Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

Remember back in the day when movies were created solely for entertainment purposes? Well, with "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile", this is exactly what you get when leaving the theater--hey, you'll feel this way as you watch the film. This is a film that all can watch and should where it's fun, heartwarming, entertaining, all with a great message. 

When the Primm family (Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy and son, Josh, Winslow Fegley) moves to New York City, their young son Josh struggles to adapt to his new school and new friends. All that changes when he discovers Lyle (voiced by Shawn Mendes)--a singing crocodile who loves baths, caviar and great music living in the attic of his new home. The two become fast friends, but when Lyle's existence is threatened by evil neighbor Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), the Primm's must band together with Lyle's charismatic owner, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), to show the world that family can come from the most unexpected places and there's nothing wrong with a big singing crocodile with an even bigger personality. 

Others to round out the cast are Sal Viscuso as the judge, Lyric Hurd as Trudy, Yussie Jupiter as Broadway theater goer and Don DiPetta as paramedic.

This was whimsically directed by Josh Gordon ("Blades of Glory" '07, "The Switch" '10, "Office Christmas Party" '16) plus TV and shorts, and Will Speck (same as Gordon's resume). What with the visual effects, musical numbers, and the actors to work with, this would typically be a logistics nightmare for any director, but these two filmmakers absolutely pulled it off. Their ability to stage, pace and extract the many different emotions from their actors was phenomenal. If you like their brand of directing, their "Distant" is completed for a 2023 release. It was brilliantly written by Will Davies ("Student Exchange" (TV movie) '87, "Twins" '88, "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot" '92, "The Real McCoy" '93, "Ghost in the Machine" '93, "Bermuda Grace" (TV movie) '94, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" '95, "The Guilty" 2000, "Ignition" '01, "Johnny English" '03, "Alien Autopsy" '06, "Flushed Away" '06, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "Mia and the White Lion" '18) plus TV, based on the book series by Bernard Waber. When I saw the trailer to this film, I thought it looked odd enough for a premise to be decent. Wow, I was way off, because this film was an absolute delight from start to finish. The family was believable, Bardem as Valenti was eccentric, but with a good heart, but the star here was clearly Lyle. He was smart, touching, talented and the creation of him was simply genius. If you like the writing here, Davies' "Blackout" is in pre-production. What also made this movie sing (pun intended) was the musical numbers brilliantly composed by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek ("LA LA Land", "The Greatest Showman"). The music and lyrics in this had that distinct style that you will recognize immediately. 

If you not only like musical comedy, but are a fan of the works of Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, you have got to see this. The film has it all: humor, great numbers, a great message, a terrific story that is tailor-made for all to see. Enjoy this one! I know I did!

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                           Rated: PG                                                 107mins.