CJ7

CJ7 is a Hong Kong movie directed by Stephen Chow of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle fame.

Chow, a homeless single-father laborer, and his young son, Dicky, make a meager living, their home an abandoned lot near a garbage dump. One day, the laborer scavenges the dump for usable items when he comes across something that's literally out of this world...

The name CJ7 actually comes from a known riverboat in China; "CJ" means Chang Jiang, the Chinese name for the Yangtze River.

CJ7 has examples of

 * All Just a Dream: Dicky's first day at school with CJ7.
 * Always a Bigger Fish
 * Androcles' Lion: Parodied.
 * Cow Tools: CJ7 can be seen pulling out a multitude of tools, including a ray gun and a propeller-driven alarm clock... but that's just during a dream sequence... However, afterwards we see the elementary schoolkids chasing down CJ7 using the kind of foreign objects you'd see at a wrestling match...
 * Crosscast Role: Xu Jiao, who plays Dicky, is actually a girl. Many of the supporting boy cast are actually young girls.
 * Maggie, Dicky's love interest, is played by Yong Hua Han, a large weightlifting man.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: when playing with CJ7 by making him mimic different emotions, one kid actually suggests You Killed My Father.
 * Disaster Dominoes:
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul: That one teacher who has it in for Dicky is conveniently bespectacled.
 * Gonk: Maggie, who looks like a full-grown fat guy.
 * Homage: Several, including Shout Outs to Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.
 * Hot Teacher
 * Huge Schoolgirl: Over the top with Maggie.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chow's foreman.
 * Kick the Dog
 * Mechanical Lifeform: CJ7 possibly, given that springs stick out of his head when it's injured, and it malfunctions spectacularly when given too many emotion commands.
 * Off-the-Shelf FX:
 * Perpetual Poverty
 * Production Posse: Little Brother from Shaolin Soccer plays the foreman.
 * Product Placement: The "CJ1" toy is actually from the existing Robosapiens toyline.
 * Retraux: Apart from the toy mentioned above, and some traffic lights, this movieverse seems to be stuck in the 1970s.
 * Rubber Critter: CJ7.
 * Shout-Out: CJ7 has a lot in common with the classic Disney movie Pete's Dragon.
 * Token Romance: Subverted — Chow has no luck at all with Dicky's hot teacher.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: During Dicky's dream sequence.
 * Shout-Out: CJ7 has a lot in common with the classic Disney movie Pete's Dragon.
 * Token Romance: Subverted — Chow has no luck at all with Dicky's hot teacher.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: During Dicky's dream sequence.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: During Dicky's dream sequence.