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August 20, 2008

CJ7 is the film Aesop would have made

Additionally you have the choice of hearing it in either Cantonese or English — I chose English, although it’s fun to make up the characters’ narratives as they go along. Buy it, you’ll like it — to paraphrase an ad campaign.

If Aesop were a film-maker rather than a writer and he were working with a young Jerry Lewis, “CJ7” is what would have been the result. This is, basically, a nutty fable punctuated with inspired (in my opinion) slapstick. This is sort of like a Chinese ET meets the Little Rascals. This is the director’s chance to create a cute alien saga for the whole family.

Stephen Chow is not only the writer, producer and director of this release, he also is the star. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t overextend himself here. The character he plays — Ti, a dirt-poor construction worker who pours all of his money into an elite private school so his son Dicky (Xu Jiao, who’s actually a girl) can get a proper education and live a better life — is portrayed convincingly.

Now Chow is also responsible for “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle”, two funny, funny releases filled with slapstick and with a moral at the end. He continues that slapstick — which kids and immature adults, me included, love. If you don’t like slapstick, you won’t like most of this movie.

Chow’s movies are not for everyone. What Chow’s movies lack in finesse, however, they make up for with raw enthusiasm, and “CJ7” is definitely enthusiastic. Ridiculous and eccentric, but enthusiastic. Eccentric might not be the right word. That’s not really doing the oddities on display here justice. “CJ7” is downright insane at times.

Unfortunately, there is one scene that really turned me off — as one critic noted, “It’s like watching an altar boy drown a sack full of kittens.” It’s one of the potty jokes that I feel is completely unnecessary and out of place. Fortunately though, that’s only one scene.

Then the movie gets back on track, returning to goofy sweetness and adding a touch of tragedy (remember “E.T.”?). The focus of the movie is on the children and the way they cope with each other and adults, which is as it should be. Jiao is quite convincing as a boy (except when she screams), and Dicky’s bully classmate, with the help of some well-chosen eyeware, steals the movie from everyone.

Cast: Chi Chung Lam, Xu Jiao, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Min Hun Fung, Stephen Chow

CJ7

Rating (***1/2 out of *****)

Synopsis: (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) Ti is a poor father who works all day, everyday at a construction site to make sure his son Dicky Chow can attend an elite private school.

Despite his father's good intentions to give his son the opportunities he never had, Dicky, with his dirty and tattered clothes and none of the "cool" toys stands out from his schoolmates like a sore thumb.

Ti can't afford to buy Dicky any expensive toys and goes to the best place he knows to get new stuff for Dicky — the junk yard!

While out "shopping" for a new toy for his son, Ti finds a mysterious orb and brings it home for Dicky to play with. To his surprise and disbelief, the orb reveals itself to Dicky as a bizarre "pet" with extraordinary powers.

Armed with his CJ7, Dicky seizes this chance to overcome his poor background and shabby clothes and impress his fellow schoolmates for the first time in his life. But CJ7 has other ideas, and when Dicky brings it to class, chaos ensues.

DVD Special Features

• A feature-length audio commentary from director Stephen Chow, actors Chi Gung Lam and Shing-Cheung Lee, and writers Lam Fung and Kan-Cheung Tsang is provided in subtitled form.

• “The Story of ‘CJ7’” (13:41) is a basic featurette, yet it’s great fun to see Chow at work, learning how the man controls a set and interacts with his talent. There’s also an important discussion of Xu Jiao’s gender-bending casting included to help clear that matter up.

• “CJ7: Mission Control” is a game that puts the player in command of getting everybody’s alien friend on China’s Shenzhou 7 rocket to send him home. I’m not sure I understood the full point of this diversion, but kids will surely have fun with it.

• “‘CJ7’ T.V. Special” (22:04) is another making-of featurette, only here the focus is on the technical achievements, showing how the production brought the title character to life.

• “Anatomy of a Scene” (6:40) breaks down the insane production requirement minutiae of Dicky’s uproarious bathroom shakedown of CJ7.

• “How to Bully a Bully” (4:11) somehow attempts to merge sincere rules on dealing with bullies with the promotion of “CJ7.” It fails.

• “How to Make a Lollipop” (1:30) shows viewers how they too can make prop candy for movie sets.

• “‘CJ7’ Profiles” (6:58) runs through all the film’s characters, revealing strengths and weaknesses in a cartoony fashion.

• A Theatrical Trailer for “CJ7” is included in this DVD, along with peeks at “Persepolis,” “The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series,” “Storm Hawks,” “Taking 5,” “Roxy Hunter and the Secret of the Shaman,” “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep,” “Spider-Man 3,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “My Kid Could Paint That,” “Vitus,” and “The Triplets of Belleville.”

Running Time: 88 minutes

MPAA rating: PG for language, thematic material, some rude humor and brief smoking.

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