“Croczilla”
Follow this link for more information.
Wang Xiaoxing, a young boy has befriended a giant crocodile named Amao which lives at his grandfather, Bald Liu’s crocodile farm. Xiaoxing’s father, Wang Beiji, is a police officer who finds himself faced with a very frantic Wen Yan, who had a run in with Amao in a tea field, where Amao ate her handbag which contained her life savings of 100k Euros. Now Officer Wang is faced with finding Amao as she tries to return to the crocodile farm to lay eggs.
This is a fun Chinese creature feature set in and around Hangzhou village and Bejing. Though it probably would have been better seen in its native language rather than the English dubbed version (I figure something is lost in translation when a film is dubbed). The characters are rather simple and possibly stereotypical, but they still managed to engage me so that I actually cared what happened to them.
Great use of music in this film, especially around Wen Yan, played by the very expressive and energetic Barbie Hsu. Tao Guo’s performance as Officer “Wong Way” Wang was memorable for its progression from bored skepticism and annoyance to concern, complete belief, and heroism. Jia Li Ding did a good job as the mischievous young Xiaoxing. Lam Suet gave a convincing performance as Zhao Da Zui, the sleazy restaurant owner who purchased Bald Liu’s crocodiles through trickery and deceit.
The CGI really wasn’t that bad especially when mixed with good practical effects. Most of the violence (whether CGI or practical) was implied or understated which made this flick a little more of a family friendly creature feature.
I gave this 3 cups of tea. I enjoyed this flick, it made me laugh out loud and I was invested in the characters.
