Chupa | 2023 | PG | – 1.4.1

Why is “Chupa” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some action, peril and thematic elements.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several scenes with an animal being sedated with a dart and an adult animal being injured after being shot with a flare, several scenes of televised wrestling matches, a few scenes of risky activity undertaken by children, bullying and arguments, discussions about the exploitation of animals, discussions about a man suffering from dementia, and some name-calling and insults. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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In 1996 a young boy (Evan Whitten) in Mexico finds and befriends a chupacabra pup in his grandfather’s (Demian Bichir) barn. Americans try to steal it, but the boy’s luchador wrestling grandfather comes to the rescue. Also with Christian Slater, Ashley Ciarra and Nickolas Verdugo. Directed by Jonas Caron. Many lines of dialogue are spoken in Spanish and some are accompanied by English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:35]

Chupa SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A middle school boy asks a female classmate on a date and she declines.
► Several photos on a wall show shirtless wrestlers wearing masks. A boy and a man appear shirtless at home, wearing capes and masks (bare chests and abdomens are visible).

Chupa VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – In a cave men with flashlights find cave paintings and hear snarling and howling until a 7-foot tall chupacabra roars and knocks down two men before running away with its crying cub; men yell and chase the animal through the night on foot and in jeeps and a car hits the chupacabra after it flaps its wings; a man fires a flare into its wing, it screeches and limps away, leaving the cub.
► A bare-chested man wearing wrestling tights, mask, and a cape jumps into a vehicle as a young teen girl drives it and two preteen boys ride along with a chupacabra; when they reach the desert, they release the animal, it howls on a rock and is answered by the far-off howls of its family, it walks across a water pipe spanning a canyon as a cougar appears and threatens one of the boys, but the man shouts at the cat and snaps his cape in its face several times until it runs away; the boy stands on the pipe over the canyon and the metal breaks apart, he dangles from a railing, the chupacabra pup flies to the boy as the rest of the pipe breaks, and the boy hangs onto its tail as it flies him to solid ground.
► A man shoots a chupacabra with a tranquilizer dart and it passes out: a wrestler puts a choke hold on the man as he threatens everyone with a sparking cattle prod, the cub scratches his face and we see red scratches, but the man drives away with the cub; three large adult chupacabra stop the jeep and slam it on the hood, back and on the roof, the man exits the vehicle and brandishes the cattle prod, but the wrestler puts a chokehold on him, and the pup escapes as the wrestler slams the man onto his back on the ground. A man shoots a young chupacabra in the side with a tranquilizer dart and children scream and cry as it passes out in two scenes; the man carries it to a vehicle and a young boy bites the man on the arm and he shouts in pain (we see no injury).
► A preteen boy and a young teen girl play with fireworks; no one is injured as fireworks soar into the sky and make small muffled explosions with some white smoke. A young teen girl drives two young boys in a car, the car jerks and runs up onto a curb as she parks it, and in another such scene, a man by the side of a road talking with a police officer shouts at the girl to watch where she is going when she comes close to them. Two young boys look for their missing grandfather and find him walking a small goat on a leash down the road and we hear that the grandfather has memory problems and sometimes wanders. A man tries to teach a young boy to wrestle and the boy becomes frustrated and knocks the man down; the scene cuts to the man on a bed as a doctor gives him an injection in close-up and the man later cannot remember what happened.
► Children with flashlights at night scream when they think they see a monster in a barn, but when an adult enters, they see that it is a large rabbit. Two men in a desert argue about catching a chupacabra and using its blood to make expensive medicine. Throughout the film, we hear animals howling and snarling off-screen. TV reports of goats being destroyed shows scenes of two dead goats lying on the ground. Several scenes on TV show wrestlers wearing masks, tights and capes while choking and throwing each other; one wrestler kicks an opponent in the stomach and groin and the injured man falls and children watching the TV say that their grandfather was a wrestler that was injured with a broken skull and left in a coma for 30 days. An older man startles his young grandson by walking up behind him and putting his arm around the boy’s neck; the boy yelps. A man threatens another man, who slams him onto his back on the ground.
► We hear that a boy’s father died of cancer. A man tells a young boy that he will kill a baby goat for dinner and the boy looks scared. A boy bullies another boy in middle school, denigrating him, calling him racist names, and calling his food “vomit.” Two middle school boys argue, a woman and her young son argue, and a man and a young boy argue. Two men briefly argue.
► A boy jumps from a roof into a pile of hay and a chupacabra pup jumps from the roof, flies briefly, and falls into the hay. A boy jumps from a roof and falls onto another young boy, putting him in a headlock and laughing (no one is injured) in a couple of scenes. A man and an elementary-school aged boy shout and beat their chests like luchador wrestlers in several scenes.
► A boy wakes up with a chupacabra pup asleep on his chest and the frightened boy yells, causing the animal to run around and sail out the window. A boy finds a chupacabra pup in a barn and his family does not believe him. A boy finds a chupacabra pup in a barn and plays a music box for it; two other children enter, scream and the animal snarls, then settles down as a man enters and tells the children not to tell anyone about the animal, because researchers want to steal it and exploit it.
► A goat is found on the ground with two bloody holes in its side and a girl says, “Something sucked its blood.” A boy scratches his hand and we see a red mark. A boy at a market eats a handful of dried crickets and another boy spits out a bite of a taco when a girl tells him the meat is animal brains (we see some food bits). A boy takes a plate of red raw sausage to a chupacabra pup in a barn and the animal smashes some into the boy’s face. A chupacabra pup digs up a box with a dead mouse in it and gives it to a boy, who pretends to eat it.

Chupa LANGUAGE 1

 – 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (stupid, crazy, nuts, loser, weird, taquito, loco gringo), exclamations (sucker, son of a …, wow, hey, whoa, cowabunga, Azul), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, oh God). | profanity glossary |

Chupa SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man is given an injection after suffering memory problems.

Chupa DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Cultural differences, family, heritage, bigotry, legends, cryptids, vampires, animal welfare, animal exploitation, loneliness, loss, obsession with video games, discovery, friendship, acceptance, personal change.

Chupa MESSAGE

 – Learn about your heritage and embrace it.