CJ7" is a happy, sweet children's film about an adorable boy, his loving father and a cute alien fluffball from outer space. All is merriment and light, and then two of the three main characters die.

It's only temporary, of course, at least for one of them. But you have to ask yourself: What kind of happy, sweet children's film is this?

You also have to ask yourself: What is the audience for this thing? The movie was shot in Hong Kong, so it is subtitled, and how many American children see subtitled movies? The only possible audience in this country is children who speak Cantonese.

The main attraction of "CJ7" is the fluffball from outer space, which is supposed to be irresistible, but it is not. It is completely resistible, with a puffy white face, a green gel body and oversized brown eyes that make it look like one of those Precious Moments figurines. People who like Precious Moments figurines might like it, provided their children speak Cantonese.

What is odd about "CJ7" is that before the fluffball shows up, the film is actually quite enjoyable. Funny, even.

Xu Jiao stars as a boy of perhaps 10, Dicky (that's what the subtitles call him). Dicky and his caring father (director-co-writer Stephen Chow) are dirt poor; the father works at a construction site and has gone deeply into debt to pay tuition at Dicky's private school.

The other kids at school -- and some of the teachers -- make fun of Dicky because he is so dirty and poor. His father has to pick up whatever they need from the local dump, a situation Dicky can generally live with, though it sometimes upsets him. This situation requires some fairly nuanced acting, which Xu Jiao readily provides -- and it's all the more impressive when you consider that Xu Jiao is, in fact, a girl.

Chow is also a terrific actor, taking what would usually be a broadly comic character and making him sympathetic and not overly comic. But here he is hobbled by the material, which Chow wrote himself. He pins all his hopes on the fluffball.

The fluffball appears from outer space to cheer up Dicky and make his life better. This it accomplishes with a generous dose of alien fluffball poop (it's a Precious Poop Moment).

The fluffball, whose name is CJ7, wants to be E.T., the Ewoks and the Gremlins rolled into one, but it goes too far. We're supposed to be entranced by this furball, and we're probably supposed to want to buy the toy doll, but the moments we spend with it simply are not precious enough.

Overbearing cuteness is one thing, but in "CJ7" the cuteness isn't just overbearing, it's dull.