Lyle Lyle The … Sexualized Crocodile?
From the first release of promotional materials, it was already unclear what the target audience would be for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Based on the beloved children’s book, the film seemed to want to bring in too many people at once: adults with an affinity for big name actors like Javier Bardem, musical theater folks with an affinity for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, kids with an affinity for CGI-ed crocodiles, and … the one person out there who thought the crocodile should be voiced by Shawn Mendes?
And indeed, upon watching the film, the chaos was all too apparent. In theory, the story should be a straightforward one: struggling magician finds a singing crocodile, struggling magician must abandon said crocodile to pay back some debts, new family moves into where struggling magician used to live, new family must learn to live with singing crocodile.
Yet, right off the bat, the timeline of the film is unclear. There is an opening musical number intended to show the development of the relationship between the magician, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), and Lyle the crocodile. They sing, dance, get dressed in nice costumes, and it seems as though alongside the growth of their friendship there’s also a growth of their success. Yet at the end of the number, Lyle freezes on stage and cannot perform – something we learn has always been his Achilles heel. If he has such horrible stage fright, why did it look like he was successfully serenading crowds for an entire musical number?
Additionally, Hector P. Valenti’s character development is slow and confusing. For much of the movie we’re not sure whether we should like him or not. Is he an opportunist looking to make a buck, or is he a struggling artist who we should genuinely pity? This question is exacerbated by the scene where he first comes back after abandoning Lyle. Lyle seems angry (or embarrassed – It’s unclear!), and so we join him in his hurt. But within seconds Lyle is … actually totally fine? Watching Lyle’s flip-flopping reactions to Valenti makes it hard to know what we, the audience, should think of him.
Lyle’s reactions also cause confusion more generally throughout the film. Because he only speaks in song, there isn’t a single response from Lyle that doesn’t feel sudden, choppy, and unearned. Josh (Winslow Fegley), the boy who moves in with whom Lyle strikes a friendship, follows Lyle through scary street corners and mysterious alleyways, until Lyle begins to sing on a New York City rooftop and all of the tension disappears. Mrs. Primm (Constance Wu), the mom of the house, hates Lyle – but when he suddenly sings about cooking, their relationship is repaired (perhaps a little too much, which we’ll get to). Without any dialogue to smooth over these moments, the film becomes a conglomeration of abrupt Lyle mood changes.
Yet even with all of this in mind, the most bizarre part of the film was the weirdly erotic depiction of Lyle. While this dynamic was present throughout the narrative, the most cringeworthy moment was in his musical number with Mrs. Primm. The two characters are all over each other in ways that were difficult to watch, and the scene culminates in them presenting us with a three-tiered wedding cake, with big figurines of Lyle and Mrs. Primm on top. (Tamar thinks Mr. Primm and Josh were in the figurines too, but Tzvi isn’t so sure.)
Perhaps the tension here lies in the fact that the voice of Lyle, Shawn Mendes, is a full-grown adult and pop culture icon with whom a romantic relationship would be perfectly plausible. Yet the film seemed to forget that it couldn’t have it all - the allure of Shawn Mendes with the innocence of a crocodile from a children’s story. In fact, the pairing was wrong from the start. Shawn has far too mature a voice, and a universally-recognized one at that, to seamlessly blend into the character of a fantastical crocodile. For most of the movie, it felt like the crocodile was one entity and Shawn Mendes was another.
Still, we gave the movie three stars, and that’s not for nothing. Pasek and Paul wrote catchy and enjoyable music, including songs like “Take A Look At Us Now” and “Top Of The World.” And when sung by the talented Shawn Mendes, who wouldn’t love them?
And when all is said and done, the film is ultimately a sweet one. We enjoyed watching Lyle’s journey from shy croc to reptilian superstar, and Javier Bardem’s Wonka-esque portrayal of Valenti added a ton of fun. This isn’t the movie for those looking for quality. But if you’re open to a few hours of a lot of insanity, even more laughter, and not a ton of coherence, give Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile a shot.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is now playing in theaters.
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