Bai wan ju e

This is not, in fact, a new mega-gator from the folks at The Asylum, but rather it is a very entertaining Hong Kong comedy film originally titled MILLION DOLLAR CROCODILE. With a fine cast whose performances are muddled somewhat from over-the-top and campy English dubbing, this is a fun story about an 8-meter crocodile that is sold by its keeper to a sushi bar, but it soon escapes and ravages the countryside. Peopled by a diverse cast of eccentric and crazed characters, including (in fine Gamera kaiju style) a young boy who befriends the monster, the story plays out in typical giant monster fashion, only with plenty of slapstick and funny asides from the characters along the way. CGI visual effects are acceptable to very good. The orchestral music score, attributed to a Chinese composer named Dong Dongdong, is very supportive a well.

Even by the admittedly slack standards of The Chiller Channel, infamous for some of the worst, low-budget, terribly-acted, cartoonish-CGI movies, this one is bad. Tao Guo and Barbie Hsu aren't, on the form shown here, qualified to act in a local theater version of Andy Warhol's "Empire" (it showed the Empire State Building solo for 24 hours). How this movie got 4.2 stars out of 10 is a story meriting a movie in itself. Given a choice, do anything else but watch this movie.

This was a good and fun film overall.

It has plenty of humor mixed in with it throughout the film.

Not particularly gory or bloody, not even a lot of kills, but it kept suspense most of the time none-the-less.

Barbie Hsu, and the other two leads, Guo and Ding are fun and interesting since they're not actors you're familiar with.

Having a child as a central part of a monster / creature feature like this isn't new, but a bit rarer overall and that seemed to help the movie.

The CGI were good overall, but at times you were well aware that's what they were, kind of just by the nature of what they had the creature do for a film like this.

There are a few cliches, and it's apparent early on Hsu will become a love interest, but it is still fun anyway.

There is a bit of a teaser there could be a sequel to this movie as the credits roll but as of yet nothing seems to have been developed that way.

The ending does keep you guessing a bit is this going to be a Disney nicer ending or more of a demise type of ending for the creature? The only thing is how that develops seems a bit cliche, but that's how they wrote it.

Nice to have a flashback to the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt in the movie also as a bit of a plot point.

This is the kind of movie that I would usually give a 1/10, but I get the feeling it doesn't deserve that. Yes, it's incredibly stupid, but it doesn't always take itself that seriously, though the key word is always. The issue with that is it isn't funny when it tries to be, but is when it doesn't, so it's at least slightly entertaining. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone actually looking for something good to watch. Honestly, I find it funnier that I own the thing than the movie is funny. So if you do decide to watch it, get some friends and prepare to laugh.

Xiao, befriends Amao a 36 foot crocodile, who lives on his fathers croc sanctuary.

Xiao's father is forced to sell his crocodiles to a gangster who plans to use them for high priced meals.

Before Amao is due to be slaughtered, he escapes, slaying his captors in the process.

Amongst the chaos, Amao accidentally swallows a bag with $1 million dollars inside.

When rumor's of this spread, the town locals are split with some fearing for their lives and others set out to capture and kill the crocodile, at any cost.

More or less a rip off of the Godzilla chain using technology stolen from the West. It's a harmless movie with kookie acting and a kid's focus. If adults watch this film, they are crazy.