CJ7 review

Hong Kong writer/director/star Stephen Chow found a wider Western fan-base with 2004’s delirious Kung Fu Hustle. Surprisingly, he takes a back seat here, playing a poor, uneducated construction worker who slaves away to send his young son to a pricey public school. Dickie (Jiao Xu, a nine-year-old girl playing a boy) doesn’t appreciate his efforts – they live in a condemned hovel, and he’s routinely bullied for his tatty clothes. That is, until his dad presents him with a new toy – a marvelous shape-shifting orb from another planet. It’s ET in HK, obviously influenced by both Spielberg and Chaplin, albeit with a more vulgar streak. Chow’s kung fu fans may be disappointed that he’s made a family film, but on its own terms it’s well crafted, quite touching and frequently LOL.