Disney’s latest family fantasy features a collection of canine characters who (Jamie Lee Curtis’s witty take on a wealthy Beverly Hills airhead excepted), enthusiastically out-perform their two-legged co-stars. They are considerably helped, it has to be said, by the actors voicing them, led by Drew Barrymore speaking for Chloe, Curtis’s pampered pooch.

Chloe suffers life among the hoi polloi of the dog world when her “minder” Rachel (Piper Perado) takes her to Mexico, where she is dognapped and pitch-forked into the dangerous world of illegal dog-fighting. Escaping with the help of new canine friends, she learns humility and finds love with the next-door gardener’s chihuahua who come south of the border to rescue her.

Director Raja Gosnell moves the cheerful show briskly, there is plenty of action, fine special effects make the dogs speak convincingly and the vocal casting is excellent. Youngsters should enjoy themselves immensely.