CHUPA
A lovable creature, a Lucha Libre grandfather, and a boy who finds his family.
Should You Watch It?
Yes — and gladly. CHUPA takes a familiar shape, a boy and his misunderstood creature, and fills it with genuine heart, humor, and craft. It's built around a strong moral center: family, love, and the courage to protect someone weaker than you, told through a grandfather rediscovering his own past and a boy finding his place in the family he thought he barely knew.
The film earns its high marks honestly. It's largely free of objectionable content — a little cartoon peril, a little wrestling-style roughhousing, one mild obscenity — and none of it should trouble most families. The caution here is a gentle one: younger or more sensitive children may need a parent nearby during the creature's scarier appearances and the action sequences.
If you're looking for a family movie night pick with real values underneath the fun, this is it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESAlejandro, a Mexican-American boy from Kansas, is spending the summer in Mexico with his grandfather Chava and his two cousins. When the kids stumble on a strange little creature — part cat, part bat, with fangs and a lemur's tail — they name it "Chupa" and quickly fall for it. But a scientist working nearby wants the creature for reasons of his own, and Alex must decide how far he'll go to protect his new friend. Where that journey leads, we'll let you discover.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this one delivers on nearly every front. Demian Bichir makes an excellent grandfather with a Lucha Libre past, Christian Slater is a convincing villain, and the young voice cast turns in solid performances all around. The production values are high — good cinematography, strong music, and CGI creature work impressive enough to recall the creature design in Sony's video game The Last Guardian.
The story borrows familiar beats from other family films about a child and a hidden creature, but it doesn't coast on them. It finds its own footing, told with heart, humor, and flair, and never feels like a copy.
The Worldview
CHUPA exalts exactly what a family film should: love that shows up as loyalty, courage that shows up as protection of the innocent, and belief in yourself and the people around you. The story's real engine isn't the mystery of the creature — it's a boy discovering how close his family already is, and a grandfather's quiet devotion to a helpless creature simply because it needs help. There's little here to distort or remove; the moral worldview is strong and largely uncomplicated.
That same instinct — to seek out the vulnerable and bring them home — echoes something older than this movie. Scripture describes a God who "settles the solitary in a home" (Psalm 68:6), who cares for the displaced and reunites what's been separated. A boy helping a small, frightened creature find its mother is a modest picture of a much larger mercy.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral worldview where characters love and support one another, value and praise the importance of family, and work to save a creature from its greedy enemies and return it to its mother
Foul Language
One light “h” obscenity
Violence
Light cartoon violence such as a creature scares several adults and children when it appears in caves and several other places, a goat is seen with two puncture wounds in its side, a man threatens to bust out a wrestling move on another man unless he leaves his property, a young boy and his grandfather wrestle, the man gets the boy in a wrestling hold for a bit, the man turns his back to him claiming victory, and the boy gets up and runs at his grandfather and pushes him out of the ring where the older man falls hard onto his back, a man shoots a creature with a tranquilizer, a man in Mexican wrestling garb kicks another man over a table, a man scares off a ravenous mountain lion from attacking his grandson, a young boy hangs and falls from a drain pipe over a cavern, a creature saves a boy from a fall, three large creatures attack a man’s vehicle, and a man gets another man in a choke hold, disarms him and performs a body slam on him
Sex
No sex
Nudity
An older man is shown in Mexican wrestling garb that reveals much of his upper body
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Nothing else objectionable.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Chava spends years quietly caring for Chupa, hoping to reunite it with its family, before anyone else knows. What does his patience teach us about caring for others without needing credit?
Galatians 6:9–10Alex grows closer to his family while trying to help a creature find its own. Why do you think helping someone else sometimes teaches us the most about the people we already love?
1 John 4:19–21The scientist wants Chupa for selfish reasons, while Chava and the kids want to protect it for its own sake. How can you tell the difference between using someone and truly caring for them?
Philippians 2:3–4Chava's Lucha Libre past turns out to matter for the family's journey. What parts of your own family's story might matter more than you realize?
Psalm 68:6The Final Word
CHUPA is the kind of family film Movieguide loves to point you toward: funny, well-made, and built on a moral center that actually holds up — family, courage, and looking out for the vulnerable. Our answer is simple: worth the trip. Gather the family, keep an eye on the littlest ones during the scarier moments, and enjoy.
