88 Films Blu-ray Synopsis: Co-writer/director Stephen Chow(Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer) stars as Ti, a poor but loving father who works such long hours that he barely has any time to spend with his young son. Unable to afford the latest toy his boy desperately wants; Ti instead brings home a mysterious “pet” he finds at a local junk-yard. When the cuddly creature turns out to be a fun-loving extraterrestrial able to perform miraculous deeds, father and son are about to learn some important lessons that change their lives in this delightful science-fiction fantasy for the whole family. (88 Mins)

 

Views: After entertaining Hong Kong audiences and Asian movie fans for almost 3 decades, the king of comedy, Stephen Chow Sing Chi, delivered one of his final leading roles in the hilarious and often forgotten family-comedy, CJ7. Previously known by its earlier working title of A Hope, the film received mixed reviews from critics upon release, yet has went onto gain a loyal following with Chow's fans over the years. For CJ7, Stephen stars, directs, co-writes and co-produces, working with a budget of around 20 million USD – although he had intended only to direct before stepping into the role of the loving, yet poverty-stricken father known as Ti...

 

In hindsight, CJ7 was an interesting move for Chow after gaining some hugely recognisable attention and praise for Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle with this coming four years after the latter. While this would be a big departure from his usual nonsensical comedies, Chow still manages to keep enough mo lei tau throughout CJ7 to keep his older fans happy while, at the same time, cleverly introducing his new younger audience to his hilarious format. This is also aided with nods to his aforementioned hits such as Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle through scenes shown during a dream sequence. While Chow also pays homage to John Woo's Mission Impossible 2 with a pair of exploding sunglasses, he has mentioned in past interviews how Spielberg's infamous film, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, proved to be a big inspiration. But at the same time, the film references the Chinese crewed space program known as Shenzhou 6 which was completed in 2006, although the real Shenzhou 7 would successfully launch in September 2008 – just 7 months after CJ7 was released. Of course, in the film, the name would also refer to an upgrade of the rich kids robotic dog known as CJ1. The film spawned an animated sequel, or retelling, called CJ7: The Cartoon in 2010 and later again in 2015 with CJ7: Super Q Team, continuing to focus on the children's market.

 

Although Chow's final role would be more of a supporting one, he would go on to lend his voice to the animated follow-up and a cameo in the star-studded Beginning Of The Great Revival. In the years that followed, he would continue his work behind the camera as the director of films such as Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, The Mermaid, and The New King Of Comedy, as well as producing Journey To The West: Demons Strike Back- the Tsui Hark directed sequel that would see him cameo alongside the revered director in the closing credits. It's also worth noting that, shortly after CJ7, Chow Sing Chi served as the producer on three films including the fun Shaolin Girl – a loosely related sequel of sorts to Shaolin Soccer – and the Stephen Fung directed film Jump. The third would be the critically panned and devastating Hollywood production, Dragonball Evolution; a film that hurt fans so bad and flopped so hard, that I still strongly believe today that this was one of the main reasons Chow retreated for a number of years!

 

Aside from Stephen Chow and his Shaolin Soccer/Kung Fu Hustle co-star Lam Chi Chung, CJ7 mostly features a mainland Chinese cast including the lovely Kitty Zhang who had also shared the screen with Chung in Shaolin Girl the same year. Here, Kitty plays the school teacher of Chow's son, returning to voice the same character in the 2010 animation. Of course, she would also work again with Chow Sing Chi in his aforementioned produced feature Jump before returning a number of years later to work under him in the hilarious comedy fantasy The Mermaid, which also saw an appearance from Lam Chi Chung once again. As with many older Hong Kong wuxia movies which would see females playing males, and vice versa, CJ7 features actress Josie Xu Jiao playing Chow's son Dicky. Aside from the challenge of playing a boy, Jiao delivers a fantastic performance for her debut role with hilarity, cuteness, and emotion that would bag her the award for Best New Performer at the 28th HK Film Awards. Jiao would return to voice her character for both of the CJ7 animation projects, and go on to star in films such as Jingle Ma's Mulan, Just Another Pandora's Box, Future X-Cops, The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, and Wu Dang among others. Both come across well together on-screen proving to have a great relationship with plenty of humour shining through their hardships, such as their fun pastime of splatting cockroaches on their living-room wall. The film itself would go on to receive a further 3 nominations including Best Supporting Actor for Stephen Chow, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film.

 

Shot in Ningbo, China, CJ7 also sees a cameo from Stephen Chow's regular cohort Vincent Kok who also serves as his co-producer and co-writer once again. Wellson Chin, director of the Inspector Wears Skirts Series, Prince Of The Sun, and Super Lady Cop, aids Chow as the Executive Director of the project – a job he had also done on Kung Fu Hustle – and is highly noticeable in many of the behind the scenes featurettes. While there isn't a lot of action throughout the film, CJ7 benefits from having the talents of fight choreographers Dee Dee Ku and Tony Ling on board, as well as the prolific Yuen Shun Yi who cameos as a UFO crazed farmer. With a classful of talented children who represent mini-versions of adult characters often seen in Stephen Chow's biggest comedies, a super cute alien creature created with impressive CGI, and plenty of genuinely hilarious moments with the right amount of emotional drama, it's fair to say that CJ7 does the job as an entertaining Chow Sing Chi movie!

 

Overall: Highly entertaining and genuinely funny at times, CJ7 is a fun family comedy with typical Chow Sing Chi antics!

 

88 Films Blu-ray Extras: Cast & Crew Audio Commentary, The Story of CJ7 Featurette, CJ7 TV Special, Anatomy of a Scene Featurette, How to Bully a Bully Featurette, How to Make a Lollipop Featurette, Trailer