CJ7

cover

Year of release: 2008

Genre: comedy/drama

Director: Stephen Chow

Action directors: Guk Hin-Chiu, Yuen Shun-Yi

Producers: Stephen Chow, Chui Bo-Chu, Hong San-Ping, Vincent Kok, Shi Tung-Ming, Wong Nga-Lam

Writers: Stephen Chow, Vincent Kok, Tsang Kan-Cheng, Sandy Shaw, Fung Chi-Keung

Cinematography: Poon Hang-Sang, Ko Chiu-Lam

Editor: Angie Lam

Music: Raymond Wong

Stars: Stephen Chow, Lam Tze-Chung, Kitty Zhang, Xu Jiao, Steven Fung, Huang Lei

Rated IIA for language, crude humor, and mild violence

DVD available for purchase at www.sensasian.com

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Long a pet project of Stephen Chow's, CJ7 is a bit of a departure from most of his work. Heavily influenced by Spielberg's E.T., CJ7 shows the softer side of Stephen Chow. Unlike most of his comedies, this doesn't have tons of jokes flying at the viewer, nor too much in the way of Cantonese wordplay and smutty jokes. This might disappoint some of his fans, and I will agree that CJ7 isn't up to the level of films like Kung Fu Hustle, but this is still a satisfying movie if you're willing to put aside your usual expectations from Stephen Chow and go into it with an open mind.

The film revolves around a boy named Dicky (played by a little girl named Xu Jiao) who is taunted mercilessly at school because of his poverty. Dicky's father, Ti (Stephen Chow), tries the best he can to make Dicky happy, but when Dicky wants the latest hot toy, a robot dog named CJ1, Ti has to resort to digging through the dump to find something. The "toy" Ti gets for Dicky turns out to be an egg for an alien, which Dicky names CJ7, and it is from there that the hilarity (and maybe a few hanky-inducing moments) commence.

This sort of movie is heavily dependent on how good the special effects look, and thankfully CJ7 does a good job. CJ7 is a CGI character, and like most CGI characters... well, it still looks like CGI. Call me old fashioned, but I thought the stuff back in the 80's looked a lot more convincing. Still, it's apparent that Chinese productions have caught up (at least to some extent) to their American counterparts in this department, and overall the CGI wasn't distracting enough as to ruin the movie.

And, really, any sorts of misgivings about the realism of CJ7 are, for the most part, put aside via Xu Jiao's performance. Normally, watching kid actors for me is like hearing fingernails on a blackboard or having to sit through a Friends marathon -- annoying as hell. Jiao takes what would usually be ninety minutes of screaming and pouting and creates a real character. If I wasn't such a jaded and cynical S.O.B., there might have actually been a few tears dredged up.

Unfortunately, though, matters in CJ7 are brought down a notch by some toilet humor that looked to be shoehorned in to please fans of Chow. Specifically, there is one scene that features CJ7's explosive diarrhea that seemed terribly out of place. Also, the ending comes off as too melodramatic, improbable, and a cheap way to set up a sequel. But overall, if you're looking to check out a different side of Stephen Chow, or perhaps trying to find something to use to introduce the younger set to his genius, CJ7 does its' job just fine.

RATING: 7