Chupa back to his laboratory in the end, the little guy would have been seen as a hero by all of humanity, along with Quinn, for revolutionizing medicine and saving many lines.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The animation and detail on the chupacabras looks quite good.
• Woolseyism: In Portuguese, the word "chupa" means "suck", as in Spanish. However, used by itself with no context, it's a very obscene way to say "suck it". The Brazilian dub solved this by naming the cub Lucha, which ties into Chava being a retired Masked Luchador and works quite well. The film itself is called Meu Amigo Lucha (which means My Friend Lucha). This is actually lampshaded by Luna when Alex decides to name the cub.