CJ7
It's a small but perfectly formed kid's treat.
Kung Fu Hustle 2 having been in development hell for so long, the international spotlight has turned away from Chinas premier comedian Stephen Chow. However, immediately after the worldwide box office success of Kung Fu Hustle, Chow began work on this small but perfectly formed kids' film. CJ7 now gets a long overdue albeit limited UK theatrical release thanks to Sony Pictures. Chow plays Ti, a construction worker who is so poor that for him, buying his son Dicky (eight-year-old actress Jiao Xu in an incredible piece of cross-casting) a new pair of shoes means a trip to the local junkyard. Ti wants the best for Dicky, so uses all of his wages to send Dicky to the top private school in the city. However, with Dickys background he finds it hard to fit in. For example, he cant afford to buy the latest must-have toy, a robotic dog. Ti scours the junkyard for a discarded cyberpet, but the best he can come up with is a green rubber ball. Understandably disappointed at first, Dicky is later amazed to find that the ball is in fact an impossibly cute alien toy a cross between a Furby and Flubber. Dicky calls the toy Chang Jiang 7 after the district where he lives in an unnamed city on the Yangtze (but the name is also a pun on Shenzhou 7, the third Chinese manned space flight, due for launch later this year). Dicky imagines CJ7 as a kung fu-kicking, homework-completing super pet, but in reality all CJ7 seems to be able to manage is the odd alien turd. However, as in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, CJ7 has a healing power, which comes in handy when Ti has an accident at work. But like E.T., using this power drains CJ7s energy levels. Ti doesnt want to let his son down, but where do you find batteries for a toy from outer space? Chow made a name for himself by finding entertaining ways to interpret western source material for Asian audiences and CJ7 is no exception. Having already tackled William Shakespeare (Alls Well That Ends Well), James Bond (From Beijing with Love) and Martin Scorsese (The King of Comedy), CJ7 is Chow having a go at Steven Spielberg, but it a homage rather than plagiarism. The enjoyment comes from the innovations Chow makes in his trademark mo lei tau (nonsense) style. For example, by making his character a labourer, Chow gets to walk along mid-air girders and take part in other construction-based stunts in a nod to his heroes Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Theres also some pretty funny references to Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. But the movie belongs to Dicky and CJ7. Xu is everything you could want in a child actress and while the CGI for CJ7 is stylised rather than photorealistic, the audience is willing to accept it because CJ7 is an alien toy, not an alien life form. However, like WALL-E, CJ7s technically not alive status doesnt prevent an emotional response from the audience.
rating: 4