The Last Mimzy

The Last Mimzy
US Promotional poster
Directed by Robert Shaye
Produced by Michael Phillips
Screenplay by
Based on "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"
by Henry Kuttner
C.L. Moore
Starring
Music by
Cinematography J. Michael Muro
Edited by Alan Heim
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release date
  • March 23, 2007 (2007-03-23)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $27.5 million[1]

The Last Mimzy is a 2007 American science fiction adventure drama film directed by Robert Shaye and loosely adapted from the 1943 science fiction short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (the pseudonym of husband-and-wife team Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore). The film features Timothy Hutton, Joely Richardson, Rainn Wilson, Kathryn Hahn, Michael Clarke Duncan, and introducing Rhiannon Leigh Wryn as seven-year-old Emma Wilder and Chris O’Neil as ten-year-old Noah.

Plot

Presented as a story to a group of students by their teacher Lena that takes place in the distant future, The Last Mimzy is the story of the attempt by humans in the distant future to avert a catastrophic ecological disaster that has destroyed their world. Humanity has become "isolated and warlike," and one scientist is desperately working to save the earth and its people. High-tech devices disguised as toys are sent back in time, where they are found by Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) Wilder, children living in early-21st-century Seattle. The "toys" are incomprehensible to them, except for what appears to be a stuffed rabbit. Sensing the paranormal strangeness of the devices, the children initially keep their discovery secret from their parents.

Emma becomes telepathically connected to the stuffed rabbit, and learns its name, Mimzy, and other information from it, acknowledging it as her teacher. Interaction with the devices causes the children to develop advanced knowledge, genius-level intelligence and psionic abilities. Due to her psychic connection with Mimzy, Emma's development of her abilities is much stronger than her older brother's; she is the only one to display empathy, telepathy, levitation, and telekinesis (though Noah can also communicate with her once she has telepathically contacted him). Emma is also the only one who can use the Spinners, strange rocks that when spun, telekinetically float and produce a force-field. Noah's own psionic/physic abilities are developed through a green card and a seashell. He gains increased intelligence, knowledge, telepathy, empathic communication and control over arthropods. He can also use the card to telekinetically teleport objects through a small dimensional rift after staring at it and observing his surroundings. At one point, Noah becomes somewhat envious of his sister's psionic prowess, but she reveals to him that even though she is the "chosen one', he is her chosen "engineer" and she cannot "build the bridge to the future" without him.

The children's astounding psionic and extrasensory abilities and Emma's attachment to Mimzy alert their parents, especially their mother, and Larry White, Noah's science schoolteacher, to the devices. Later, Noah accidentally fuses the card with a blue blob, turning it into a Generator that causes a power black-out over half the state of Washington, alerting the FBI to their activities. The family is held for questioning by Special Agent Nathaniel Broadman (Michael Clarke Duncan), and it is revealed that Mimzy is actually a highly advanced form of artificial life utilizing nanotechnology created by Intel. Emma tells everyone that Mimzy has a message from humanity's distant future. She explains that pollution has corrupted humanity's DNA, and many toy rabbits like Mimzy have been sent to the past, since no natural life forms can survive time travel, but none have successfully returned. Mimzy is the last one remaining, but she is now beginning to disintegrate. The reason for the other Mimzys' deaths is that the "chosen ones" before Emma had no "engineers" (like Noah) to help build the bridge across time. Emma and Noah must build the bridge by using the other toys to activate a time portal, so that they can return Mimzy to the future with uncorrupted 21st-century human DNA that the people of the future can use to correct the damage to their DNA caused by ecological problems.

Despite attempts by the unbelieving FBI to prevent them, Noah and Emma use their psionic abilities to escape so that they can activate the portal. Before leaving, Mimzy absorbs a tear from Emma, thus providing the DNA required to restore humanity's corrupted DNA. Emma is almost sucked into the future with Mimzy, but Noah grabs Emma and pulls her out of the portal just as Mimzy is sent back to its own time. Following the transport, Noah's science teacher, who was present at the event, claims that he saw "numbers", a reference to a previous dream he had with numbers in it, which turned out to be the winning lottery numbers, but missed out because he never bought a ticket—thus exciting his fiancée about this second opportunity. Back in the future setting, Mimzy is returned to the future, and humans are finally able to restore their DNA and abandon their protective suits, and more importantly, repair the "mental corruption" that stripped most of them of their feelings toward each other. The teacher ends the story time and the children levitate and fly home. The world in their time has become a beautiful place, where humanity has integrated into the reconstructed ecosystems.

The story ends in the current time, with Emma's teacher (Julia Arkos) asking if anyone did anything exciting over the weekend break. No one volunteers, so she calls on Emma at random, who merely smiles.

Cast

Chris O'Neil

Mackenzie Hamilton and Calum Worthy cameo as Teenage Cyborgs

Well-known string theorist Brian Greene has a cameo appearance as an Intel scientist.

The "Toys"

The "toys" are high-tech devices sent from the future by a scientist to obtain uncorrupted DNA. They were sent in a box that has three compartments despite its outside appearance suggesting it has only one. The floor of the first compartment opens to access the second; the floor of the second compartment opens to access the third. The "toys" all have special abilities and are able to give Emma and Noah genius-level intelligence and psionic abilities of their own.

  • Mimzy – an intelligent object based on nanotechnology, in the form of a white and beige stuffed rabbit, which can telepathically connect with certain individuals.
  • Green Card – A neon green-colored card with endless, moving light lines that form geometric patterns and make it seem fractured. To most people, it looks like a small, black rectangular slab of rock or slate. It can enable users to teleport objects after staring at it and observing their surroundings. It can also fuse with the blue blob to turn it into a Generator.
  • Seashell – a white seashell-shaped object that allows the user to hear across longer distances and over a wider range of frequencies than normal. Noah uses this ability to decipher the correct sounds to manipulate spiders. Emma calls it "Mimzy's shell."
  • Blue Blob – a blue blob that has no apparent abilities alone, but can fuse with the green card, turning it into a Generator.
  • Spinners – a large black rock that can break into smaller rocks. The rocks can spin slightly off the ground, and when set spinning in a circle, they create a visible force-field that allows the user to view the time period from which the "toys" came.

The "toys" can be used to send Mimzy back to its original time period. To do this, the green card is first fused with the blue blob to create a generator. Then, the spinners are used to create a force field. Finally, the generator must be used to create energy and blast it at the force field, giving it the power needed for the transmission. This can only be done once. After that, the remaining "toys" break and cannot be used again.

Development and production

The Last Mimzy is loosely based on the classic science fiction short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett, the pen name of collaborators Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore; the story appeared in John W. Campbell's magazine Astounding in 1943.[2] Both the film's and short story's titles are derived from third line of the nonsense verse poem Jabberwocky in Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The adapted screenplay is by Bruce Joel Rubin and Toby Emmerich.[3] The film’s production team also included editor Alan Heim and sound designer Dane Davis. Visual effects were created by The Orphanage, and location filming was done in Roberts Creek and Collingwood School.[4]

Reception

Box office

The Last Mimzy grossed nearly $21.5 million in North America and $6.1 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $27.5 million,[1]

Critical response

Critical response to The Last Mimzy was mixed, and ranged from saying that it holds appeal for family audiences—especially children—to describing the storyline as distracting. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 54% based on 124 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus states, "The Last Mimzy makes efforts to be a fun children's movie, but unsuccessfully juggles too many genres and subplots—eventually settling as an unfocused, slightly dull affair"[5] On Metacritic, the film had a score of 59 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it, "Wholesome, eager entertainment that doesn't talk down", agreeing with Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide who said it was "a thoughtful and sincere interpretation that actually get kids and their guardians thinking and talking."[7][8] Calling the film "lightweight", the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rated it a "small gem".[9][10][11] The Chicago Sun-Times went as far as to say The Last Mimzy is an "emotionless empty shell" compared to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[12] Critics diverge about the scientific validity of the film. Reviewer Susan Granger said, "There's some validity to the challenging science depicted in the film, according to Brian Greene, Columbia University physics professor, and Susan Smalley, UCLA neurobehavioral genetics professor";[13] by contrast, Rick Norwood (The SF Site) writes, "The Last Mimzy has carefully expunged all of the ideas from the story, and replaced them with the New Age nonsense that passes for ideas these days. They have also taken a very personal story about one family and a box of toys from the future and turned it into an epic story in which childlike innocence saves the human race".[2]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was composed by Howard Shore, the award-winning composer behind the scores of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters also collaborated on a song called "Hello (I Love You)". "I think together we've come up with a song that captures the themes of the movie—the clash between humanity's best and worst instincts, and how a child's innocence can win the day", Roger Waters commented.[14]

Track listing

  1. "The Mandala" – 1:37
  2. "Whidbey Island" – 3:21
  3. "Under the Bed" – 2:46
  4. "Cuddle" – 1:28
  5. "Beach" – 1:59
  6. "Scribbles" – 2:39
  7. "Blackout" – 3:17
  8. "Palm Readings" – 4:12
  9. "I Love the World" – 0:52
  10. "Help!" – 1:20
  11. "I Have to Look" – 4:20
  12. "Can I Talk?" – 5:26
  13. "Eyes" – 2:15
  14. "The Tear" – 4:07
  15. "Through the Looking-Glass" – 5:03
  16. "Hello (I Love You)" (with Roger Waters) – 6:16

Awards

AwardCategoryNomineeResult
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films[15]Best Performance by a Young ActorRhiannon Leigh WrynNominated
Best Science Fiction FilmNominated
29th Young Artist Awards[16]Best Family Feature FilmNominated
Best Performance by a Leading Young ActorChris O'NeilNominated
Best Performance by a Young ActressRhiannon Leigh WrynNominated
Best Performance by a Young Ensemble CastChris O'Neil
Rhiannon Leigh Wryn
Marc Musso
Megan McKinnon
Nicole Muñoz		Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 "The Last Mimzy". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Norwood, Rick (2007). "Review: The Last Mimzy". SF Site. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Movie Review: The Last Mimzy". Hollywood.com, Inc. Archived from the original on January 29, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
  4. ↑ Bielik, Alain (March 23, 2007). "The Last Mimzy: Magical Reality VFX". AWN, Inc. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
  5. ↑ "The Last Mimzy (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ "The Last Mimzy Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Catsoulis, Jeannette (March 22, 2007). "Box to the Future". The New York Times. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  8. ↑ "Fox, Ken. "The Last Mimzy". TV Guide. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  9. ↑ "Ringel Gillespie, Eleanor. "A gentle fantasy that takes its cue from "E.T."". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  10. ↑ "Anderson, John (February 5, 2007). "The Last Mimzy". Variety. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  11. ↑ "Stax (March 22, 2007). "An overstuffed mess". IGN. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  12. ↑ "Budasi, Teresa (March 23, 2007). "'Mimzy' whimsy comes up flimsy". The Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  13. ↑ Granger, Susan (March 22, 2007). "The Last Mimzy". Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
  14. ↑ PR Inside. ""Hello (I Love you)" article". Retrieved January 16, 2007.
  15. ↑ "The 34th Annual Saturn Awards". Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  16. ↑ "29th Annual Young Artist Awards". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
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