Kwong is a troubled young school boy. He hates his father, blaming him for the death of his mother three years before. And he despises his step mother purely on the grounds that she is not his mother, harboring the not-so-hidden belief that she split his parents up years before. The only one he shows any affection for is his half brother Billy. More than anything Kong wants to be an adult so that he can leave his family behind. When he meets a strange man dripping a magical potion on plants in a public park – think Pete Postlethwaite in James and the Giant Peach and you’re in the right neighborhood – Kwong gets his wish. He snatches the man’s vial, is dosed with potion, and when he wakes up in the morning he has seemingly aged fifteen years, into a young man played by Lau. But there is a downside … Kwong’s aging does not stop. If anything it accelerates over the next couple days and suddenly having his wish granted does not seem such a good thing.

Let’s get the obvious comparison out of the way. Many will look at the film’s premise and automatically assume that this is little more than an Asian take on Big with Lau in the Tom Hanks role. This is not correct. While both films share the idea of a child suddenly aging to an adult the similarities end there. While Wait ‘Til You’re Older has a handful of solid laughs it is clearly not intended as a comedy, playing instead as a fantasy tinged drama about the nature and importance of family. It takes Kwong through some remarkably dark territory as he grows and learns and while the end is certainly not dark per se neither is it the overly saccharine, overly simplistic fare that has clogged up so much of Hong Kong’s output of late. There is a sweetness to the end of the film, yes, but it is bitterly so.

Wait Til You’re Older succeeds as strongly as it does for two primary reasons. First, it is stunningly well designed and shot with an ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ approach to the effects. Physical effects are flawlessly merged with CG and animation to make a remarkably consistent whole. The dazzlingly animated title sequence deserves special mention and I truly hope someone has the good sense to sign that animator up for a feature. The opening act of the film is charged with a child’s whimsy – Kwong may be a bitterly angry child, but he is still a child after all – and laced with moments of his fantasy’s and wishes sprung to life. The film makers find exactly the right balance between fantasy and realism to make Kwong’s journey believable.

Second is the cast. The Kwong of the first act is simply hell on wheels, all the negative aspects of childhood bundled into a small package. He is rude and spiteful. He runs away from home repeatedly and extorts money from his father. He takes every opportunity to remind his step mother that she is not his true parent. There is nothing sweet or lovable about the young Kwong. He is all anger and, frankly, was on the verge of becoming tedious when the transformation hits and it is Lau who really carries the character. He doesn’t capture the ‘child in a man’s body’ exuberance nearly as well as Hanks in Big but what he does very well is capture Kwong’s growing realization that the adult world is not nearly what he thought it was once he has the opportunity to see behind the veil adults raise in front of children. The support cast is strong as well, particularly Karen Mok who gets a rare chance to play a thoroughly adult situation as Kwong’s step mother and makes the most of it.

Though the film is not perfect – it has its share of clumsy dialogue and cliché set pieces – it is smart enough and well enough constructed to elevate it well above most family fare. Recommended.