Netflix’s ‘Chupa’ Proves Bilingual Movies For Kids Can Be Great

You don’t need to speak Spanish to enjoy Chupa, the new family-friendly movie on Netflix that turns a terrifying Mexican legend into an adorable, feel-good story. But at the same time, the movie doesn’t cater to non-Spanish-speaking audience members. Most of the film takes place in Mexico, and despite Hollywood’s tendency to coddle subtitle-adverse American viewers, Chupa embrace the reality that, logically, not all of its characters would speak English.

Directed by Jonás Cuarón, who is the son of Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, with a screenplay written by Marcus Rinehart, Sean Kennedy Moore, and Joe Barnathan, Chupa  tells the uplifting tale of a young Mexican-American boy named Alex (played by Evan Whitten) who visits his family in Mexico, and stumbles upon one of the most famous mythical creatures of Mexican lore: the chupacabra.

But while Alex is dealing with a mythical, goat-eating creature on the outside, on the inside he’s grieving the recent death of his father. He’s also struggling to connect to his Mexican heritage. He is growing up in Kansas City in the ’90s, surrounded by white, English-speaking Americans. At the beginning of the movie, he doesn’t speak much Spanish, and doesn’t have a desire to learn more. His grandfather, Chava (played by Demián Bichir), is disappointed. Doesn’t Alex want to connect to his heritage? Alex doesn’t, actually. But Alex’s younger cousin Memo (played by Nickolas Verdugo) doesn’t speak any English at all, so if Alex wants to communicate, he’s going to have to learn. When in Mexico, after all.

They are English-language subtitles to help you catch everything Memo says, but for younger viewers—or viewers who simply don’t want to read—it’s easy to understand via context. Alex, our window into this world, understands some Spanish and usually replies in English. His grandfather and older cousin Luna (Ashley Ciarra) are bilingual and sometimes translate. Often, they will speak to Alex in Spanish and then repeat the phrase in English. Because it’s a simple story aimed at children, the vocabulary is basic, and the dialogue isn’t complex. Honestly, for learners of Spanish both young and old, Chupa is a great resource for language comprehension. And it’s far more interesting than Duolingo.

Chupa‘s approach to language proves that Hollywood can, and should make films that realistically depict characters who don’t speak English, without sacrificing clarity or entertainment. If a kids’ movie can do it, then anyone can. ¡No es muy difícil!