Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Winston Fegley, Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, Lyric Hurd, Brett Gelman, Shawn Mendes
Intro:
… a charismatic piece of family entertainment that will have kids and parents onside quickly.
Leave your cynicism at the door when you enter Manhattan East 88th Street. Directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck (Blades of Glory) adapt the much beloved illustrated children’s books by Bernard Waber into a sweet musical about a singing crocodile who is so damn delightful, it’s impossible not to be enchanted.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile opens with consistently failing showman Hector P. Valenti (an exuberant and committed Javier Bardem) once again failing to impress on a talent show. He’s told to find a new act, and wandering into Eddie’s Exotic Animals, he finds an adorable baby crocodile belting out a tune. Hector has struck showbiz gold with the little guy he names Lyle. Unfortunately, Lyle has a severe case of stage fright, and when Hector invests all he has, which is his family’s brownstone, into funding a stage show that flops because Lyle can’t perform, he feels he has no choice but to go on the road leaving the rapidly growing Lyle to fend for himself.
The Brownstone is sold to the posh Liberty Day School, and eighteen months later, the Primm family move in having relocated to NYC for Mr Primm’s (Scoot McNairy) job as a mathematics teacher. Mrs Primm (Constance Wu) is a former cookbook author who has somehow lost her joy to cook – although she still makes elaborate but somewhat unappetising breakfasts for the family who do their best to avoid them. Young Josh Primm (Winston Fegley) is an anxious kid who finds the move to NYC overwhelming. He worries about everything from the crime rate to his failure to fit in at his new school. Things soon turn around for Josh when he meets Lyle (voiced by Shawn Mendes, or rather sung by Mendes because Lyle can’t talk).
Everyone in the Primm family is searching for something. Mr Primm is seen reading a book called ‘How to Get Your Power Back’, Mrs Primm is afraid that as Josh grows up, he won’t need her and that her strict routine isn’t helping to make the family happy. Josh just needs a friend or two — he makes one in popular fellow student, Trudy played by Lyric Hurd, who is also a TikTok (sorry, ‘Sweep’ as it’s called in the movie) dance influencer. The main friendship, of course, is with Lyle, who almost instantly bonds with Josh, taking him on wild adventures across the city, and teaching him how to dumpster dive with Loretta the cat – owned by a particularly odious neighbour named appropriately Mr Grumps (Brett Gelman having a blast).
Eventually, everyone in the Primm family meets Lyle, who manages to transform them not only through the magic of song, but with his shrewd understanding of what they need. Lyle teaches Mrs Pimm that it’s okay to throw away the recipe and make something that comes from chaos and joy. Lyle reminds Mr Primm of his wrestling days in school and helps him regain some of his confidence. All seems to be going very well until the sudden reappearance of Hector into their lives.
The music is the key to the family adventure. Songs composed by Benji Rasek and Justin Paul (of La La Land fame) are infectious and brilliantly performed by Mendes. There are at least three bangers that will become earworms – ‘Take a Look at Us Now’, ‘On the Top of the World Tonight’ and the sad ditty ‘Carried Away’. Also of note is Lyle’s design, which is quite lovely. His expressive eyes and fantastic dance moves are enthralling. The CGI and sound artists give the crocodile some heft, so he feels like a real presence, and we can buy him doing dance routines with Javier Bardem as well as scaring off would-be robbers.
Although Winston Fegley is theoretically the star of the film, it’s Bardem who injects a sense of pizazz that is infectious. Hector isn’t the most trustworthy character, but he is one whose larger-than-life persona keeps everyone on their toes. At one stage he tells Mrs Pimm and Josh that “Nothing could be of less importance than what other people think.” Despite being overshadowed by a CGI crocodile and Bardem, Winston Fegley is very good as Josh and his transformation from Nervous Nelly to hero is achieved particularly well.
There are beautiful nods to the original art of Bernard Waber’s books, with Will Davies’ screenplay doing a great job of updating the material to the present. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a charismatic piece of family entertainment that will have kids and parents onside quickly. It’s unlikely to enter the pantheon of classic family entertainment the way that the Paddington series of movies has, but it is fun, friendly, and will make one wish they had a singing crocodile in their attic too.
