I've got my own 2-disc "CJ7" DVD box.

Though the main "boy" characters are played by girls, this is still a nice "Father and son" movie or "boy" movie.

I really like Jiao Xu (played Dicky) in this film and she acted like a boy.

The director Stephen Chow said he and his team found talent kids around China, and the kids they seleted most were girls.

But this is a "boy" movie, so they thought the girls also could play "boy" characters. Because there is not very different between little boys and little girls.

The script is simple, but it makes me feel warm and cry... It also has  Stephen Chow's humour. If you don't care the boys in the movie are played by girls , you should try to see this one.  

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I still find it deceptive and disappointing for a director to use girls in place of boys for a boy role in any production. I can't believe that they can't find any appropriate talented and willing boy actors or trainable boys for these roles from their respective countries. It doesn't matter that you may not be able to find a trained or experianced actor or have some hollywood manufactured type kid with headshots and a portfolio drop in your lap. That's just pure laziness on the director and/or casting director's parts. The movie "The Kite Runner" is an example of a movie where the Director had to really go out of his way and out of the box to find the appropriate boys to play the lead roles in the film who were of the right ethnicities and spoke the native language necessary to make the movie authentic. They came from a local village and not a casting pool. The director needed an interpreter just to direct the untrained boys and the boys did a wonderful job in this film. I know this film is not the first or only time a director has done so in a film to find just the right boy for a part to make the film work and make it real. In my opinion this kind of thing is just completely unnecessary and unprofessional. Personally, I disagree with Zork in that their is a mountain of differences between boys and girls of all ages. Not just physically but on to many levels to mention in here. 

I think your analogies are way off base. NO I don't expect everything in a movie to be true and I am well aware that movie deal with fantasy as well as the fact that movies also deal with realities. While many movies are based on fiction or fantasy or are of the fiction, fantasy, or sci-fi genre, still many movies are of the reality genre and deal with reality, realities of life, and many are based on true stories. Some genre of movies use special effects, camera tricks, costumes, and have actors playing parts that do not reflect who they are in real life such as heteros playing homos or visa versa or actors playing military heroes in most of their movies when in reality never served in the military. Everyone knows these things. By the same token many other genre of movies are works of fiction portraying reality or are stories actually based reality or on actual events. In these and other genre of films the objective or goal of the director will be to try and make the film as realistic as possible or historically accurate as possible. In an alleged "boy movies" such as CJ7 where the main story is based on the realtionship between a father and his young son while the story itself may be a work of fiction it is based on a reality. The relationship between a father and son, not between humans and aliens. Yes, I expect them to use a real boy portraying or playing the part of a boy. I don't think that is to much to ask for or to great a feat for a good director. Yes, I think to do otherwise is deceitful and cheats the audience. That's my opinion on the subject and I think that it is a valid one and should not be subject to ridicule. 

Sure, I probably am looking at it from a biased opinion. I accept "some" things that are fake about movies that are meant to be fake or are that are part of the story. Some things I don't accept as fake such as someone who stars in a movie or is a central character in a movie that is supposed to be a boy but is instead being played by a girl. Nor do I find it at all necessary to do such a thing. Yeah, when I rent or buy a "Boy Movie" or a movie whose central character is a boy I like the boys in it to be boys not girls. I am well aware of the fact that in "mainstream" their may be such thing as a "Boy Movie." (You never know about that, nor what is in a director's head when he is making a film) However, to those of us in this forum there is and I believe that is the central reason most people in this forum are here. Even if we were speaking of the "mainstream" imagine if one day everyone was to find out that in their favorite movie that had a boy as a central character such as in the movie "E.T." that Elliot was really played by a girl. I think there would be a lot of either disappointed or pissed off people who did feel that they were decieved for all these years. That might shatter a lot of fond memories. ET you expect to be fake, not the actor playing Elliot.

Yup! 

I agree with you about the age thing. And that, to me, is an example of a problem that should bother more people, regardless of whether or not they have a "special interest" in boy-related movies. Because it's a matter of credibility. A 15-year-old boy simply cannot realistically pass for a 10-year-old boy. It's not deceitful of directors to cast older boys in these roles - it's just stupid! It hurts the realism of the character, and I will never understand why people accept it.

On a side note, I should say that I can also understand Skatapunk's frustrations. I was playing devil's advocate a little, because I thought his reaction was particularly violent and accusing the direction of things that were in my opinion a little unfair. So my goal was more to show that not everybody shares that perspective. But having made that point, I can also admit that personally, as one who does share that special interest in boy-related movies, I would obviously much prefer to have real boys in films than boys played by girl actors. But, like Cal said, this happens so rarely that I can consider such cases "interesting" and simply move on. It's not like there's a shortage of boys in film, as the database on this site clearly demonstrates.

Dubbing and 20 somethings playing teenagers are my two biggest pet peeves in movies. While I am okay with being "duped" into thinking girl actors are believable boys (in moderation), I can't stand not having the original voices in the films I watch. There are a handful of films that are only available that way - most of which I've passed on even though I'd really like to see them.

Same with "Incompreso"/"Misunderstood" ... the British actors spoke in English, the Italian actors spoke in Italian, and all versions of the final result are dubbed in some language.