Reviewed by: kiliansabre Date: 03/20/2010 Summary: Good family comedy drama I'm a little surprised this made a run in the theater in the US. The production values are high here, but the movie itself is a bit of a let down. It is basically a family film directed more towards the kids and though Stephen Chow is a presence here, his roll is actually played pretty straight. There are the usual great comedy bits stuck in here and there is a bit of poignant drama near the end that is perhaps a bit too serious for young children. The cgi of the creature here is decent. The film looks gorgeous. All in all from the standpoint of someone looking for a film to enjoy with the family, this is it. Those looking for a more traditional Stephen Chow comedy look towards his other efforts, but you won't feel cheated watching this either way.

Reviewed by: bkasten Date: 03/01/2010 No action. No guns. No martial arts. No soft core porn. No masturbation material. Given the demographics herein, most of you reading this can likely move on... If, however, you have a family, and are ever so slightly sentimental, there is a lot to enjoy here. The acting and execution are perfectly set against a very cute science fictional story framework, and the emotions elicited are true and accurate--particularly for those of us that know what it is like to be single parents of young children. The only downside one can attribute to this film is that...well...this is still Steven Chow. And you just know that at any minute he's going to lift up the curtain and reveal the whole thing to be an exercise in trickery! But....it never happens. That tension is always hanging in the background....and yet, it never happens. In the end, I felt like I was taken along for thrilling but emotionally dangerous ride. Watch it with your kids. They'll love it. Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/24/2008 Summary: A family film with some smacking involved? I wasnt sure what to expect from this movie, and unfortunately i was not entertained. There was a few funny scenes but i didnt engage well with the characters. Stephen chow is a honourable man with good ethics but also smacks his kid. Xu Jiao plays his role well but i found him a little annoying. The rest are minor characters. IF Stephen Chows name was not in this movie, i am unclear how well it would of gone in the box office. And Xu jiao and the cj7 are clearly the focus for this movie The smacking and other scenes like locking the child in a closet seem inappropriate for a movie i would otherwise rate as a family movie For me, disappointed, but with Stephen Chow movies, there are always high expectations Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 04/23/2008 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. [review from www.hkfilm.net] Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 02/23/2008 Summary: the extra-terrestrial... ti (stephen chow) is a lowly construction worker and single parent to dicky (xu jiao), who he struggles earnestly to put through an expensive school. ti doesn't have much spare cash, skimping, saving and salvaging from the local dump to kit dicky out for school. dicky seems pretty happy with this, until the release of cj1; a robotic dog toy, which he wants. ti cannot afford it, but finds a strange ball at the dump, which he gives to dicky instead. it's hardly a substitute, but when it transforms into a friendly little space dog-type creature, dicky thinks that his new best friend might just sort out his problems and help him overcome the school bully and his nasty teacher (steven fung)... this film marks a bit of a change for stephen chow; after scoring many successes in asia and reaching an international audience with 'shaolin soccer' and 'kung-fu hustle', he's tried to create a family film. this is something that he does, but with limited success; i'd say that it would appeal to children, much more, than it would appeal to adults, unlike 'shaolin soccer', which i would say appealed to all ages in equal measures. in essence, 'cj7' is a bit of an 'e.t.' clone, with a little bit of stephen chow thrown in. unfortunately, there's not quite enough of the comedy and touches which make stephen chow films special, but there is enough to make it perfectly watchable. still, i'm not sure there's quite enough to extend its appeal beyond an audience that are already fans of his previous work and, i'm pretty sure that, some of those just won't really be that pleased by this. on the plus side, chow is just as good on-screen as usual, xu jiao does a pretty good job for a newcomer and delivers a performance which reminded me of the impact that macaulay culkin had, as a child actor, in 'home alone'. it's pretty clear to see why chow really warmed to her. there's also some pretty good c.g.i. and enough comedic moments to keep you smiling. on the negative side, the film is short and seems to lack depth; i'm not sure if it was constrained by the money they spent on the c.g.i. or the fact that kitty zhang had some much publicised eyelid surgery during filming, but it does feel as if something is missing and some narrative strands / characters are quite undeveloped. and, as i already mentioned, there's just not enough chow-ness and it does seem to be more child, than adult, friendly. now, if i was a child, who wasn't familiar with stephen chow's style or back catalogue, then i would probably love this. however, as an adult (even a adult who likes a lot of children's films) who is familiar with chow's output, this feels like a very watered down effort, which just does the bear minimum to keep ticking over. overall, it is a quite successful children's film, which has some good performances, humorous moments and quality c.g.i. but, from someone with the talent of chow, it can only be seen as a step backwards. bring on 'kung-fu hustle 2'... reasonable...

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 02/03/2008 Summary: how cute can you get? A kid from disadvantaged family feels hard done by because he doesn't have the latest toys his schoolmates do, but then he finds an alien who's basically the coolest toy going. He has some adventures, then has to learn some lessons. It's a long time since I saw E.T. but the story is essentially the same, as I remember it. Stephen Chiau's latest movie continues his embrace of CGI technology, this time used to explore just how cute it's possible for a computer generated character to be. The result is CJ7, a sort of furball fusion of puppy, kitten and baby that is brilliantly animated. Stephen seems to be stepping further and further back from the lead with each movie he directs, and is really just a supporting character in CJ7 - the lead roles being the young girl who plays his son (!) and the CGI. CJ7 moves away from the slapstick/absurdist humour that Chiau is known for, with some obvious exceptions, and seems to be trying more to tell a story that tugs on the heart-strings. Some of the devices he uses for this are decidedly unsubtle, but often effective. I remember going to see E.T. with my grandmother as a child, and she bet I would cry - determined as I was to prove her wrong, she won the bet. I didn't tear up in CJ7, but there was one spot that tested me a little. I found it hard to enjoy Kung Fu Hustle the first time I saw it, because it wasn't the movie I was expecting it to be - I had to see it a second time to really appreciate it on its own terms. It's possible the same will be true of CJ7, as I had a similar feeling of waiting for the movie to really start right up to the final scenes - as such, the score is a very tentative 7/10. Reviewer Score: 7