With dozens of people already posting horrified YouTube video reactions to its trailer, George Lopez seems to realize that Beverly Hills Chihuahua represents a certain cultural flashpoint. I asked him about forthcoming animated movie at the Los Angeles press day for Henry Poole Is Here over the weekend, and he seemed to walk the line between good-natured, company-man endorsement and conceding, albeit in coded fashion, that the movie is a flaming trainwreck-in-waiting.

“I’ve heard [about the viral videso],” Lopez says, a broad smile breaking out across his face.
“I think Garry Shandling said one time, ‘I don’t care if they laugh or
moan, it’s still a reaction, and I accept both equally.’ So I know that
people are mocking it, they hate it, and the New York Times did
a story about how annoying the trailer is. And when you can get that to
the New York Times, that means… well, I mean, if we make everybody sick by the
time the movie comes out, I think the movie will be a huge success.” (Side note: huh?)

“But this movie is either the best trailer you’ve ever seen, if you’re under 10, or the most annoying thing you’re ever going to see,” Lopez continues. “That song will get in your head, and you’ll be singing ‘Chihuahua!’ at work. That trailer with the chihuahuas in headdresses walking down an Aztec temple singing this rap song — it’s a wonderful place for Latino actors to be able to do a movie like this, that the whole Disney machine is completely behind. I think kids will love it, and some parents will… well, have to take their kids to it. And the story of a chihuahua from Beverly Hills who’s trying to find its bark is not very unfamiliar from some of the greatest movies ever done. I say it’s like Citizen Canine.”