‘Chupa’ Ending Explained: What Is the Chupacabras?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for Chupa, a new family film coming to Netflix this weekend. Jonas Cuaron directs the film and stars Damien Bichir, Evan Whitten, Ashley Ciarra, Nickolas Verdugo, and Christian Slater. The film tells the story of Alex, a kid living in the USA and feeling that he will never be part of the people that surround him. A trip to Mexico to meet his family will teach him the value of family, heritage, and courage. The film tackles themes such as identity, family values, and belonging.

However, even when the movie is rich in themes, not of them are fully explored, not even one bit. They are named dropped throughout the movie, and they serve to lead the story to a predictable and, at times, boring conclusion. This is a movie that has been done thousands of times before with a different coat of paint. In those terms, the movie feels quite underwhelming. There are some moments where the movie has glimpses of fun, but there are very few and far between. It is a shame because the CGI work on the creatures is quite solid.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Chupa. Read at your own risk.

What Is The Chupacabras?

The Chupacabras is a mysterious creature that was seen during the 1990s around the Central American territories and Mexico. The creature could be considered a legend, a myth, or an actual example of cryptozoology. The creature was made responsible for the death of cattle around these areas. Some of the dead animals were found to be without blood, with fed the rumor that the Chupacabras was a sort of vampire, which also gave the creature its name, a literal “Goat Suckers.” Since then, the creature has all but disappeared.

The Chupacabras became incredibly famous, especially in South America, and it is remembered even to this day. However, in the movie, the creature is not a vampire or a terrifying government experiment gone wrong. It is just an actual creature unknown to current science. The movie begins with an introduction to the villain of the story, a man named Richard Quinn, who is looking to catch one of the creatures for his own nefarious interests. At the beginning of the movie, the creatures are found underground, in their own lair.

Quinn and his team of minions pursue one of the creatures and corner a baby one. Its mother defends her child, and the baby is left alone after the mother runs to protect it. This baby chupacabra ends up being our protagonist for the rest of the movie. Will the creature find its way home? Will it find its mother once more? These questions make parallels with our human protagonist, a boy named Alex. We see Alex for the first time being bullied at school for being different. In this case, the difference is his Mexican lineage.

Alex wants to be normal like the rest of his classmates and just wants to be left alone playing his Game Boy. Alex lives alone with his mother, who has to work several jobs to keep the house floating. His father is absent, and it seems he died in some accident. Alex receives his passport, and his mother tells him he will travel to Mexico to meet his family there. Alex has no interest, but his mother forces him to go on the trip. Alex arrives in Mexico and is received by his grandfather, Chava, his father’s father.

Is The Chupacabras Captured By The Villains?

Alex travels to Mexico, and there he meets his cousins, Luna and Memo, there are quite friendly, and they accept their American cousins with open arms. Communication is a bit difficult, as Alex’s Spanish is not the best, and Memo doesn’t speak English at all. Luna then becomes the bridge between both worlds. Alex learns more about life in this tiny Mexican town, and while at first he rejects most of the customs and traditions, you can see that having people of his age close to him is helping him to open up.

One day, while in the backyard, Alex hears a sound, and there he discovers the Chupacabras, which are actually pretty cute. In the movie, the creature is anything but terrifying. It looks like a jaguar with eagle wings, a sort of chimera. Alex finds the baby Chupacabras and discovers that the baby animal is lost, just like him. He swears to take care of the creature. However, the secret doesn’t last very long as Alex shows the creature to Memo, and then Luna discovers them.

Chava also appears, and he tells the kids that they need to protect the creature, so they should keep its presence in the farm a secret. Chava was there the night the mother left the baby to protect it. Chava knows that Quinn is out there, and it is looking to put his hands on the baby creature. Quinn does make an appearance at the farm, but Chava and the kids manage to keep the Chupacabras a secret. However, they cannot wait any longer. They need to take the baby home with its mother.

The entire family pick-ups the car and goes back to the site near where Chava saw the mother leaving its cup. Unfortunately, they are being followed by Quinn, who captures the baby and leaves Alex on the edge of a precipice. Quinn is stopped, however, by a number of Adult Chupacabras, and his road ends there. Alex falls, but the baby saves him by using his wings to fly for the first time. Alex returns to America and agrees that, unlike what he thought at first, Mexico is a pretty magical place.