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Twin Dagger Turkey checked out CJ7 - the new Stephen Chow wonderpiece!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hey folks, Harry here - I'm so envious - I'm dying to see this film - and I hate Moriarty - cuz he's not only seen CJ7 - but spent a half hour sitting down chatting with Stephen Chow. The reason that interview isn't on the site yet is... 1) It's Moriarty. 2) He's phonetically spelling out the answers that he got from Mr Chow in his native tongue. And lastly... 3) He's Moriarty. While we wait patiently rapping our fingers upon the reload button waiting for that interview - we can check out Twin Dagger Turkey's look at the film below...
Hello, this is twindaggerturkey in LA. I saw CJ7 last night, here's a short review!
CJ7 Review for AICN
I was lucky enough to get into a free screening of Stephen Chow’s new sci-fi movie, CJ7, hosted by Giant Robot Magazine. I was pretty excited, being a psycho Chow fan from way back. It started when my parents tried to take me to see SPAWN on opening night. It was sold out, so we ended up watching Chow’s period martial-arts comedy FLIRTING SCHOLAR. FLIRTING SCHOLAR mixed verbal and physical humor with beautiful wirework. SPAWN, on the other hand, sucked.
BUT ANYWAY…After the CJ7 screening, Chow actually showed up briefly with Xu Jiao, the little girl who is the real focus of the film. In the short Q and A, we learned that, due to copyright issues, there probably won’t be a SHAOLIN SOCCER 2. Also, if I understood him right, that his involvement in the Dragon Ball movie was restricted to some helpful suggestions in the early stages of production.
So, what about the movie itself? I had gone in with somewhat lowered expectations, having read some lukewarm reviews. It’s true that Chow is more of a supporting player on camera, and that some of the gags are recycled from his earlier movies. It is also true that CJ7 takes place on a rather small scale. There aren’t any brain-fryingly awesome giant kung-fu battles. It’s a very simple story about a poor boy (Xu Jiao is perfectly convincing as a boy) and his dad trying to make it in the world—and discovering a green rubbery alien dog with a cute glowing antenna on his head. Anyone hoping for something with the scope of KUNG FU HUSTLE will be disappointed. But the movie is really pretty cool in its own right.
CJ7 himself is one very weird little critter. The dad finds it (he? She?) in a junkyard in green rubber ball form and brings the thing home to his kid. It’s never quite clear whether CJ7 is biological, mechanical, or some kind of doggy cousin to the liquid Terminator, but springs pop out of its head when it gets hurt. Created by Hong Kong CG company Menfond, it never looks quite real. Instead, it seems to be a visual heir to Hello Kitty and other mutant-cute Asian characters.
The kid, frustrated with his impoverished existence, naturally assumes that this magical alien can solve all his problems, help him cheat on exams and give him impossible athletic abilities to boot.
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD
Without going into too much detail, he is thoroughly disappointed, leading to one gross but funny gag. The alien, it seems, has all the powers of an ordinary dog, albeit a stretchy, rubbery one.
The movie does have the prerequisite heartwarming ending, but it doesn’t devolve into sentimental mush. In fact, it goes by so fast that the characters aren’t quite sure what happened.
Xu Jiao, I thought, did quite a good job. She didn’t ham it up too much. The actress Zhang Yuqi didn’t have much of a part as an understanding schoolteacher. She flirts with the Stephen Chow character for about thirty seconds. The whole film moves along at a brisk pace and feels rather short, overall. It’s cute and silly and doesn’t try to be more than that, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. (And I really want a stuffed CJ7 that lights up when I hug it!)
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Steven Chow rocks
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Seriously, what is wrong with people these days? Anyway, can't wait for this movie. Loved Shaolin Soccer...
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Very sad that there won't be a Shaolin Soccer sequel. Kung Fu Hustle 2 PLEASE!!!!
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Am I?
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Stephen Chow is saving the comedy genre.
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This film really doesnt excite me at all but I will still watch it for any charm and hopefully clever imagination scenes that Chow can at least sprinkle somewhere.
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Stephen Chow's alright. Yeah!
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You wouldn't understand
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Kind of reminds me of Juvenile but not as deep.
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hopefully it has a little bit more heart to go with it. A girl playing a boy!...just like Iron Monkey!
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talking about his offspring to anyone who'll listen, did you know his kid says 'f*ck oo panda'?
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Like the US trailer? I sure hope not.
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for Chow's movies recently. like his wirework, it's become just as much as the joke in the movie. It never really looks realistic, but it's not supposed too. It's there to catch your eye and finish the joke. I mean shit, if you saw Shaolin Soccor you should know perfectly well what I'm talking about.
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Feb 22, 2008 12:46:18 PM CST
i was bored as hell by shaolin soccer and kung fu hustle
by troutpencil
I don't want to rain on your guys' parades about it, but I didn't like them, and this one looks just as bad. They are confusing and boring with a weirdly depressing tone, and the weird CGI gives me a headache. And they're not really funny. I think I laughed when he got stabbed in the arm a few times in Kung Fu Hustle, but then there was the weird shot of him running loony toon style, and I just don't like looking at that. It looks weird; it's not funny; it could be done well, but in those movies it is not. But again, don't want to rain on your parade.
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... cause Stephen Chow never disappoints!
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...Dont go in expecting Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle. This is STRICTLY for the little ones. So, yeah, I didn't really get anything out of it, but its not as bad as flubber or anything.
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The version I saw was in Mandarin. (And, um, rather less good for it, I think.) There ought to be a Cantonese version out, though.
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That's too bad, and what an odd decision. Maybe the bean counters figured the movie will make 10% more if it's released in Mandarin or something, but I'd personally rather not see the movie if I'm not getting a full Stephen Chow performance. I'll take my Chow Sing-Chi performances in Cantonese, mm goy.
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Feb 23, 2008 10:18:48 AM CST
I miss the old Stephen Chow and his senseless comedy acts
by darthbakpao
CJ7 was okay. Chow has become more and more serious today
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