CJ7

People space out sometimes. Reviewers, too. But at least it's appropriate when you're watching "CJ7," a family film about a poor Chinese father who can't afford to buy his son the latest robot dog toy, but ends up finding something better at the local dump, where he usually does his "shopping": a green, plasma-like ball with an antenna sticking out of it. It was apparently left by aliens, who took off without noticing, though Dad, of course, is clueless. As with another recent family film, "The Water Horse," the sphere turns out to be an egg, and what hatches has a Furbie head and a four-legged Flubber body. Since the dog was called CJ1, this kid dubs his alien toy "CJ7."

As I'm watching this, I'm thinking how familiar this bedraggled father is, and when an essentially realistic story suddenly takes on a cartoon dimension (complete with cartoon voices and sound effects), I'm reminded of "Kung Fu Hustle," with it's energetic blend of Warner Brothers-style cartoon allusions, comedy, and funky realism. And suddenly it hits me. Of course there are stylistic and tonal similarities. Stephen Chow, the guy who directed that madcap multi-layered parody of martial arts films, also co-wrote and directed "CJ7," as stars as the father.

Fast-forward to the bonus features and you learn that he just wanted to make a film for children that adults could also watch. And while it's going to be the same matter of taste that determined whether you liked or hated "Kung Fu Hustle," I personally think he succeeded here . . . for the kids, at least. But I do take exception with the promotional description. We're told that "when the cuddly creature turns out to be a fun-loving extraterrestrial able to perform miraculous deeds, both father and son are about to learn some important lessons that change their lives in this delightful science-fiction fantasy for the whole family." Well, I'll agree that it's for the whole family, but I'm not sure what lessons the father learns, and I certainly wouldn't use the catch-phrase "delightful science-fiction fantasy." That puts the emphasis on happy and fantastic, when what happens is that this ends up being a cautionary tale for kids: Don't say "I hate you" to your dad and walk away mad, because you might regret it.

[Spoiler (and Parental) Alert!] Chow ends up being the Grimm of his generation, offering up a fable that has a shocker and a few tears that drive home the message. Oh, everything turns out okay in the end, but parents should know that there's some pretty heavy trauma before things resolve themselves. Children under the age of 8 might need a big hug during the more intense moments, along with the reassurance that everything's going to be okay.

If they can deal with the crisis, kids will find the rest of the plot right up their alley. Picked on by bullies? So is Dicky (Jiao Xu), and kids will find it interesting how his situation resolves itself. Picked on by teachers? Uh, Dicky again, and that too might strike a chord. Bummed because your parents don't have the money to buy you the clothes and toys that all the popular kids have? Once again, Dicky's the poster child.

Xu does a fine job of playing Dicky, the son of a widowed iron worker who can only afford a small one-room apartment in a battered old building. But what's really interesting is hearing Chow talk about the casting process on the bonus features. It turns out that after auditioning thousands of youngsters, they settled on a girl to play the part of Dicky. Cut the hair and kids are androgynous, Chow basically said. What's more is that most of the kids in this film who are supposed to be boys are really girls. "I don't know if girls are smarter these days or what," Chow muses. Those words might be a shot heard 'round China, where parents may suddenly rethink putting that daughter up for adoption. Now, there's the movies, a prestigious and lucrative field. As I watched, I suspected that one of the "boys" looked awfully feminine and might be a girl, but it was a complete surprise that Dicky was played by a female. But as Chow explains, the day after they cut her hair, she developed a boy's way of walking, talking, and gesturing. Amazing.

In another segment on the bonus features, Chow admits that he wanted to create an icon on the order of E.T. or Mickey Mouse, and it's interesting to hear how nationalism has driven the people working on this project. There's great pride that finally there is an alien movie that comes from China. Call it a different kind of space race, and China finally has its entry. But CJ7 is no Mickey Mouse, or even E.T. It feels more like a cinematic character of convenience than something so cuddly and appealing that it will cause a Cabbage Patch Doll buying frenzy.

But given the primary audience--children--Chow does a good job of throwing in just enough humor and CGI effects to hold youngsters' attention. That's especially evident when you watch this a second time. I'll be the first to admit that I too laughed out loud at some of the slapstick/cartoon humor, and there are more laugh-out-loud moments than most "family" films. Chalk that up to Chow's irreverence and obvious debt to Warner Brothers cartoons.

I can't speak for the kids, except to say that mine said that overall it wasn't as good of a film as they had hoped from looking at the cover and hearing the description. That's the mark of inconsistency, and I'd fault a number of Saccharine sequences that seem to break the energy of Chow's wild, associative cartoon homages. Adults will also probably grow impatient with how long it takes Chow to set up scenes or premises. There's a little too much of the sweet father-son bonding, for example, and a love interest between Dicky's father and his teacher (Kitty Zhang Yuqi) doesn't produce the laughs it should have, making it seem like an unnecessary subplot that fizzles when it could have sizzled. A running gag with two giant bullies feels as if it could have been stronger, and some of the music choices that Chow made were a little strange. One minute it's an American Eighties' song from Gazebo, and the next minute it's Spanish guitar. In his commentary, Chow justified his picks by saying, only, "I like this song." This guy has always heard a different drummer in his head, so that should come as no surprise. But for the average viewer, the succession of background tunes can feel more head-snapping than head-banging.

People space out sometimes. Reviewers, too. But at least it's appropriate when you're watching "CJ7," a family film about a poor Chinese father who can't afford to buy his son the latest robot dog toy, but ends up finding something better at the local dump, where he usually does his "shopping": a green, plasma-like ball with an antenna sticking out of it. It was apparently left by aliens, who took off without noticing, though Dad, of course, is clueless. As with another recent family film, "The Water Horse," the sphere turns out to be an egg, and what hatches has a Furbie head and a four-legged Flubber body. Since the dog was called CJ1, this kid dubs his alien toy "CJ7."

As I'm watching this, I'm thinking how familiar this bedraggled father is, and when an essentially realistic story suddenly takes on a cartoon dimension (complete with cartoon voices and sound effects), I'm reminded of "Kung Fu Hustle," with it's energetic blend of Warner Brothers-style cartoon allusions, comedy, and funky realism. And suddenly it hits me. Of course there are stylistic and tonal similarities. Stephen Chow, the guy who directed that madcap multi-layered parody of martial arts films, also co-wrote and directed "CJ7," as stars as the father.

Fast-forward to the bonus features and you learn that he just wanted to make a film for children that adults could also watch. And while it's going to be the same matter of taste that determined whether you liked or hated "Kung Fu Hustle," I personally think he succeeded here . . . for the kids, at least. But I do take exception with the promotional description. We're told that "when the cuddly creature turns out to be a fun-loving extraterrestrial able to perform miraculous deeds, both father and son are about to learn some important lessons that change their lives in this delightful science-fiction fantasy for the whole family." Well, I'll agree that it's for the whole family, but I'm not sure what lessons the father learns, and I certainly wouldn't use the catch-phrase "delightful science-fiction fantasy." That puts the emphasis on happy and fantastic, when what happens is that this ends up being a cautionary tale for kids: Don't say "I hate you" to your dad and walk away mad, because you might regret it.

[Spoiler (and Parental) Alert!] Chow ends up being the Grimm of his generation, offering up a fable that has a shocker and a few tears that drive home the message. Oh, everything turns out okay in the end, but parents should know that there's some pretty heavy trauma before things resolve themselves. Children under the age of 8 might need a big hug during the more intense moments, along with the reassurance that everything's going to be okay.

If they can deal with the crisis, kids will find the rest of the plot right up their alley. Picked on by bullies? So is Dicky (Jiao Xu), and kids will find it interesting how his situation resolves itself. Picked on by teachers? Uh, Dicky again, and that too might strike a chord. Bummed because your parents don't have the money to buy you the clothes and toys that all the popular kids have? Once again, Dicky's the poster child.

Xu does a fine job of playing Dicky, the son of a widowed iron worker who can only afford a small one-room apartment in a battered old building. But what's really interesting is hearing Chow talk about the casting process on the bonus features. It turns out that after auditioning thousands of youngsters, they settled on a girl to play the part of Dicky. Cut the hair and kids are androgynous, Chow basically said. What's more is that most of the kids in this film who are supposed to be boys are really girls. "I don't know if girls are smarter these days or what," Chow muses. Those words might be a shot heard 'round China, where parents may suddenly rethink putting that daughter up for adoption. Now, there's the movies, a prestigious and lucrative field. As I watched, I suspected that one of the "boys" looked awfully feminine and might be a girl, but it was a complete surprise that Dicky was played by a female. But as Chow explains, the day after they cut her hair, she developed a boy's way of walking, talking, and gesturing. Amazing.

In another segment on the bonus features, Chow admits that he wanted to create an icon on the order of E.T. or Mickey Mouse, and it's interesting to hear how nationalism has driven the people working on this project. There's great pride that finally there is an alien movie that comes from China. Call it a different kind of space race, and China finally has its entry. But CJ7 is no Mickey Mouse, or even E.T. It feels more like a cinematic character of convenience than something so cuddly and appealing that it will cause a Cabbage Patch Doll buying frenzy.

But given the primary audience--children--Chow does a good job of throwing in just enough humor and CGI effects to hold youngsters' attention. That's especially evident when you watch this a second time. I'll be the first to admit that I too laughed out loud at some of the slapstick/cartoon humor, and there are more laugh-out-loud moments than most "family" films. Chalk that up to Chow's irreverence and obvious debt to Warner Brothers cartoons.

I can't speak for the kids, except to say that mine said that overall it wasn't as good of a film as they had hoped from looking at the cover and hearing the description. That's the mark of inconsistency, and I'd fault a number of Saccharine sequences that seem to break the energy of Chow's wild, associative cartoon homages. Adults will also probably grow impatient with how long it takes Chow to set up scenes or premises. There's a little too much of the sweet father-son bonding, for example, and a love interest between Dicky's father and his teacher (Kitty Zhang Yuqi) doesn't produce the laughs it should have, making it seem like an unnecessary subplot that fizzles when it could have sizzled. A running gag with two giant bullies feels as if it could have been stronger, and some of the music choices that Chow made were a little strange. One minute it's an American Eighties' song from Gazebo, and the next minute it's Spanish guitar. In his commentary, Chow justified his picks by saying, only, "I like this song." This guy has always heard a different drummer in his head, so that should come as no surprise. But for the average viewer, the succession of background tunes can feel more head-snapping than head-banging.