Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: "E.T."

Who wouldn't want to watch a movie with Stephen Chow as a coolie father who discovers an alien item and gives it to his unsuspecting son?

The expectations for Stephen Chow's "CJ7" are great, not only because it's been some time since he last gave us "Kung Fu Hustle" but because the marketing strategy driving the movie has been aggressive. The funnyman has gone from strength to strength since being introduced to the Western world.

The resulting concern for fans of Chow Sing Chi is that he is under undue pressure to deliver to those markets. Notice how "Shaolin Soccer" marked a departure into less dialogue-heavy filmmaking and "Kung Fu Hustle" was more style over substance. True fans of Stephen Chow would know that this is certainly not his forte. It is his exaggerated madman humour and precise comic timing that make the man. In "CJ7", Chow's direction is no longer in doubt - he has abandoned the idiosyncratic language-specific comedy that brings down houses in movies like "Justice My Foot" and "Flirting Scholar". Stephen Chow has officially become Hollywood savvy.

We've all seen the trailers. We've been told that it's essential viewing this Chinese New Year. Does "CJ7" live up to the hype?

For "Kung Fu Hustle" fans, the answer should be yes. Reportedly made on a US$20 million budget, "CJ7" is just as CG-heavy. The concept behind "CJ7" is cut from the same cloth as movies such as "E.T." and "Free Willy", while Chow still finds time to combine his trademark elements of cruel humiliation and impossible surprises.

However, the celebrated exaggeration and deadpan expressions we have come to love about Chow is now very much gone. This is where the older generation of Chow's fans will be severely disappointed. Special effects aside, the responsibility to carry "CJ7" seems to rest purely on the small shoulders of the young girl actress (Xu Jiao, who plays Chow's son) and the alien elements of the movie. She does an admirable job giving us some classic Chow moments. Sadly, her talent just about makes the highlight of the film. Other peripheral characters like Kitty Zhang and that fat guy in "Kung Fu Hustle" hardly do anything. Chow himself isn't even really prominent in the film.

So we're left to make the best out of the experience. Seeing Chow as the disciplinarian father who puts his son in the best school while starving on the construction site where he works as a coolie is interesting. However, the story is too short for any real message other than the bite-sized morality lectures. It comes off really looking like a well-designed kiddie movie meant to appeal to as many people as possible across the world.

"CJ7" will undeniably push Chow's name on more foreign fronts. The rest of us, especially the older ones, will be left to rue the good old days when Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat were still talking to each other.

Cinema Online, 23 September 2008