CJ7

The most the important thing you need to know about the new movie CJ7 is that it was written by, stars, and was directed by Stephen Chow (he didn't write is by himself though, he had help). Who is Stephen Chow ? If you do not know, then you have an assignment, to go track down the movie Kung Fu Hustle and watch it. You will be glad you did. On a quick side note Kung Fu Hustle is available in Blu-ray now though I have not taken the plunge myself yet). CJ7 has many elements in common with Kung Fu Hustle, with a good bit of E.T. thrown in for good measure. It is a light comedy, with a very absurd and off the wall sense of humor.

The story revolves Ti (the father played by Stephen Chow) and his son Dicky (played wonderfully by Jiao Xu, who is actually a girl). The father is very good natured but somewhat on the dim side. He gets fired from his poor paying construction job a couple of times during the course of the movie. Dicky and his father are poor. They are really poor. The house that they live in is very small, really small. Their single bed takes up most of the space in their house.

Dicky, a good natured boy, has the bad luck of nothing going his way. He gets picked on at school by the teachers and his classmates, he makes bad grades, his father gets mad at him, and nothing seems to work out the way that it is suppose to. Dicky then finds a small alien that has magical powers with somewhat unpredictable results (since this is a Stephen Chow movie after all). The film takes place mostly in at Dicky's school or back at his house. The parts of the film that show Dicky interacting with his classmates are some of the funniest bits of the film. You could almost cut out the alien, and you would STILL have a damn funny movie. Stephen Chow has no qualms about throwing the film into the absurd area if a good idea presents itself. The ideas are kept short and sweet and do not disturb the flow of the picture. The movie' special effects are kept to a minimum, but are handled well.

The various characters in the movie are only lightly sketched in, but they are lovely little sketches. From the various crushes that arise between the boys and girls in the classroom, to the gang that terrorizes the playground, this is an interesting bunch of kids. The movie is well edited, and some of the dialogue probably could have been cut, because the visual cues alone are enough to clue the audience in on what is taking place in the movie.

I noticed that this movie, though already released, did not even make a mark on the sales chart, so it's distribution might be very limited, but if you can track it down, this is a movie that you and your kids can enjoy. The movie is already appearing on DVD on E-bay from Hong Kong (where the movie was made), but they are on region 3 DVDs and probably will not play on your average DVD player in the United States so watch out. This is a charming little movie and will make you forget your troubles for a little while. What more can you ask?

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com