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Cheung Gong 7 hou (CJ7) (Long River 7) (2008)

tomatometer

51

Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 79
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 39

Eccentric and sweet, Stephen Chow's latest is charming, but too strangely and slackly plotted to work as a whole.

50

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 10

Eccentric and sweet, Stephen Chow's latest is charming, but too strangely and slackly plotted to work as a whole.

audience

55

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 16,087

My Rating

Movie Info

Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow returns to the helm for this sci-fi comedy about a struggling single father whose quest to find the perfect toy yields out-of-this-world results. Ti (Chow) is a poor construction worker who breaks his back to ensure that his young son Dicky (Xu Jiao) can stay enrolled in an exclusive private school. But while Ti does everything possible to give his son the opportunities that he never had, Dicky still feels like a classroom reject due to his

Aug 12, 2008

Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

All Critics (79) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (40) | DVD (1)

China has a lot to answer for these days -- unsafe food exports, unsafe toys, Tibet. And now CJ7.

April 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comments (3)
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A wonderfully ridiculous homage to E.T.

March 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Even with its flaws this comedy is more interesting kids' fare than most sanitized studio releases.

March 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a fable of forgiveness and regeneration, but it delves into a child's deepest, darkest fears. Fortunately, things turn out OK in the end.

March 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I don't doubt [Stephen Chow's] talent. With this one, though, I doubt his story sense and his borderline-insane mixture of tones.

March 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

For all its mawkish plot turns and indecipherable trippiness, this is not a boring movie. It's just wiggy. And schmaltzy. And Spielbergian. And, uh ... wait. I think I've got a Jujube in my teeth.

March 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Has the same moral and thematic contours of E.T. or an old-school Disney animated fable, but with the panache we've come to expect from the creator of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment
East Bay Express

What charm CJ7 has is of the Saturday-morning variety, built upon a tiresome mixture of slapstick humor and comic-book action.

September 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comment
Times-Picayune

Diluindo seu senso de humor anárquico e cartunesco no intuito de criar um filme família, Chow concebe apenas uma história formulaica, artificial em seu sentimentalismo barato e sem a menor graça.

May 6, 2009 Comment
Cinema em Cena

The tone veers wildly from sentimental family drama to cartoonish fantasy, and some of the attempts at humor badly misfire.

February 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | Comment
Cinefantastique

Chow's child-like sense of wonder is no guarantee that he can make a suitable film for kids.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

He knows he's the hundredth director to rip off E.T.: he's just going to do it better, and with jokes fit for a vintage Warner Brothers cartoon. [Blu-Ray]

August 13, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | Comment

In spite of the hole the writers dig themselves in accidentally turning the main hero in to a really unlikable presence, "CJ7" is a great twist on the boy meets alien tale...

August 13, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

Despite its flaws, this is an entertaining fantasy adventure that both kids and adults will enjoy. Worth seeking out.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: ViewLondon | Comment
ViewLondon

Good for kids, probably of all ages.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Chow's kung fu fans may be disappointed that he's made a family film, but on its own terms it's well crafted, quite touching and frequently LOL.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Whimsical, knockabout and slightly out there, it's an enticing watch and one which more adventurous young audiences won't find too alien.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Sky Movies

There are some nice surreal touches, such as getting enormous adults to play two of the eight-year-olds. But I can't forgive Chow for a misjudged and frankly offensive ending, which is culpably evasive about the reality of life and death.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

With its fast action, cute critters and schoolyard antics, children and fans of Kung Fu Hustle should enjoy Stephen Chow's CJ7, which further cements his reputation as a commercially gifted director.

August 8, 2008 Comment

Chow's film is a charming, funny illustration of family life that explores the notion of being given a second chance. A kids' comedy with a heart.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

The choice between fantasy and reality is ultimately what CJ7 addresses and dramatises. Chow's film is charming, to be sure - but that is just the half of it.

August 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

Chow loves his comedic exaggerations, and for good reason: he executes silly with dazzling skill. CJ7 might be a minutely less aggressive production from Chow, but that doesn't make it any less unreal or hilarious.

July 29, 2008 Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | Comment
BrianOrndorf.com

The film has its moments, but on the whole CJ7 feels more generic than magical.

July 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

This is a wildly inventive and funny film that is a breath of fresh air.

June 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | Comment
Sin Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Cheung Gong 7 hou (CJ7) (Long River 7)

Where to begin? This is my first time typing on an iPad so I'm rushing. Nobody will ever read this. The alien creature looks like a midget's dildo with the head of my toilet brush. Creature movies always have characters that are dominated by the creature who is cute and this is because of children's weak memories. When

July 8, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

Stephen Chow's "CJ7" is like a Chinese version of a Robert Rodriguez family film. It contains many of the elements of his family movies and Chow seems to make use of them. Cartoony effects, kids with bully issues, silly parents, yup, Stephen Chow used all of these. The film tells the story of an extremely poor single

May 18, 2011
Movie Monster
Bently Lyles

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • CJ7 (Cheung gong 7 hou) (DE)
  • CJ7 (UK)
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