O Amigo Crocodilo

Had the movie embraced its creepier glimmers, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile may have been an appropriately horrific October release. Instead, it bears only the suggestion of such a thing and never finds distinction.

A warm-hearted family film with great musical numbers that will make another generation of kids hopefully search the attic on the chance that they might find a singing crocodile.

it is hard to judge if "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile" will be a hit or not. It has a lot of heart, bright and colorful action, dance and songs galore and a big, singing crocodile so I have hope for it.

The problem with this toothless film, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, is that it's just so meh.

It's all harmless fun, containing enough mild laughs and genuinely sweet moments to keep its target audiences entertained.

In moments, "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile" is a warm and whimsical family adventure comedy, but at other times, it's a hallucinatory fever dream. Both are fine options, but the purgatory in between these tones is too strange to actually work.

The movie works hard to be a soulfully offbeat kiddie entertainment, an antidote to the gimcrack cynicism that has ruled too many cartoon-cutup-in-the-land-of-live-action Hollywood products.

For a kids-oriented musical that drops an animated crocodile into New York City, Lyle Lyle Crocodile isn't nearly as fun as it probably should have been.

This family flick delivers enough pulse-quickening earworms and warmth to melt even the iciest of hearts.

If a CGI crocodile with the dulcet tenor of a pop idol seems at odds with Waber's freehand illustrations, Javier Bardem is perfectly in step as eccentric showman Hector P. Valenti, star of stage and screen.

A certifiable mess on its webbed hind feet, teetering uncomfortably as both family comedy and musical, whether trying to make dumpster diving look whimsical (it isn't) or the tunes sound like anything but positivity-anthem-generator readouts.

Good cheer and exuberant humor enliven this clever live-action musical adaptation of Bernard Waber's classic children's-book series.

Though it has its faults, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile is a charming, well-intentioned movie with homages to the live-action/animated hybrid family films of the past.

...a movie likely to appeal as much to anyone who enjoys pop-scored animal hijinks on TikTok as to anyone who actually remembers the books.

"Lyle" has a brisk, whimsical momentum that is utterly infectious in the early going. Then it stops dead...

You can practically see the glisten of perspiration on the actors' faces from the effort everyone is making to put their characters across. Their roles seem like ill-fitting clothing worn awkwardly.

... surrounds its charismatic scaly hero with woefully bland and stereotypical humans who aren't charming or amusing, and don't deserve to share his spotlight.

It's done very well. Exhilarating... [But] it's a little inconsistent.

It's known that crocodiles can slow their heart rate to stay underwater for long periods of time, but it's hard to feel any heart beating here at all.

It's so relentlessly cheerful and optimistic that is produces a sort of magic within you. [Full review in Spanish]