Children of all ages (and parents too) will love seeing the best-selling children’s book, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, come to life in this live-action/CGI musical film.
The story begins with aspiring magician and entertainer, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), going to the pet store to get something that will help him dazzle on stage. He discovers a baby crocodile that can sing. He takes the croc home, names him Lyle and tries to train him.
As Lyle (Shawn Mendes) gets older and more experienced, the two are ready to make this show happen – or so they thought. When it comes time to sing, Lyle has stage fright and isn’t able to perform. Hector moves away to make money and leaves Lyle in the attic at his home in New York City.
Eighteen months later, the Primm family moves into Hector’s house and the young son, Josh (Winslow Fegley), finds Lyle and they become fast friends. Lyle becomes a part of the family, with Josh’s mom (Constance Wu) and dad (Scoot McNairy) coming around to him, too. This makes it difficult when Hector comes back from his travels because Lyle doesn’t want to leave with him.
The movie offers a few great lessons. Lyle helps everyone else with their problems and doesn’t focus on his own. He will have to overcome his fears in order to stay living at the Primm’s New York home.
- Stage fright is normal and takes time to get over. Lyle had a hard time doing this, but when it came down to it, he just needed to feel like someone really loved and cared about him, not just wanted to make money off him.
- Never judge a person before you get to know them. The downstairs neighbor, Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), judged the Primm family right when they moved in. He was very rude and it only got worse.
- It’s OK to be careful, but don’t let being careful take over your life. Josh was a very fearful boy who never did anything without worrying. His parents worried, too, which probably rubbed off on Josh. Lyle brought out the fun, adventurous side of Josh and without him, he wouldn’t have been as happy in his new home.
- Just because you make a bad choice, doesn’t mean you can’t change the outcome. Hector took money from Mr. Grumps to tell him about the Primm’s hiding Lyle in their home. He left before animal control got there to take Lyle away. He felt so bad that he came back to make things right and without him, they wouldn’t have been able to get Lyle out of the zoo.
Move-inspired activities
- Read the Lyle, Lyle Crocodile Talk about how it differs from the movie and how it is similar to it.
- Make a crocodile paper bag puppet with the template by Easy Peasy and Fun.
- Create your own book using one of your stuffed animals. What adventures will the two of you go on?
- The Primm family and Hector put on performances. Put on your own family performance from the comfort of your own home.
- Sing along to the movie’s soundtrack, which is available on Apple Music and Spotify.
- Download the coloring and activity book.
