The first 10 minutes of “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” blew me away with Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s whimsical live-action musical about a dancing and singing crocodile. Stage performer and magician Hector Valenti (Javier Bardem, bringing uncharacteristic humor to gaudy, mustachioed P.T. ), and the duo tap and spin through leaps and bounds, engaging and vibrant musical numbers. The song “Take a Look at Us Now” was composed by songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who also wrote the song for the 2017 musical The Greatest Showman. Like that movie, “Lyle” has a brisk, whimsical streak early on that is completely contagious.
Hector disappeared, eighteen months passed, and Lyle got a new human foil, but never fought with any of them — Mrs. Prim (Constance Wu), Mr. Prim (Scoot McNairy), and son Josh (Winslow) Fegley) — pretty interesting. By the way, Lyle cannot speak and he can only communicate through singing. Nevertheless, and relentlessly, another song doesn’t appear for nearly half an hour of his. Lyle and Josh go burrowing in a dumpster to find exotic food: Why isn’t this a musical number? ) and Josh coordinate a midnight jail break. absolutely It will be a musical number. This conflict, like so much of the film, is resolved too easily, in a show of writer’s laziness.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. at the theater.