Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (trailer) is a live-action musical comedy family film released in October 2022, with computer-animated critters mixed into it. It's an adaptation of two children's books by Bernard Waber, The House on East 88th Street (1962), and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (1965).

In my earlier review of My Father's Dragon, also an adaptation, my biggest complaint was how it borrowed story elements while destroying the spirit of the book. With Lyle, the spirit has definitely been kept. The premise is silly, it doesn't make sense, and has fun with it. It knows exactly what it is!

Hector P. Valenti is a charismatic showman and second-rate stage magician who buys a baby crocodile (Lyle), vainly hoping his new pet will become his ticket to stardom. When it doesn't work out (think One Froggy Evening), Hector leaves to recover his finances, abandoning Lyle in a New York townhouse, where he lives in secret. When the Primm family moves in, Lyle gradually befriends them and brings out their better natures. Until he runs afoul of their conniving basement tenant, Mr. Grumps.

The books had a low word count, so a lot of things had to be added to make a full movie. The Primms were originally bland and generic. Lyle's presence in the house (and how he survived) needed more of an explanation, so all of that received more details. Most (though not all) of the major plot points from the books still exist in some form. The changes make sense from a screenwriting perspective, but whether you think the movie is a respectful adaptation, that's going to vary a lot from person to person. It depends on what people are willing to accept or let go of.

You can poke holes in this movie like crazy, but at heart, it's an entertaining ride without any delusions of grandeur. I don't mean that in a snooty film review way. Like I said, the premise is silly, and it's having fun. I'm going to nit-pick things anyway, but there's lots of good energy!

World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. It is on Sunday, June 5 in 2016. This year’s theme is: “fight against the illegal trade in wildlife”, with the slogan "Go Wild for Life”, and some search engines are getting on board:

Baidu’s India office will launch a new social campaign named “The Last Conversation” to raise awareness of wildlife depletion. The campaign will feature Baidu’s mascot, the “DU bear”, having a final conversation with different endangered animals through a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter, with the goal of urging people to avoid products that cause harm to wildlife. (Baidu India’s 31 May press release)

Baidu's campaign, which started June 1st on Facebook and Twitter, shows the ultra-cute DU bear interviewing critically-endangered species living in India, such as the Himalayan brown bear, as well as other popular species of lesser concern, such as the Bengal fox.

I wasn’t as proactive as I thought I would be, and I’m pretty sure I missed a couple posted during the first of September, so apologies there. Otherwise, here was last month’s Newsbytes.

It doesn't seem in their nature, but this crocodile played a vital role in the survival of a victim caught in the recent, devastating tsunami.

Steve Irwin, known as The Crocodile Hunter, has a deep secret: his wild showmanship is a front for his intelligence and deep commitment to species conservation.

You know what they say. "Dog bites man, that's just gossip, but man bites dog is NEWS!". Well, I can only imagine man bites croc is even better. Mac Bosco Chawinga was swimming in a lake in northern Malawi when the crocodile attacked him. Fighting back, with his arms pinned, he decided to chomp on the beast's snout, which caused the surprised croc to retreat.

Fitting in oddly well with my other article, the Crocodile Hunter series is about to be released upon American theaters within a few weeks. You can find out more here --

http://www.mgm.com/crocodilehunter/home.html

Maybe this movie will be good. Maybe this won't be another 'look at the weird Aussies' flick a la Crocodile Dundee (which did have its moments). But after reading the website and checking the promos, a part of me dreads that this flick is going to make Scooby Doo look like 'The Ten Commandments'.

PS -- Those who loved the 'Doo will coubtless be thrilled to know that the sequel is already in the works. Never rains but it pours.

The Houston Chronicle printed an article today (which I can't seem to find on their website) about a recently discovered prehistoric crocodilian, dubbed SuperCroc. It lived 110 million years ago, could grow as much as 40 feet long, and it ate dinosaurs! There's a website about it here.

Mayor Reinhard Reynisson of Husavik, Iceland, is looking into finding ways to solve his town's waste problem. A small fishing community, Husavik has a lot of guts and scales left over from it's local industry. Now he mayor thinks crocodiles may be the best answer.
Geothermal water already used by the town would make a good home for the wayward reptiles, and the packing plants and fish farms would keep them fed and busy. The crocs would also be likely to attrack tourists to the northern community.
Read the full article here.

In unrelated stories, BBC News online reports that thousands of crocodiles face starvation in Paraguay due to the diversion of a river, and that thirteen giant pandas have recently been artificially inseminated in China--since twins are common when pandas are artificially inseminated, officials hope as many as 20 baby pandas will soon be born.