“CJ7” Directed by Stephen Chow Starring: Stephen Chow, Jiao Xu

out of

In “CJ7,” writer, actor and director Stephen Chow takes on the genre of children’s films with his trademark brand of poignant irreverence.

Chow attempts to reframe his talent for visual splendor and empathic comedy for children but is unable to balance the comedic and dramatic elements of the film.

The result is something that would be best described as a far sillier version of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.,” but devoid of any of that masterpiece’s emotional subtlety or complexity.

“CJ7” is the story of Dicky (Jiao Xu), a poor boy living with his construction-worker father Ti (Chow). Ti is idealistic – constantly telling Dicky that, despite being poor, they will never steal, lie or cheat – but barely manages to make ends meet and sacrifices the little luxury he could have to send Dicky to an expensive private school.

As such, he has to improvise for a lot of necessities, searching trash dumps for clothes and shoes. On a particularly eventful trip to the dump he discovers CJ7, an almost unbearably cute space-puppy-creature with the awkward “E.T.”-esque power to heal.

Dicky quickly becomes attached to CJ7 and uses him to improve his dismal social standing at school, resulting in a barrage of cliched wish-fulfillment scenes modified slightly to fit Chow’s style.

The main problem with “CJ7” is balance. As with his previous efforts – including the glorious and surprisingly powerful “Kung Fu Hustle” – Chow attempts to infuse over-the-top irreverence with emotional weight. Unfortunately, this is a formula that functions far better in the more action-packed realm of kung fu films.

The dramatic moments of “CJ7” are stripped of potential poignancy by Chow’s inability to find a middle ground. Scenes will often go from serious to unbelievably silly in the blink of an eye.

Chow also attempts to apply his mastery of the fight scene – evident from films like “Hustle,” where they flowed into each other beautifully – to playground brawls, but they come off as overblown and irrelevant.

However, just as the film seems to be resolving itself in this fashion, a surprisingly dark plot twist promises something different. In fact, from the moment of this twist to the final scene, the film manifests some of the gorgeous starkness of “E.T.”

Chow seems uncomfortable with ending his work in such a way, though, and once again ruins what he’s developed in a cop-out ending that’s confusing and hard to swallow – even in the context of a film about an alien.

On a brighter note, Chow gives a strong performance as the impoverished but stalwart Ti, showing genuine fatherly concern in his attempts to shield Dicky from the worst elements of poverty.

Xu (oddly enough, a girl) is passable as Dicky, appropriately child-like but seeming to rely on shouting more than actual emotion in both the comedic and dramatic moments.

The visuals are exceptional. “CJ7” is well rendered and, for the most part, avoids looking artificial or out-of-place.

The cinematography is perhaps the strongest link to Chow’s previous films, with excellent use of special effects and impressive orchestration of the fight scenes. Music is also used well, including a quirky but effective theme in Dusty Springfield’s “Sonny.”

Despite these redeeming factors, there’s still not much good to be said about “CJ7.” The irreverent moments aren’t irreverent enough to make the film just an enjoyable romp, but still thieve the plot of any impact.

There’s simply no complexity to the film beyond the cute-and-silly. Chow tries valiantly to pay homage to Spielberg and “E.T.”, but “CJ7” can’t handle comparison to such a classic.