Chupa is the titular deuteragonist of Netflix's 2023 film of the same name. He is a young chupacabra cub who is discovered by an aging Mexican farmer and former luchador after nearly being captured by RIchard Quinn.
Biography[]
Chupa is first seen near the very start of the film in an abandoned mine. Richard Quinn and his team of scientists try to capture the young cub, but are quickly interupted by one of Chupa's parents. Chupa and his parent are pursued by Quinn and his team, but manage to get away. However, the older chupacabra is hit by a 1988 Volkswagen Beetle, forcing the adult to hide Chupa behind some bushes.
At some point after Alex arrives in Mexico, Chupa attacks Chava's goats, managing to kill one of them and feed on its blood.
As Alex is in the barn after overhearing Chava listening to his music box, he creeps out from behind some foliage, causing the latter to freak out. After Chava assures Alex that there the chupacabra is just a legend, Alex goes up to bed. However, he is quickly woken up after he notices Chupa licking his hand in order to heal his (Alex's) wound. He quickly runs off after Alex unintentionally frightens him away.
Alex and Chupa encounter each other again, but this time Alex allows the animal to approach him. Chupa starts playing with the music box and trying to eat it, which gives Alex the idea to feed the creature some salami from the kitchen. However, Chupa rejects the salama and runs up to his hiding spot, where he presents Alex with a dead rat and tries to convince him to eat it. Alex the pretends to eat the rat, but Chupa quickly realises that Alex had fooled him.
The following night, Memo hears a strange noise and decides to investigate. believing it to be a coyote. As he decides the head back, he is confronted by Chupa, who starts active defensive. Alex is quick to calm down the two of them, however, stating that neither of them mean any harm.
Just as Memo and Chupa are starting to know each-other, they are interupted by a scream from Luna, which prompts Chupa to become defensive once more. Alex manages to calm Luna down, as well. However, Luna is wary of the creature being in their barn, believing it could have a disease such as rabies. Alex assures her this isn't true, however.
Alex decides to give the creature a name. Luna doesn't think that's a good idea, as the creature is a wild animal and not a pet. When Alex decides to name him "Chupa", Luna tells him that then word means "sucker", which Alex accepts as he calls the creature "my little sucker". Alex and Memo suggest that they take care of him, since he's only a baby. Luna doesn't agree with this, however, until Chava tells them that Alex is right about Chupa.
Chava reveals that he was the one who almost crashed into Chupa's mum, and has been looking after him ever since, trying to make sure that no-one else finds out about him, since he knows that some people want to use him for nefarious purposes. He tells Alex, Memo, and Luna to keep Chupa's existance a secret. Chupa tries to attack one of Chava's goats, but the Chava and his family get him to stop.
After Quin visits Chava's house, Chupa hides away in his hideout. He almost attacks Alex, but calms down when Alex plays the music box and reveals that the tune is a song which his dad used to sing to him. Memo then arrives, telling Alex that it's time that Chupa needs to learn how to fly. During the flying Lesson, Chupa manages to fly for a short while after jumping off the roof of the house, but then crashes into a stack of hay.
After Chava is injured during a mock Lucha Libre match with Alex, Alex, Memo, and Luna talk to Chava's doctor. However, the quickly hear that Chupa is in distress, and head down to the barn to investigate. When they get there, they see that Quinn is also there, pointing a trnquiliser gun at the creature. When Chupa tries to attack Quinn in self defence, Quinn fires a dart at him, which quickly knocks him out. He is then taken to Quinn's car, where he is put in the back.
After Chava manages to knock Quinn out, Chava, Alex, Luna, and Memo head to Quinn's car and drive off, rescuing Chupa from Quinn. They soon arrive at the place where Chava had crashed his car. Chupa promptly runs off, with Alex, Chava, Luna, and Memo following him. Alex soon catches up to him overlooking a chasm, and realises that Chupa's family is nearby. Alex and Chupa share one last moment together, before the latter departs from the area.
While he is starting to leave, he hears that Alex is in danger and decides to go back. He soon arrives at the collapsing pipe which Alex was standing on to get away from a mountain lion. He tries to help Alex, but the two of the promptly fall into the chasm. However, Chupa, having finally mastered his flight, manages to take Alex back up the chasm and onto safe land, where Alex thanks him for rescuing him.
The reunion is short-lived, however, is Quinn tranquilises him once more and takes the creature away, threatening Chava and his family with a cattle prod while doing so. Quinn takes Chupa back to his car, now putting him in the front seat so he can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't try to escape. Before Quinn can get very far, his car is attacked by three larger chupacabras, damaging his vehicle and forcing him to escape along with Chupa.
Quinn tries to hold the three adults off with his cattle prod, claiming that it was all a misunderstanding. Not long after, Chava and his family arrive. Chava holds Quinn by his neck and disarms him of his weapon, telling him to let Chupa go. Quinn complies with this, allowing Chupa to reunite with his family, before being knocked out by Chava, who performs a suplex on him.
Chupa and Alex then share a final moment with each other, with Alex realising that they have both found their families. He leaves once again, now joined up with his family.
When Alex departs from Mexico, Chupa flies alongside the plane, giving one last look at Alex, before flying away into the sunset with his family.
Trivia:[]
- Chupa was portrayed via motion capture by a dog (whose name is not known).
- Chupa's design is more closer to griffons and other flying creatures as opposed to the typical, canine/reptile predictions of chupacabras.