The Last Mimzy (New Line) is a laid-back, but ultimately engaging, science fiction-fantasy centering on the adventures of 10-year-old Noah (Chris O'Neil) and his 5-year-old kid sister, Emma (Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), who, while playing on the beach, find a mysterious box filled with strange objects (a green crystal, a blue blob, "spinners" that levitate through the air and a cute rabbit doll, the titular Mimzy).
The film is adapted from Lewis Padgett's 1943 short story, the not-very-marquee-friendly "Mimsy Were the Borogoves." There turns out to be a connection to Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" line from which it derives. (Padgett, incidentally, was the pen name for husband and wife Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore.)
The film's Mimzy makes low gurgling sounds that only little Emma can decipher. Eventually, Mimzy helps Emma and Noah understand that she's been sent from the future to set them on a weighty mission: Nothing less than saving people's humanity.
The siblings' loving and remarkably understanding parents, Jo and David (Joely Richardson and Timothy Hutton), begin to glean that something's up with the kids, and Noah's science teacher, Larry White (Rainn Wilson), marvels at Noah's sudden quite extraordinary intelligence. (Noah's science project turns out to be genius quality!)
Larry, who has vacationed in Tibet with live-in fiancée Naomi (Kathryn Hahn) and thus absorbed something of the culture there, is astonished at Noah's classroom etchings, which unknown to Noah, are actually geometric designs that mirror Buddhist mandalas.
Naomi, for her part, has studied palmistry, along with the yoga that begins her day, and expresses wide-eyed astonishment when she takes a gander at Emma's little hand, recognizing in her an advanced spirit.
When Noah and Emma's experimentation with the "toys" leads to a large-scale blackout, the Department of Homeland Security, headed by Agent Broadman (Michael Clarke Duncan), bursts into their house to arrest the family as suspected terrorists, adding a peculiar political slant to the proceedings.
We won't reveal what happens but suffice it to say, the action kicks into high gear, especially after the prescient Emma determines that they must send Mimzy back to the future with utmost haste.
New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye returns to his filmmaking roots for the first time since 1990 and proves a capable director. The children, especially Wryn, are adorable. Though the narrative is an odd blend of New Age mysticism and Eastern mumbo-jumbo — albeit with an pro-environment message — The Last Mimzy should hold the interest of most kids and even their parents.
The film contains a single use of a crude word, some mildly crass expressions, mild innuendo and an implied premarital situation. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
