Lyle Lyle Crocodile is a musical comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon. The character Lyle is based on a children’s story book of the same name.  The film was released on October 7th, 2022 in the United States and on December 1st, 2022 in Malaysia.

The Crocodile is Plotting Something

The film starts off with a little backstory for Lyle; we are introduced to Hector P. Valenti, a star who is currently at the bottom end of his performance career. He found the solution to bring him back to fame in Lyle, a singing crocodile that he found in an exotic pet store. 

Unfortunately, his plan failed when Lyle got stage fright and he lost everything that he had. Hector was forced out of the house and Lyle was left alone. That is until 18 months later where the Primm family comes in.

While I have not read the original Lyle Lyle Crocodile, the movie did have a message that it wanted to convey, which was “To embrace your inner self and face your fears”. 

However, the message was hard to pick up with how the plot keeps on shifting the focus between the characters. One minute it was on the Primm Family but then they shifted it to Lyle in another.

The Croc and the Family

With how the movie keeps shifting its focusing, the characters ended up suffering with their lack of depth. Most of the time, I find myself questioning their actions since I did not get to know who the characters really are or even their motivations.

The Primm family suffers from this the most. We have the son of the family named Josh and the parent. No, the parents are not named and are referred to as Mrs. Primm and Mr. Primm.

In the movie, we learned that each of them have their own conflict but the movie did not do any justice in portraying it. 

For example, Mr. Primm is a timid teacher whose students just outright disrespects him. Surprisingly enough, that very same teacher used to be a professional wrestler. This begs the question on what happened that changed this man. Sadly, we never get any explanation on that since they constantly shift around the focus.

It’s a shame considering how amazing the acting was.

However we do get a closure to their conflicts with the help of Lyle’s singing. Thanks to him, the family’s bonds have become closer than they ever were. 

Surprisingly enough, the character that has the most depth would be the villain of the film. Mr. Alistair Grumpy appears on the screen and you are immediately shown how this guy simply does what he wants, is truly unreasonable and all around just a hater.

He even went as far to get the authorities involved to throw Lyle into the zoo to really drive in on just how annoyed he is with the family.

Can Crocodiles Sing?

As you can expect from a musical movie, Lyle Lyle Crocodile is full of music. The lyrics for each of the songs played are all connected to the scenes they play in and it is also how Lyle expresses himself. 

The crocodile cannot talk, he could only sing and sure enough Shawn Mendes did a splendid job on that part. I was never really into Shawn Mendes but I find myself listening to his tunes even after the movie was over.

If there was one song to pick as my favourite, it would be ‘Take a Look at Us Now’. It was sung thrice in the movie and each time it takes a different tune to match with the atmosphere of the scene.

Crocodile’s Thoughts

If you are worried with how the CGI looks, I can assure you that Lyle looks pretty good. Not once did Lyle look out of place and the cartoonish animations are entertaining to watch. 

They did a wholesome way of paying homage to the original material with all the crocodile art by Bernad Waber throughout the movie. I’m sure those that grew up reading the book will enjoy it.

Even with the lack of character depth, the movie itself is an enjoyable watch and I would recommend you to watch it together with your friends and family. The positive energy that radiates from the songs, dances and their family moments just warms my heart.