Tweet
This is the latest live action movie to be based on a beloved book and feature an anthropomorphic main character. While it is a bit silly in spots and predictable in the extreme, it delivers what it's supposed to and has a few decent chuckles along the way, even if it's not exactly groundbreaking. If not for the animation, you could easily mistake this for one of those family films from the 1980s.
The first part of the story is basically a remake of the Looney Tunes cartoon "One Froggy Evening," except with a crocodile in place of the frog. Down-on-his-luck schlub (in this case, a magician) finds a singing crocodile in a pet store, sees dollar signs, books a theater, sells out his opening show and then.... the croc won't sing. Try as he might, this reptile is just too shy to sing in front of strangers. As Kermit would say, it's not easy being green.
Here's where the story breaks off on its own. The magician goes broke and abandons the croc in his building, which is kind of odd -- he leaves his beloved pet behind?! But that's when a new family (mom, dad and "lonely" kid who .... that's right, needs a best friend) move in to the mysterious old building. The kid discovers the crocodile, they become buddies, and then an evil guy (in this case, a grumpy neighbor with the kookiest-looking CGI cat I've ever seen) tries to get the dangerous nuisance crocodile out of the building and into a zoo, where he'll be, you know, happier. Then the magician shows up and he STILL wants to put Lyle on the stage, so he and the kid team up to do just that and Lyle STILL won't sing, until he's about to be hauled off to, I don't know, be turned into croc-burgers. From there, you can pretty much guess the rest.
There are a few of the expected "OMG, it's a crocodile!!!" scenes, with the now-standard "but he's not a REGULAR crocodile!!" scenes, but there could have been a lot more humor extracted out of Lyle living in a typical downtown apartment area. That notion is largely wasted, as is the "best friend" whom Josh meets at school - she seems like she's going to be an important character when they first meet but then she mostly disappears until she's needed for a bit of "save the day" action near the end.
The human cast is OK, but Winslow Fegley, who plays the kid, is the star of the show -- he outshines all the adults, including Constance Wu, who plays the mom. The magician is played by Javier Bardem, and he's pretty good too, but his character is so inconsistent and in some ways, a bit creepy, that the story might have been better off if he'd stayed out of it. Shawn Mendes does the singing voice of Lyle (he doesn't talk, he only sings, which is another possible humor angle that isn't exploited.
In the end, it's a decent movie and the kids are liking it, but it could have packed more punch. I don't think it's going to be a major classic.
The first part of the story is basically a remake of the Looney Tunes cartoon "One Froggy Evening," except with a crocodile in place of the frog. Down-on-his-luck schlub (in this case, a magician) finds a singing crocodile in a pet store, sees dollar signs, books a theater, sells out his opening show and then.... the croc won't sing. Try as he might, this reptile is just too shy to sing in front of strangers. As Kermit would say, it's not easy being green.
Here's where the story breaks off on its own. The magician goes broke and abandons the croc in his building, which is kind of odd -- he leaves his beloved pet behind?! But that's when a new family (mom, dad and "lonely" kid who .... that's right, needs a best friend) move in to the mysterious old building. The kid discovers the crocodile, they become buddies, and then an evil guy (in this case, a grumpy neighbor with the kookiest-looking CGI cat I've ever seen) tries to get the dangerous nuisance crocodile out of the building and into a zoo, where he'll be, you know, happier. Then the magician shows up and he STILL wants to put Lyle on the stage, so he and the kid team up to do just that and Lyle STILL won't sing, until he's about to be hauled off to, I don't know, be turned into croc-burgers. From there, you can pretty much guess the rest.
There are a few of the expected "OMG, it's a crocodile!!!" scenes, with the now-standard "but he's not a REGULAR crocodile!!" scenes, but there could have been a lot more humor extracted out of Lyle living in a typical downtown apartment area. That notion is largely wasted, as is the "best friend" whom Josh meets at school - she seems like she's going to be an important character when they first meet but then she mostly disappears until she's needed for a bit of "save the day" action near the end.
The human cast is OK, but Winslow Fegley, who plays the kid, is the star of the show -- he outshines all the adults, including Constance Wu, who plays the mom. The magician is played by Javier Bardem, and he's pretty good too, but his character is so inconsistent and in some ways, a bit creepy, that the story might have been better off if he'd stayed out of it. Shawn Mendes does the singing voice of Lyle (he doesn't talk, he only sings, which is another possible humor angle that isn't exploited.
In the end, it's a decent movie and the kids are liking it, but it could have packed more punch. I don't think it's going to be a major classic.
Comment