“Never work with animals or children,” famously advised WC Fields. And although the early 20th century comedian is supposed to have said so because he disliked both those categories of beings, many entertainers have found that one good reason to heed his injunction is that critters and kids often end up upstaging them. So Stephen Chow can’t say that he wasn’t warned. Yet for his first film in over three years, the director, leading man, co-producer and co-scriptwriter of CJ7 didn’t only cast a child, Xu Jiao, as his main co-star but also made the movie’s eponymous character a super-lovable dog-like creature from outer space!

Furthermore, Chow – whose preference these days seems to be to do more behind than in front of the camera – chose to award a substantial amount of screen time in CJ7 to Dicky Chow, the male character essayed by Xu Jiao (although this acting talent is actually a girl!). The young son of a honest coolie named Ti (Chow), Dicky is by far the most economically impoverished student of the private academy his father has worked hard to send him to, in a bid to ensure that his offspring will have a brighter future than himself.

Although one can’t doubt that Ti means well and truly loves his son, it’s easy to wonder whether he’s done the right thing. After all, the school is filled with pupils who are chauffeur-driven in Mercedes and Rolls Royces right up to the entrance of the educational institution, and individuals – teachers and students alike (though, granted, there are a few exceptions, like the soft-hearted Miss Yuen (Kitty Zhang)) – who look down on those less financially well-off than they are. Additionally, in such an environment, a child like Dicky can’t help but develop urges to possess more and better quality material goods, be they non-tatty shoes for school, a working electric fan or a brand new CJ1 robotic toy dog, than his labourer dad can afford to give him.

Ti is more likely to scavenge for things from the town dump than buy from an actual store. And it’s on one such ‘shopping’ trip that he comes across what he thinks would be an acceptable toy for his child but which turns out to be a small alien with powers of regeneration that, for example, enable it to restore a rotten apple to its fresh state. Once Dicky recovers from the shock of discovering that there’s an extra-terrestrial in their midst and determines that it doesn’t seem to have any intentions of conquering earth, he treats this unusual creature as a pet and friend.
After a few missteps, CJ7 – as Dicky takes to calling it, initially as an act of bravado more than genuine one-upmanship – even ends up helping the poor boy to make new friends at school. But because he’s been playing so much with the endearing alien, Dicky ends up getting a zero in a test. Rather than tell his dad the truth, Dicky makes it seem as though he got full marks instead. His misled dad is filled with pride but that, as the proverb says, goes before a fall, and soon the young boy has good reason to rue not being as truthful as his father has regularly urged him to be...

With its focus fixed so much on the antics of a child and its cute alien companion, it’s difficult to see CJ7 as being much more than a movie for children. This is not to say that there aren’t elements in the Category IIA-rated film ripe for more mature socio-cultural commentary (including the vast socio-economic divide and visible air pollution in Ningbo, the Mainland Chinese city where this cinematic effort is set). However, when given the choice of dealing with fantasy or reality, this visual effects laden film’s makers have opted for the most part to go for the former. In doing so, sad to say, they have created a work that is less substantial – and masterful – than could otherwise have been the case.

yvonne teh