Movie Review: The Last Mimzy
A winning little children's film.
The title "The Last Mimzy" will doubtless strike a chord with Lewis Carroll fans who can recite "Jabberwocky" backward. But this new family film is actually based on a 1943 short story called "Mimsy Were the Borogoves." And its tone is more sci-fi eco-friendly than whimsical.
Granted, it's not a breathtaking, classic children's film along the lines of "The Little Princess" or "Lassie," but on a weekend when an overhyped juggernaut like "TMNT" is being stuffed down kids' throats, "Mimzy's" modest charms seem especially praiseworthy.
While staying at their parents' (Joely Richardson and Timothy Hutton) beach cottage on the outskirts of Seattle, 10-year-old Noah (Chris O'Neil) and his little sister, Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), discover a mysterious black box. Inside is a strange assortment of toylike objects --- including a rag-doll rabbit named Mimzy --- that give the kids special powers. And here's another Carroll connection: A photo of the author's real-life muse, Alice Liddell, shows her clutching a dead ringer for Emma's stuffed bunny.
A gentle fantasy that takes its cue from "E.T." --- on a far smaller budget and with plugs for Coke and Intel instead of Reese's Pieces --- the film sometimes feels redundant. Director Robert Shaye adds some overzealous government agents a la the Steven Spielberg movie, and there's the same sense of kids banding together against even well-meaning adults in order for Mimzy to phone home. Or the equivalent thereof.
Still, there are some original touches.
Rainn Wilson (TV's "The Office") and Kathryn Hahn are amusing as a New Agey couple who support the children, but only so far. When a suspicious FBI guy (Michael Clarke Duncan) questions Wilson about any trips outside the country, he says he's been to Nepal, then adds with nervous emphasis, "On vacation."
And Shaye makes a few updated anti-tech points. The passengers on a bus speeding past Mount Rainier can't be bothered to look up from their BlackBerrys, cellphones and iPods to gaze at the mountain's majesty.
On its own lightweight terms, "The Last Mimzy" is a small gem. And it has the best family breakfast joke this side of "Little Miss Sunshine."
