“Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” is indeed a strange beast, both the animal — a city-dwelling croc with the voice of an angel — and the movie, which is also a sort of monstrous hybrid of unexpected tones. Based on the children’s book series by Bernard Waber, adapted by Will Davies, “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” is directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who are known for more adult comedies like “Office Christmas Party,” “The Switch” and “Blades of Glory,” and they bring a bit of that ironic sensibility to the film, which is both a blessing and a curse.
It’s clear every adult in the room is in on the joke in the over-the-top “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” including Gordon and Speck, as well as Scoot McNairy and Constace Wu, who play Mr. and Mrs. Primm, the gobsmacked couple who find themselves cohabitating with Lyle in a Manhattan brownstone, after their son Josh (Winslow Fegley) befriends the creature.
The campy tone is underwritten especially by Brett Gelman who gives a bravura comedic turn as their downstairs neighbor and cat enthusiast Mr. Grumps, and especially Javier Bardem, who goes for broke in what can only be described as a tour-de-force performance of tragic clownery playing magician/musician Hector P. Valenti. The showman originally discovered Lyle singing the salsa classic “I Like It Like That” in the back of a pet shop, and he has Col. Tom Parker dreams dancing in his head, hoping to make a buck off Lyle’s talent. Bardem, it must be said, is simply mesmerizing.
