The story: A poor father (Ti) wants his son to have more opportunities in life than he ever did. As a result, he works long hours to make little money and has very little to offer his son aside from an education at a private school. One day, while looking through a dumpster for necessities, Ti finds what he believes is a toy for his son. It turns out the item is not a toy, but an alien dog-like creature. Naturally, the alien winds up causing problems for the son, but he and his father quickly learn the alien has more to offer them then they realize.

Much like “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle,” “CJ7” is yet another overly cartoonish movie. Granted, writer/director Stephen Chow does have a serious (albeit sentimental) father/son story at the center of the film, but that fails to work as it is always ruined by silly humor (like alien poop jokes and giant student gags) and manipulative emotional scenes such as the “death” sequence near the end of the movie.

One of the other issues I had with “CJ7” is its lack of originality. The story plays like an “E.T.” wannabe half the time and the CJ7 creature itself looks like a variation of the animated Disney character Chicken Little.

Overall: “CJ7” is not worthy your time. Hopefully next time Mr. Chow will create something completely original that doesn’t involve whacky cartoony F/X heavy scenes.