From Wonderland to Wormholes
The Last Mimzy Bridges Past and Future

Children in movies usually fall into two categories: cutesy or creepy. The creepy ones are those found in horror movies where things (such as demon possession or human cloning) make them the subject of fear. The others are the cute kids that pop up in family films and say the darndest things. In the new film, The Last Mimzy, cute kids once again take center stage, but with alien knowledge that borders on creepy.

The Last Mimzy
Chris O’Neil (left) and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn (right) star as Noah and Emma Wilder in The Last Mimzy. (New Line Cinema, 2007)
Directed by: Robert Shaye
Written by: Bruce Joel Rubin and Toby Emmerich, James V. Hart & Carol Skilken, based on the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett
Starring: Chris O'Neil, Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, Joely Richardson, Timothy Hutton, Rainn Wilson, Kathryn Hahn, and Michael Clarke Duncan

Rated PG (for some thematic elements, mild peril and language)
Running time: 93 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.

In The Last Mimzy, a box from the future is found on a Northern Pacific beach by two children, Noah (Chris O'Neil) and his sister Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn). Inside, the kids find all manner of strange toys, including a stuffed rabbit that Emma christens Mimzy.

As the children play with the toys, they begin to learn -- not just about the toys, but about the world. Noah begins to excel in science, where his work and his various drawings pique the interest of his teacher, Mr. White (Rainn Wilson). Meanwhile, Emma has been listening as Mimzy "teaches her things," and she begins to see a correlation between Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and the toys.

The Last Mimzy feels like the Steven Spielberg films of the late 1970s and early '80s. The film centers on the children, but also relates a strong sense of family. The film is for kids and adults alike, and does not talk down to the kids despite some pretty mature subjects about reality, time, and our ability to affect our future.

It isn't much of a stretch to compare The Last Mimzy to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Like that film, the story centers on children -- rather than adults -- as the ambassadors of our future. The film's stars, O'Neil and Wryn, engage us with a sense of wonder as they respond to special effects that were added in post-production. To their credit, they always seem genuine.

Missing from the film, however, is a real understanding of the problem the future faces or how the toys will solve it. The film suggests that our dependence on technology somehow affects our ability to be "human," but it is unclear what that means or how it can change. For most of the film, the children seem to be the key, as if their knowledge will somehow alter the timeline. Nevertheless, by the end the story resolves itself in an unsatisfactory fashion. Rather than being a key, the children become mere tools to get Mimzy back to the future.

Fans of science fiction are probably already familiar with the short story by Lewis Padgett (a pseudonym for the sci-fi writing couple of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore). Written in 1943, "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is a classic of science fiction that first captured the attention of producer Michael Phillips back in the 1990s. The film was in development for 12 years, and went through 19 drafts by five writers.

Although the film claims to be based on the story, there are few connections between the two. The short story -- with its disturbing ending -- centers more on the psychological affect of the toys on the children, while the film uses the toys as a gateway between the future and the past.

When I first read the short story in college, I instantly fell in love with it. I had high hopes that the film would capture some of that same eerie wonder and mystery that made the story great. As intriguing as the film is, I feel that the writers and director missed the essence of the story. Instead of using the film to discuss human potential, the filmmakers use it as a platform to preach against the alienating effects of technology and warn of the danger of environmental problems.