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CJ7 | 2008 | PG | - 1.4.3

Stephen Chow stars as a man who works hard to put his son (Xu Jiao) through a private school so that he will have more opportunities in life. When one day he peruses the local garbage dump for a new pair of shoes, he finds an unusual looking item, which he brings home thinking it's a toy. But when the item turns into a creature with magical powers their lives change. Also with Tin Kai-man, Chan Kwok Kwan, Lee Sheung Ching, Chan Kwok Kwan, Yuen Qiu and Zhang Yuqi. Directed by Chow. [1:28]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A woman wears dresses that are cut high up the leg and reveal her thigh in a couple of scenes.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A creature starts as a rubber-looking ball that glows and eventually ends up looking like a dog with large eyes, a single tentacle on a furry head and a rubbery body with four legs.
 A gas tank at a construction site falls over and rolls toward a ledge, a rubber tube connected to it wraps around a man's ankle and pulls him along and then over the ledge, the man falls, catches onto something and dangles for a moment, and then falls and crashes to the ground (we hear a thud and see the man in the morgue with open wounds on his arm).
 A boy shoves another boy, then raises his fist to strike him, and another boy grabs his fist and raises his own fist to strike him; a girl then grabs that boy's fist and the boy and girl fight: the girl strikes the boy in the chest sending him sailing through the air, the boy throws a barrel filled with water at the girl, she catches it, the boy charges toward her, and she catches him and squeezes him until he falls unconscious.
 A creature whimpers, withers and is seen as a stuffed cloth doll with Xs on its eyes, indicating that it is dead.
 A man strikes a boy hard (on the leg or back) three times while they are in a store; the boy runs away crying. A man yells at a boy and locks him in a wardrobe (the boy yells and thrashes).
 Boys grab a creature and pull on it, chase it, and then hold it down and use tools (a screwdriver, a saw and a drill) just off-screen to try to "open it up." A boy grabs a creature, ties it inside a bag, throws it in a dumpster, then strikes it with a banana saying, "I'll stab you to death." A boy strikes a creature (it falls to the floor whimpering). A boy shoves a creature's head into a toilet a couple of times and yells at it. A man stretches and flips and squishes a creature flat (it is OK).
 A man and a boy fight with many kicks that miss, then the boy jumps into the air and goes very high, but the rocket shoes he is wearing sputter and fail and he begins to fall back down to Earth.
 A boy, who's towering over another boy, grabs him by the hand, swings him around and throws him through the air and into a tree (we see the boy later with a black eye and a bloody nose). A boy shoves another boy and teases him for being small in stature. A man strikes another man in the head using a book.
 A boy strikes a man in the face with a ruler (one lens of the man's glasses breaks), and then a girl strikes the same man in the face with a pencil box (the other lens of his glasses breaks). A boy throws a pair of glasses toward a man, they burst into flames and we see the man's face charred and several teeth missing.
 A vicious dog (with patches of hair missing and evidence of other brawls) bites a creature and throws it into the side of a car; we see it later with a swollen eye. A vicious dog charges toward a small creature and they fight: we see in silhouette on a wall the creature punching and kicking the dog, martial arts-style (we hear the dog whimper and it falls to the ground).
 A boy holds a ball in his hands, the ball begins to glow and grow bumps on the outside, then something (we can't really make it out) seems to lunge out of it, and the boy throws the ball and screams. A boy is frightened when a creature comes out of a ball and approaches him. A boy screams repeatedly that there is a ghost in his house, and he imagines seeing a body drop down from the ceiling and hang from a rope (it is a ceiling lamp).
 A man yells at a boy and threatens to send him outside into a thunderstorm. A man accuses another man's son of cheating on a test and they argue. A teacher yells at a boy in several scenes and speaks to him in a demeaning tone throughout the movie. A boy threatens to kill another boy. A boy teases a girl for being large in stature; he says they should shoot her and she runs away crying.
 A boy runs super-fast on a treadmill, eventually breaking it, and he's thrown into the air. A boy kicks a ball very hard and it breaks a goal post.
 We see a doctor at a hospital with blood on his hands. While eating dinner a boy smashes a large cockroach that skitters on the wall, then he smashes several more, and then a man smashes many more using his feet. A creature defecates in a boy's hand and the boy holds the feces for a long time. A boy shoves another boy's hand, with dog feces in it, into his face. A man picks his nose, pulls out a booger, tries to flick it off his finger, and then eats it. A creature shoots a boy with fecal pellets repeatedly (we see the boy splattered with feces and he is hosed down in order to clean up). We see rotten apples in a basket and a man cuts the really bad bits off one and gives the remainder to a boy. A young boy is shown with dirt on his face, wearing dirty, rumpled clothing and tattered shoes throughout the movie.
 A man tries to use "jumper cables" to resuscitate a creature, and then an I.V. (does not work). A creature uses a beam of energy to heal wounds on a man's arm. A creature uses a beam of energy to repair a broken fan.
 A boy cries uncontrollably when he is told that his father is dead. Children talk about their goals in a classroom and when one boy says he wants to be a poor person when he grows up the other children tease and laugh at him.

LANGUAGE 3 - 3 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, name-calling (loser, tub of lard, monster, poor boy, zero hero), 1 religious exclamation.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man smokes a cigarette.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Poverty, death of a parent, bullying, opportunity, UFOs, cheating, lying, coming back from the dead.

MESSAGE - Making the best of what you have and be a useful person.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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