Starring Shawn Mendes, Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley, and Constance Wu
Directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon
Music and Lyrics by various
The children's books The House on East 88th Street and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile date back to the early 60's. The tales of the Primm family, who discover a friendly singing crocodile living in their bathtub and takes him in, has entertained generations from New York and beyond. It was originally made into an animated musical special for HBO in 1987. There was talk about it moving into feature-length animation or a live-action/animated hybrid for years, but nothing came of it until it was announced in 2021. It finally debuted last October and did well with families looking for an alternative to gruesome horror and dour dramas. How well did they do bringing Lyle's story to life? Let's begin with magician Hector Valenti (Bardem), who is desperate to get onto a talent show, and find out...
The Story: Hector finds a baby crocodile singing in the back of an exotic pet shop in Manhattan. He dubs him Lyle (Mendes) and teaches him everything he knows about the stage. Lyle, however, has stage fright and won't perform in front of an audience, even after Hector puts their New York brownstone up for collateral to rent a theater. That disaster causes Hector to lose their home. He ends up abandoning Lyle in order to find jobs and earn money to buy the house back.
The house is eventually sold to the Primm family, Katie (Wu), Joseph (Scoot McNairy), and their son Josh (Fegley). Josh is terrified about everything in New York City, from the subways to the city noises, until he discovers the now-grown Lyle in the bathtub. They eventually strike up a friendship after Lyle rescues Josh from a mugger, showing him how much fun the city and expressing yourself can be. He even manages to charm Katie and Joseph.
One person is not charmed by Lyle. Priggish Alistair Grumps (Brett Gelman) wants nothing more than peace, quiet, and everyone obeying his rules. He sets up cameras to catch Lyle in the act, but can't prove anything...until Hector returns to see his singing pet. Hector still has big dreams of making Lyle into a singing star, but he also has big debts. Grumps finally convinces him to tattle on his pet and send him to the zoo. Not only does Hector regret it when he sees how upset the Primms are, but he still believes Lyle has what it takes to be a real star...if he can overcome his stage fright and share his talents with the world.
The Song and Dance: In many ways, this has a lot in common with the Paddington movies from a few years ago. A wild animal lives with a family in a major city and has to deal with a grumpy neighbor who wants to get rid of them. This one may be even more fun, thanks to the nifty animation on Lyle and some splendid performances. Bardem walks off with the honors as the shady magician who loves his scaly friend, but loves money and the stage more. Fegley also does well showing how Josh goes from terrified of everything around him to confident enough to help Lyle onstage. Attractive location shooting in the real New York helps ground the stranger aspects of the story in reality.
Favorite Number: Our first number is "Take a Look at Us Now," as Hector teaches Lyle the ins and outs of stage training, from dancing to making an entrance. "I Like It Like That" is the number the kids are performing at school when Josh accidentally gets in their way. Lyle shows Josh how much fun it can be to live on "Top of the World" when they dance and climb around on the roof of a Broadway theater. Likewise, he teaches cookbook author Katie to "Rip Up the Recipe" and improvise with her life and her baked goods.
Hector makes a second stab at "Take a Look at Us Now" with a now-reluctant Lyle in tow, but it doesn't work out any better than the first. Lyle laments that they got "Carried Away" after he ends up in the zoo. Josh attempts "Take a Look at Us Now" at the talent show, but he's terrible. It's his brave performance that finally convinces Lyle to take the spotlight. The movie ends with the family singing along with Elton John to the inevitable "Crocodile Rock" as they head off to vacation. We get one last song from Lyle, "Heartbeat," over the real illustrations from the books in the credits.
What I Don't Like: This is another recent family movie that runs longer than it really needs to. Once again, some unnecessary gags with Lyle and the family and obnoxious Grumps and his cameras bogs down the middle section. While the first half is a pretty good adaptation of the books, the ending is totally different. In the original Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Lyle ends up befriending Grumps and his cat Loretta when he rescues them from their burning house. That might have been just as interesting as the sudden finale with the talent show, and make a lot more sense than what Hector reveals at the trial against Lyle.
The Big Finale: Charming and fun, if you and your family loved other recent children's book adaptations like the Paddington movies, you'll equally enjoy this trip to the Big Apple with Lyle and the Primms.
Home Media: Easily found on disc and on streaming.
No comments:
Post a Comment