Movie Review

CJ7 (2008)

EW's GRADE
D+

Details Release Date: Mar 07, 2008; Rated: PG; Length: 86 Minutes; Genres: Comedy, Sci-fi; With: Stephen Chow and Xu Jiao

PHONY HOME Stephen Chow\'s E.T.-inspired CJ7 is more muddle than cuddle | CJ7, Xu Jiao
PHONY HOME Stephen Chow's E.T.-inspired CJ7 is more muddle than cuddle

What could possibly have possessed Stephen Chow, the mad scientist of slapstick chopsocky who made Kung Fu Hustle (2004), to follow up that psychedelic pinwheel of a movie by entangling himself in CJ7, the gooey tale of a poor little Hong Kong schoolboy who befriends a fur ball from outer space? The cuddlebug in question may bear an abstract resemblance to E.T. (Chow's stated inspiration), but he's really closer to Gizmo in Gremlins crossed with a Chicken Little who got washed through the rinse cycle. His ''mischief'' is trivial and charmless, and so is the movie. D+

Originally posted Mar 05, 2008 Published in issue #982 Mar 14, 2008 Order article reprints

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