Movie Review - The Last Mimzy
The Last Mimzy is the first great family film I’ve seen in years. It is well-written, has enough adult themes to keep parents interested, great special effects, and a fantastic team behind the cameras from the writers to the sound design. The story focuses on two children, Noah and Emma (played by newcomers Chris O’Neil & Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), who find a mysterious box on the beach filled with “toys” and stuffed rabbit. The twist? The toys are from the future, the rabbit (named Mimzy) talks to Emma, and it’s here to save humanity.
This seems a little cheesy at first, and I disregarded the movie once I read about the premise like I’m sure many others have. I was finally convinced into seeing it when I read an interview with the director, who spoke very passionately about the story and its underlying themes of psychokinesis, string-theory, and the long-term effects pollution (both environmental and societal) has on the human mind and our genes. I was taken aback that this apparent kiddie movie would have such strong themes behind it. It turns out the actual execution of the film eases you into suspending your disbelief. It doesn’t use fancy CG to make the toy rabbit talk or walk or anything like that. It doesn’t spout witty one-liners with vague pop-culture references like so many popular films like the Shrek franchise. This is a whole different animal- a mature, entertaining story wrapped in kid-friendly clothing. I started the movie half-expecting this to happen- for Mimzy to turn into CG and its little stuffed mouth to inexplicably open and start speaking. In fact, the most action Mimzy sees is a faint gurgling of gibberish that only Emma seems to understand, and the rabbit stays immobile and stuffed for the course of the movie. It is the children’s interaction with Mimzy and the other toys that drive the film, as well as their relationship with their parents and Noah’s science teacher (played by Rainn Wilson). As the children play with the toys they start to develop special abilities- going further into the story would ruin pleasant surprises and twists the story takes.
The movie is based off the short story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett written in 1943. The adapted screenplay is by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Deep Impact) and Toby Emmerich (Frequency). Howard Shore composed the excellent score, and Dane Davis‘ sound design (previous works include The Matrix) enhance the movie incredibly. Also of note are the crisp, clean visual effects, courtesy of The Orphanage, Inc. who worked on films like Pirates 2 & 3, Sin City, and The Host (which I’ll be reviewing next).
Fun fact: The Orphanage recently started an animation department headed up by the totally awesome Genndy Tartakovsky, who made the excellent Star Wars: The Clone Wars animation series. The first project of Orphanage Animation is a sequel to The Dark Crystal, set to come out next year.
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Your fun fact almost gave me a hard on. I love Dark Crystal… and The Clone Wars animation. ROCK!