CJ7 (2008)

Stephen Chow is back with another movie, but this one has little to do with martial arts, though it does go for comedy like his earlier films. CJ7 is very clearly a kids movie. While Chow has a supporting role as the father of the main character, the story is really about the son who is 8 or 9 years old. Well, about the boy and his space alien dog.
This movie is reminiscent of Batteries Not Required, if that movie were Chinese and anime in style, with a whole lot of slapstick thrown in. Okay, I guess it's not that much like it, except for the premise. Poor but adorable kid just wants to fit, dad finds alien 'toy' and gives it to the kid. Kid and toy have midadventures and form a tight bond. Something bad happens to dad and toy sacrifices self to help dad. After more sadness and comedy, a whole bunch of aliens come for the toy.
Aside from the handful of actors I recognized from Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, this film is nothing like the other two with it's intended audience being young children instead of adults. But, it's still entertaining.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Stephen Chow has done it again with this film. I remember watching Shaolin Soccer and thinking that this was a fantastic movie that was going to be the start of a new genre, the comedic kung fu flick. Okay, so that wasn't really the first one, there are lots of examples of humorous martial arts films, like early Jacky Chan, or the American films like "They Call Me Bruce". But, this was different, this film brought the super hero style of kung fu into the comedic realm.
Kung Fu Hustle is as much a commentary on American pop culture as it is on Chinese. The axe gang, with their hand axes and stove pipe hats, and then when the need arises their tommy guns, is an interesting comment on America. The combination of Abraham Lincoln with the gangster motif is wickedly sublime. Add into the mix the 50's cars and dancing and you have a wickedly western take on an eastern gang.
There were more than a few occasions in which I was reminded of the Matrix. Not only were there slowed down action scenes, but there is a scene when the axe gang first comes en masse that is reminiscent of many Agent Johnsons, and when our hero is fighting them just before the finale fight, it is like it again - this time with baddies flying into the air from impossibly powerful blows.
The notion of the hidden masters, who have found refuge in living a mundane life is taken to a humorous extreme, when not one, not two, but five end up living in the same slum. The fact that they are hidden even from each other is just another layer of amusement. Then of course there are the super villains, each more absurdly powerful and eccentric than the last. I was a little bit surprised when the first three masters, the saviors of the slum are killed by the street musician killers.
The other motif borrowed from the genre is the meeting of the young hero with a virtuous maiden whom they will later meet and need to prove themselves to. Though, typically you don't see the young hero getting peed on by the bullies.
This was a nice, humorous diversion, and I can only hope that Chow is at work on another (though I'm sure that since this came out he has been at several).