Scan and Pan
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Last Mimzy
When underachieving Noah and his gifted younger sister Emma spend their spring vacation at their family's beach-front cabin on Whidbey Island near Seattle, they find a mysterious box floating in the water. Inside the box are a crystalline tablet, rocks with amazing properties, and a stuffed toy rabbit named Mimzy that Emma claims talks to her. After Noah causes a massive blackout and begins to develop advanced mental powers, Homeland Security arrests the entire family, and it's up to Noah and Emma to get Mimzy back where it belongs.
New Line Cinema chairman Bob Shaye sits in the director's chair for the first time since 1990's Book of Love, and the evidence suggests that he should have stayed in the boardroom. The film starts out butter knife dull, and by the time something interesting happens it's almost over, making it impossible to summon up an ounce of caring about the outcome. What the characters experience is supposed to be miraculous and world changing, but there's simply no sense of awe communicated to the audience through Shaye's flat direction. It's billed as a family film, but good family films appeal to people of all ages. Adults and children alike will probably be bored stiff. I witnessed a man and his young daughter walk out and never return.
The film is based on a 1943 short story by Lewis Padgett, adapted by James V. Hart (Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Contact) and Carol Skilken with a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Jacob's Ladder) and Toby Emmerich (Frequency). Despite the involvement of several competent screenwriters, it's surprisingly weak, unfocused, and even preachy at times. It's like they watched E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (substitute Mimzy for E.T. and it's the same basic plot) and drew all the wrong conclusions about what made it good. Also, the idea that Homeland Security could be outwitted by two children and a stuffed animal certainly has some comedic value, but the script fails to mine it.
The visual effects are good but there's no emotional impact provided by them, and that's the problem with the film as a whole--instead of relying on sound storytelling for that impact, Shaye relies on effects. Cinematographer J. Michael Muro (Crash) doesn't add much pizzazz to the visuals, but he does put the Vancouver and Seattle locations to good use. Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings) contributes an uninspired score, although the theme song he co-wrote with Roger Waters is much better.
Rhiannon Leigh Wryn as Emma is really the best thing about the film with her effortless charm and natural performance. Chris O'Neil is solid enough in his film debut as Noah. Rainn Wilson and Kathryn Hahn are funny as a science teacher and his dippy fiancee, so it's a pity that they don't have more screen time. Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson are blandly forgettable as Emma and Noah's parents. Michael Clarke Duncan seems out of place as a Homeland Security regional director. Randi Lynne has a funny scene as a babysitter who comes unglued after witnessing what Emma can do with the rocks from the box. Bruce Harwood (one of the X-Files' Lone Gunmen) has a cameo as a scientist, as does noted physicist Brian Greene.
The Last Mimzy seems reminiscent of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, only without the entertainment value or the emotional impact. Not recommended.
This science fiction fairy tale arrives in cinemas dead on arrival.
When underachieving Noah and his gifted younger sister Emma spend their spring vacation at their family's beach-front cabin on Whidbey Island near Seattle, they find a mysterious box floating in the water. Inside the box are a crystalline tablet, rocks with amazing properties, and a stuffed toy rabbit named Mimzy that Emma claims talks to her. After Noah causes a massive blackout and begins to develop advanced mental powers, Homeland Security arrests the entire family, and it's up to Noah and Emma to get Mimzy back where it belongs.
New Line Cinema chairman Bob Shaye sits in the director's chair for the first time since 1990's Book of Love, and the evidence suggests that he should have stayed in the boardroom. The film starts out butter knife dull, and by the time something interesting happens it's almost over, making it impossible to summon up an ounce of caring about the outcome. What the characters experience is supposed to be miraculous and world changing, but there's simply no sense of awe communicated to the audience through Shaye's flat direction. It's billed as a family film, but good family films appeal to people of all ages. Adults and children alike will probably be bored stiff. I witnessed a man and his young daughter walk out and never return.
The film is based on a 1943 short story by Lewis Padgett, adapted by James V. Hart (Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Contact) and Carol Skilken with a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Jacob's Ladder) and Toby Emmerich (Frequency). Despite the involvement of several competent screenwriters, it's surprisingly weak, unfocused, and even preachy at times. It's like they watched E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (substitute Mimzy for E.T. and it's the same basic plot) and drew all the wrong conclusions about what made it good. Also, the idea that Homeland Security could be outwitted by two children and a stuffed animal certainly has some comedic value, but the script fails to mine it.
The visual effects are good but there's no emotional impact provided by them, and that's the problem with the film as a whole--instead of relying on sound storytelling for that impact, Shaye relies on effects. Cinematographer J. Michael Muro (Crash) doesn't add much pizzazz to the visuals, but he does put the Vancouver and Seattle locations to good use. Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings) contributes an uninspired score, although the theme song he co-wrote with Roger Waters is much better.
Rhiannon Leigh Wryn as Emma is really the best thing about the film with her effortless charm and natural performance. Chris O'Neil is solid enough in his film debut as Noah. Rainn Wilson and Kathryn Hahn are funny as a science teacher and his dippy fiancee, so it's a pity that they don't have more screen time. Timothy Hutton and Joely Richardson are blandly forgettable as Emma and Noah's parents. Michael Clarke Duncan seems out of place as a Homeland Security regional director. Randi Lynne has a funny scene as a babysitter who comes unglued after witnessing what Emma can do with the rocks from the box. Bruce Harwood (one of the X-Files' Lone Gunmen) has a cameo as a scientist, as does noted physicist Brian Greene.
The Last Mimzy seems reminiscent of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, only without the entertainment value or the emotional impact. Not recommended.
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