CJ7

CJ7........
I like Asian films, don't get me wrong. Nearly all of them, I have, are horror movies, unfortunately. What in the world would possess me to pick up CJ7? Well, someone very dear to me asked me if I had seen it. Seeing as I hadn't, I said no. Then, they went on to tell me what it was about. A movie about a man who desperately struggles to keep his son fed, clothed, and educated despite his struggle to stay employed. When his son asks for a toy that he can't afford, he sets out to find a suitable substitute that's cheaper(i.e. that doesn't cost anything). He returns from the garbage with CJ7, who is no more than a green ball at first. When his son activates this new ball, his son discovers that his new toy is much more than a toy but a magical solution to his family's struggles. Needless to say, I still wasn't sold on it so they went and rented it out. We watched it and, I got to admit, it is one of the best Asian films I've seen in awhile. I ended up purchasing it for my very own. It...

best movie this year up until summer
i already imported this from hong kong and it is a great transfer, actually looks better than it did at the theater i saw it at.

if you like any of stephen chow's other movies (shaolin soccer, kung foo hustle) you will like this one as well. some of the same actors, the same goofy style of acting and over the top theatrics. but this time there is an alien and a nice story. think of a chinese version of E.T. sort of. the part of the little boy in the movie is actually played by a girl and she does a great job.

do yourself a favor and at least rent it, it shouldn't be missed (besides its only 87 minutes long). when i went to the theater, there were only 6 other people in there with me. it really deserved better publicity than it got.

by far it was the best movie the first 6 months of this year until the summer blockbusters started coming out.

Quirky feel-good SF
This amusing Chinese import appeals at many levels. Dicky (the boy's name in the subtitles, at least) lives with his widowed father. The father struggles to make ends meet, while sending Dicky to the best school that he can afford, determined that Dicky will have all the chances in life that the father never had. Dicky struggles too. Poverty makes him odd kid out at school, and small size makes him an easy target for the school bullies. Almost everything more than essentials in Dicky's life comes from his father's knack for salvage - including an odd little toy ...

It would be easy to say too much about this charming movie's plot, especially if you've seen *Batteries Not Included. I leave it to you to watch this self-consciously cute story unfold, all the way to the smiles-all-around ending. The movie's style seems heavy handed, by western standards. Acting and character stereotypes come across as blunt...

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