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</script></div>{/googleAds}Few genres are more challenging to tackle than that of a kid's picture. Too often, it is assumed that children are morons, and what is delivered is a pandering condescension that is so simple a monkey could watch it. It is a rare thing when a children's picture these days manages to remember how smart a kid can be, and at the same time deliver a story that embraces the unique and short-lived point of view they possess. Perhaps we just forget what it's like to see things in that way anymore once we've grown up? The Last Mimzy is a unique misstep, in that it avoids talking down to kids like most of its peers, but it travels so far above their point of view there is no hope of them connecting...

Based very loosely on a 1943 Lewis Padget short story, The Last Mimzy tells the story of Noah (Chris O'Neil) and Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), a young brother and sister who discover a mysterious box in the surf, and find objects inside, including a toy rabbit named Mimzy. Quickly these objects prove to be anything but normal, and a mystery with rather large implications unfolds.

The complexity of this script is mind-boggling, as is who exactly the makers were aiming this at. With very advanced theories, theologies, technologies, and history sprawled throughout in copious doses, what regular kid would understand, or have the patience to try, is a question the filmmaker's seemed to have forgotten to ask.

Tibetan symbolism, theories on time travel and nano-technnology, literary history of Lewis Carrol and his creation of Alice in Wonderland, and the consequences of polluting DNA and its future implications are but a few of the pearls of wisdom interwoven throughout the narrative even the current political relevance of â"The Patriot Act" is included! Clever, yes, but about as interesting to a ten year-old as his science teacher springing a pop quiz. The basic model of any successful kid's picture is there, but is buried so deeply in this massively overcomplicated plotting kids won't wait around to see.

Film's like E.T. and the Goonies captured a young generation's imagination by giving the kids a goal to follow early E.T wants to go home; The Goonies want to find a treasure. The Last Mimzy challenges an adult to know where its heading for the first half of the movie, and is simply too clever for its own good.

Characterization also suffers, with inconsistencies throughout. The character of Noah in particular is not a sympathetic boy, early on being portrayed as a cheating, self absorbed, temperamental little so-and-so with low self-esteem. His character changes come from the ‘magic' of his discovery, but are artificially instilled, and thus not earned. It could be argued that he is closer in conception to a real kid, but it doesn't fly in this type of film. Michael Clarke Duncan's Broadman is also a sloppily conceived character. He has dialogue accurate enough to invoke â"The Patriot Act," representing a hard-noised agency man responsible for national security at one point, and then throws his hands up and says all is forgiven/have a nice night, after witnessing things that raise some serious national security questions later.

New Line Cinema's CEO Bob Shaye takes up the directing chair once more. But unlike the criminally under-appreciated Book of Love a 50's period teen comedy he seems out of touch here. Technically, the film is beautifully shot; with some original flair, but script aside the pacing is plodding in some places and way too quick in others. There is no sense of escalation, or real hurdles to add dramatic tension, and ultimately becomes a rally of engaging special effects and lengthy exposition scenes that will bore the living crap out of its supposed target audience. The film is also inconsistent in tone, at some points like a riff on Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, then Hook, then Dante's Explorer's, and obviously Carrol's Alice in Wonderland.

One of the most common complaints that films, especially kid's films, have become stupid was certainly listened to by the creators of The Last Mimzy. Unfortunately they took their obviously intelligent and talented contributors, and seemed to forget the cardinal rule of all storytelling: know your audience. As clever and spectacular as some of the elements of this film are, few kids are going to care.


DVD

DVD Details:

â"Inifinifilm" feature (just like the â"Follow the White Rabbit" feature on The Matrix dvd) where you can skip to featurettes or info about the film during play. The content, like the film it represents, plays like no one bothered to think about who it's for. Kids get enough science films at school.

Screen formats: Full Screen 1.33:1 presentation

Subtitles: None

Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 5.1

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access.

* Commentary -
o With director Robert Shaye
* Deleted Scenes
o 11 total scenes that didn't make the final cut with optional audio commentary by director Robert Shaye.
* Featurettes - A total of 12 featurettes that cover such subjects as the science of the movie. Also included are some discussions about how the story was adapted, how the actors were cast, how the visual effects were created, and more.
* Games - An interactive challenge that involves memory and spatial perception tests.
* Music Video - Hello (I Love You) by Roger Waters.
* DVD-Rom features

Number of discs: - 1 with Keepcase Packaging

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