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What should have been a fantastical kids adventure which mixed E.T. and Drop Dead Fred ends up as a unsatisfying - and often creepy - mixture of The Excorcist and Donnie Darko.
And it's disapointing to, because Mimzy
could have - and should have - been so much more than it ends up being.
Loosely adapted from the acclaimed 1943 science fiction short story
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" (which is taken from a line in the Lewis
Carrol poem "Jabberwocky" which appears in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) , The Last Mimzy centers on two children who develop supernatural powers when they encounter a mysterious box containing strange toys.
It's
such a promising set up - and there is a sense of excitement at the
beginning of what could be a really good flick in the veign of those
80's classic. But what develops is little more than a hollow mess of
blandness.
For mine, the problem lays in the casting. While the
lead kids (Chris O'Neil & Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) do quite well, it's the rest of the team that
are a real let down. Rainn Wilson (best known from the US version of The Office)
is completley miscast as the "hip teacher who discovers the kids
ability". He comes off as a border line petophile - and is completley
unlikeable, the parents seem like they were picked up from the local
theatre group and as for the gigantic Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile), I'm uncertain as to whether or not he was aware that he wasn't in a British pantomine.
The
story itself never seems to go where you really hope it does. It takes
it's sweet time to finally let us know what the hell the rabbit is -
and even then - you are kind of hoping there is a little more to it.
Expecting and hoping for a twist that never comes.
A real shame,
but no doubt, it's the sort of flick which will gain a cult status in a
decade or so's time when the next generation of
Fantasy-Books-Turned-Blockbusters start raking in the cash at the Box
Office. EXTRAS
Quite a lot is on offer here, which makes the whole experience of watching the movie that much more depressing.
The fact is, the back story of The Last Mimzy is ten times more interesting than the film itself. I'm a massive fan of the referencing of other pieces of literature - and Mimzy has a whole bunch of it that's only briefly skimmed across in the actual film.
Theres some fantastic little featurettes on offer which explain the connection of Mimzy to the Lewis Carrol tale (telling of the fact that one box was delivered to the characters in Mimzy and one delievered to Alice). Just an amazing magical story which would have made for a much more enjoyable movie going experience.
There's
plenty of mind games and quizzes to keep the kids entertained (the
whole concept of the geometric shapes and spider tunnels is yet another
facinating part of the story which Mimzy just seems to gloss over) - as well as a cool look at the process of the soundtrack.
Could be worth revisiting down the track... Conclusion:
Movie 50% Extras: N/A
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